Glasgow Memories Letters: 'I was at school with Lulu's brother'

Glasgow Times

2 days ago

I remember seeing inside when I was about five or six, and the big mirrored ball in the ceiling fascinated me.
The Pally became a roller disco and then a Fine Fare superstore.
The Denny Pally in 1957 (Image: Newsquest)
I have many fond memories of Dennistoun. We moved to Golfhill Drive and I lived there until my 20s.
I went to Alexandra Parade Primary school and sat next to Lulu's younger brother Gordon Lawrie (my brother was in the same class as her sister Edwina.)
Jane with two friends at the top of Golfhill Drive, 1977 (Image: Jane Lafferty)
I also went to the 'old' Whitehill school in Whitehill Street.
Jane Lafferty
Glasgow
Ashlie's relatives from Dennistoun including James and Willie who ran local businesses (Image: Ashlie Cunningham)
Mac's was the best chippy in Glasgow
My dad was born in Dennistoun. He and his sister grew up in 223 Cumbernauld Road, a one-bedroom flat, with their parents.
When I was younger I used to stay with my nana in the flat. It had no central heating, no bath, only a toilet, only single-glazed windows, and the living room was heated by a gas fire, which used to be coal. The bedroom was big and always cold, but it had a bed recess that my grandpa built, which was a cosy place to sleep.
(Image: Newsquest)
My dad's family had many businesses in the area: a fish and chip shop (Mac's, the best chippy in Glasgow), the stables on Glenpark Street, a fruit shop, fish shop and van and a funeral director's. My mum worked in the hairdresser's downstairs from where my dad stayed – that's how they met.
I have many happy memories visiting my family in Dennistoun growing up.
Ashlie Cunningham
Glasgow
One person can change a life
I am 75 years old and was born in a Victorian slum in Townhead with gas lamps, no bathroom or hot water. We moved to Drumchapel in 1955 where I lived in Heathcot Avenue and went to Drumry Primary and Allan Glen's School.
I became an accountant, then an entrepreneur, and worked in Germany for the Ministry of Defence. I visited East Berlin during the Cold War, moved to Canada, and worked in Botswana and Somalia for five years. I saw apartheid and its collapse in South Africa, then moved to America and founded two software companies. I'm semi-retired now and live in Palm Beach, Florida.
All of this, because I was inspired by one man, the headmaster of Drumry Primary, Mr Alex Horsburgh, way back when I was a child.
Maybe my story could show how one person can change a life.
Bob Stevenson
Florida
Douglas outside the prefab in Dennistoun (Image: Douglas Macintyre)
Do you remember the Dennistoun prefabs?
We lived in the prefabs, on Ledaig Place in Dennistoun, at the bottom of Ledaig Street next to Graham's shop.
They were little bungalows, two bedrooms with fitted wardrobes, a bathroom, living room and fitted kitchenette, with a gas fridge.
I went to Haghill primary, Mr Fyffe was our teacher. After school, it was out to play and 'be home when when the street lights come on.' Kick the can, hide and seek, football, making gang huts, or in the summer, bring a hardback book from the house, use it to sit on a roller skate, and fly down Ledaig Street.
At big school, Onslow Drive Public School, Jim Forrest, former Rangers striker, was in my class.
I got a job after school at the Sunny Dunn laundrette, top of Cumbernauld Road. I delivered washing, still wet, to customers' homes. I started my engineering apprenticeship with Meto-Vics in Petershill Road in Springburn. For years it was a 6.30am rise, cycled to work past the gas works, through the" blind tunnel", hail rain or snow.
At 18 I headed to Ramsay's on Duke Street, new suit on, then up to the Denny Pally where I met my girlfriend inside (so I didn't need to pay her in.)
I would take her to the soda fountain bar downstairs, soft drinks only, then dance to the Jack Anderson Show Band. Great times.
Douglas Macintyre
Glasgow
Whitehill School magazines (Image: Iain Munro)
Magazines are a member of old secondary school
I went to Whitehill Senior Secondary school in Dennistoun from 1959 until 1963.
I lived in Riddrie with my parents, close to Barlinnie jail where my dad worked as a prison officer, and I travelled to and from Dennistoun by public transport, usually the 106 trolleybus.
I have kept three of the school magazines (Christmas 1960, Christmas 1962 and Summer 1963) and although I don't rate a mention in any of them, they are a fascinating reminder of my time at Whitehill. I thoroughly enjoyed my teenage years living in Glasgow.
Iain Munro
The Wirral
Send us your Glasgow Memories letters by emailing [e-mail] or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG