Thanks for that, Brian. Ian Breckenridge would be 83/84 years old at the time of this post - my late brother Bobby McCallum is on his right.

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Interesting Brian.

[quote="Penny Tray" post_id=106728 time=1345195458 user_id=763]
Billy,

Ian appears in the School Photo section. He was older than me and I remember him only vaguely. He went to Eglinton and Winton Schools and lived, I think, in Clyde Terrace, Ardrossan. I have no knowledge of his parent or grandparents.

As an adult he, unfortunately, pursued a life of violent crime, details of which are publicly available on the internet, and which resulted in him being one of the original occupants of the Special Unit at Barlinnie Prison. As an inmate there and a breeder within of budgerigars he featured in a BBC television documentary, resulting in him being nicknamed 'The Birdman'. Having heard Ian's exploits discussed many times I've never heard a bad word about any other members of his family.

The births, deaths and marriages of lots of local Breckenridge's are recorded in the following site and may be helpful to you in pursuit of further information:

http://www.ayrshire-roots.co.uk/ash.php
[/quote]

This is a link to the Special Unit mentioned by Penny Tray featuring Ian.

https://youtu.be/-OQGFFFCSXE?si=xNRUGwqpBstwsHYN

Hello there you are talking about my great grandfather whom I met several times as a younster, my parents are William and Emma and my granny is Annie from West Kilbride my dad Brecky has a sister Margaret and I have four children, would be amazing to get to know more and if you need any help just get in touch, I still remember my granddad smoking his pipe and his massive hands he think he was a ploughman before he was a fireman, thanks Scott

William is my great grandfather remember visiting him when I was real young he smoked an old pipe and his ears were all damaged from the heat from fires, my parents are William and Emma live in Largs Annie in West Kilbride is my grannies, miss her anyway Reading this has brought back loads of memories

There was another branch of the family in Govanhill in Glasgow.

In addition to Violet, Willie, Jean and Bobby, (and your grandmother in Dundee) there was another sister whose name I cannot remember, but she was buried in Ardrossan cemetery with the rest of her family, probably in the late 1970s or very early in the 80s. She died of cancer while still relatively young. She had one son I am aware of, Gary Dunsmuir. He did live in Daisy Street, the best part of thirty years ago, but I'd guess he has long moved away from there as he joined the army. Haven't heard of or from him since.

I hope that is a small help at least.

Just noticed this thread, Im Paul Hazelton, William Breckenridge was my great grandpa, I used to go to Clyde terrace to his every Saturday with my gran Jean then head into Saltcoats with my Gran and Aunt Violet.

He died in 1987.

Thanks very much for all of the help in finding out about my family in Ardrossan.

It is very much appreciated.

Best regards
Billy Thomson

hi billy i know who you are talking about my granpa was william breckenridge , my granny had passed away when i was born but my granpa stayed with his daughter violet and son willie and stayed in clyde terrace ardrossan ,my dad was robert but was known as bobby ,my granpa passed away age 99 not sure of the year but my oldest sister has being doing the family tree for a few years i remember auntie agness from dundee as they used to come down on holiday and im sure some of the family stayed at our house in ashdale avenue , they also had a sister jean who stayen in stevenston email if you want to know anymore
karen smith

Can't recall Ian being a gang leader - Harry and Bobby Ireland, yes. I'm talking wee boys at Winton school when we used to gallop around the castle ruins at lunch time.

I went to school with Ian Breckenbridge about 1954 mostly Iremember that at that time at Eglington school
you were in Brekkies [Ians] gang or,the Irelands gang they were two brothers cant remember thier first names,
it was more push and shove and BIG talk than any real fights.
I am sure his father was in the fire brigade and lived near the co op
dispatch,used to pick up the hot baked rolls and bread when I was on the milk run[pint of milk and hot roll was
smoko] Ithink another family lived in the same area were the Connells,I think Matt was one of the boys,found it
hard to believe the trouble he got into,when I was at school with him[I guess between 13-15 years old he was
just another kid in the play ground.
tatties

Billy:
I don't know what info or help Meg has given you, but if you have not already done so,
here is a simple tip that may help ?
Go to the search facility on this site and type in the name Breckenridge, then click on Submit.
This will bring up over 30 matches (links to threads involving the name Breckenridge).
Scroll down through them and simply click on the "Topic" of any thread you want to read.
These topics may be of help/interest to you.
Good luck.