A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

[down south]

Meg, I have no idea whose dance class it was ; I was only four, and as far as I remember I only went once. But presumably there was only one dance class that met in the Town Hall ? so that would probably have been the one. I gather from your earlier post in another topic that you went rather further with it than me .

Susan

[Meg]

Yes, I did Susan until my mum was told when I was 7 that I was too tall - failed before my eighth birthday:-)

Meg

[down south]

What a shame, Meg. Sounds from that as though they took the whole business a bit seriously; only potential Margot Fonteyns allowed.

I see from the Herald website this week that the Town Hall apparently is sitting empty and out of use at the moment, awaiting a renovation that's never going to come :

http://www.ardrossanherald.com/news/rou ... -priority-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sounds like the same old story repeated again and again down the years.

Susan

[Meg]

... and it will probably rot and fall apart, then it will have to be torn down because it has become 'unsafe' - or like the Civic Theatre in Ayr - the council will conveniently 'find' asbestos, so no further work can be done on it. Been there, heard it, got the placard -

Meg
ps - anyone from Saltcoats want to pick up the mantle and run with it? Count me in for support.

[Marie]

Hi, In the '50's Bobby Lennox's aunty lived in the wee cottages,so did a family called Conwell.The gardens were named after Miss Ness a local school teacher ,she did live to be a 100 years old. Sam.

Miss Ness was my very first teacher she was old then she was lovely i have fond memories of her

[down south]

Hello Marie; welcome to Threetowners, and hope you're enjoying the Stroll.

Meanwhile, back to where we were; and there's one more part of the civic building that we haven't yet visited. Back in the days when on the right side of the big front door was the entrance to the Countess Cinema, on the left hand side was the Saltcoats town library. Younger Saltcottars won't remember this either, because it was replaced in the early seventies by a new library at the Glebe. But back in the sixties , as an avid bookworm I was a regular customer here.

Most often it was the last stop on a Saturday trip to town with my Dad, late morning or afternoon, when we also visited all the shops that interested him,a very different list from my Mum's shopping trips. The library was a place I was quite glad of some friendly support, for there one had to brave Miss Mamie Scotland , Town Librarian from 1939 to 1973.

Mamie , it has to be said, was a bit of a dragon; she guarded her hoard of books jealously. She was a stickler for the rules, and for Quiet Please. Not much of that when boisterous crowds of youngsters were queueing outside for the Saturday matinees; she would often go out to give them a baleful glare and a good talking-to .

Young library users were also regarded with some suspicion; but then so were the grown-ups...always trying to sneak fiction books out on their extra, non-fiction only, tickets, a favourite library "crime ".The under-15s didn't have such options; just a single* fiction ticket, with a loan period of one week; and the run of the juvenile shelves, right by the desk under Mamie's beady eye. And sometimes also that of her great crony Miss Sadie Love, school secretary at Ardrossan Academy, who often was there ( whether as an official employee or not I don't know ) keeping her company at weekends or holidays; as Academy pupils of that era will know , a daunting thought.

* PS This is what I remembered, but I've since found evidence that in fact we had two fiction tickets.

Susan

[Penny Tray]

Susan,

I have to confess that to the best of my knowledge I never set foot in Saltcoats Library. I could use the excuse that this was because I lived in Ardrossan but I was never in the one there either. The name 'Maimie Scotland' however, rings a very loud bell. I suspect she was a friend of Miss Annie G Boyd who almost single-handedly 'ran' the adjacent Police Station with the same authority you describe exercised by the Librarian. I think they may have lunched together from time to time? Miss Boyd always spoke highly of her.

If you haven't seen it already you may enjoy this interior photograph of the library from 'Ayrshire Working Lives'

Could it be 'Maimie Scotland' who features?

http://www.workinglives.org.uk/show_ite ... tem_id=281" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[aland]

... and it will probably rot and fall apart, then it will have to be torn down because it has become 'unsafe' - or like the Civic Theatre in Ayr - the council will conveniently 'find' asbestos, so no further work can be done on it. Been there, heard it, got the placard -

Meg
ps - anyone from Saltcoats want to pick up the mantle and run with it? Count me in for support.

typical NAC IMO, perhaps irvine bay can find the money to refurb it , it does need a lot of work, new roof, rewire, new heating system, lift to comply with DDA, new floors and stairs, usual internal stuff. think the figure quoted was close to £1million

NAC will probably bodyswerve it by saying that the volunteer rooms in irvine is available

[down south]

Thanks very much for that picture, PT. Who would have thought the interior of the library would have been immortalised in a photo ? Perhaps it had just had a makeover; the desk looks very much a turn-of-the-sixties style.

You can see in the background the big, multi-paned windows there were onto the street, giving plenty of light;and in the foreground the non-fiction shelves, which were in the middle of the room with some tables and chairs. Easy to understand why some borrowers might be put off by those dull-looking tomes. Fiction was ranged around the walls, from romances by the far window, round through A to Z , to the childrens' shelves. I remember still the curious picure that hung beside those, showing a monkish figure looking out over an alarmingly dramatic storm-tossed scene; wonder if any other library user recalls it.

A bit of a distant view of her, but that surely is Mamie; she favoured dark rims to her glasses...and surprisingly bright lipstick. No sign of the lifeboat collecting box on the desk, a constant feature; she was particularly keen on raising money for that charity.

From what you say PT, it seems these ladies-in-charge clearly liked to stick together. ( And PS, we now have a photo of Miss Annie Boyd too; seehere. ) Mamie, I'm aware from a little article on her retiral, was the daughter of a local headmaster herself; probably why she lived in Sorbie Road, a favourite spot for teachers. She often expressed pride in another relative of hers, brother or nephew, who played rugby for Scotland at one time; any of you sports enthusiasts heard of a Scotland who played for Scotland ?

Susan

[Penny Tray]

Susan,

The relative will be the very famous (to a certain age group) Ken Scotland!

http://www.lionsrugby.com/images/struct ... button.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnneHM]

In the late 1940s/early 50s I was always sent to McPhersons for Sunday rolls. Big and soft and my Nana pulled out the doughy centre before she put the bacon in. I actually lived in Herdman's bakery but we didn't open on Sundays.
And anyone remember the two sisters who ran the wool shop next to Thompsons bakery in Dockhead St? Apparently they would never wash their hair - only combed it through with oil. Wallace the stationers was on the other side of their shop.

[down south]

There's a post about those two sisters here, Anne, when we were visiting the part of Dockhead St on the Stroll :

http://www.threetowners.net/forum/viewt ... 182#p83182"

We'll be coming back past Herdman's before very long; hope to hear some of the inside story from you when we're there.

Susan