Latest news with #Lewis's
Glasgow Times
06-05-2025
- General
- Glasgow Times
Rutherglen woman's VE Day tribute as Glasgow marks 80th anniversary
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Eileen's family was 'one of the lucky ones', says her daughter, Dorothy, because they emerged from the Second World War unscathed. 'They lived on Victoria Street, which was a very dangerous position, opposite the railway and near to the River Clyde and Dalmarnock Power Station, all prime bombing targets for the German air force,' explains Dorothy. There had been near misses, though, she adds. 'On March 13, 1941, my mum had just arrived home from firewatching in Woolworth's on Rutherglen Main Street, when the sirens went off,' says Dorothy. 'As she heard the whistle of bombs being dropped, she threw herself on top of her mother, who was sitting under the archway of the kitchen door, and her sister Bessie dived under the kitchen table.' Jack and Eileen Connor on their wedding day (Image: Courtesy of Dorothy Connor) She adds: 'There was an official air raid shelter opposite the house, but it was considered more dangerous as it was nearer the railway. 'Folk in the upstairs tenements came down and stood in the closes. The men usually went outside to see what they could but on this night, they threw themselves to the ground as another bomb whistled and thudded down. 'My mum saw the German plane in the searchlights. He dropped the rest of his bombs and got away.' READ NEXT: Tragic story behind Glasgow comedy club's new home READ NEXT: 6 photos which tell story of great Glasgow department store Lewis's That night – which became known as the Clydebank Blitz though it also affected many areas of Glasgow – there was considerable loss of life in the city, says Dorothy. 'Kent Street, near to the Barras, Allan Street, near the Power Station and in Dryburgh Avenue, Rutherglen…' she adds. 'Rutherglen Academy was also hit. 'It wasn't just the nighttime raids people feared. My mum remembered seeing two planes involved in a dog fight near the railway when she was going home in her lunch hour.' Rutherglen Town Hall became an emergency centre in the aftermath of the Clydebank Blitz giving temporary shelter and food to those who had lost everything. 'My mum, who was a supervisor in Woolworth's, remembered one woman wandering round the store in a daze, her clothes in tatters,' she says. 'All her family had been killed. 'Shop staff made tea and gave what comfort they could.' Jack Connor (Image: Courtesy of Dorothy Connor) A world away in Burma, Jack Connor - a royal artillery gunner, deep in the thick of the fighting in the jungle against the Japanese, wrote a letter home. 'Is the Town Hall still so ancient and rugged, is the Odeon still so clean and majestic?' he wrote. 'I imagine that if one were away for a decade things would still remain the same. I hope that Ru'glen's wee roon red lums reek briskly as always.' It was August 15, 1945 before Victory in Japan Day (VJ Day) was declared, and the war in the Far East was over. Jack returned to Rutherglen, and to his job as a hospital engineer at the Southern General (now the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital) in Govan, in April 1946. A clippie celebrates on VE Day in 1945 (Image: Newsquest) Jack Connor and Eileen Kelly met on Hogmanay 1947, and they were married exactly a year later. Sadly Jack died in 1990 and Eileen in 2010. On VE Day in 1945, there was dancing in the streets everywhere (Image: Newsquest) On VE Day, 80 years ago, people danced in huge ring-o'-roses circles stretching the entire length of Rutherglen Main Street, around George Square, and all over the city, as the lights came on again. Dorothy adds: 'In 2015 I was privileged to speak and sing at a VE Day event in Rutherglen Library where once again the townspeople joined hands and remembered those we lost. 'Those of us who have lived our whole lives in peace can perhaps pause for a moment and remember that in cities, towns and villages all over the country, we are all walking in the footsteps of the bravest of the brave.' Dorothy's book Home Town Tales is on sale at Rutherglen Town Hall and Rutherglen Library and will be reprinted next year in time for the Royal Burgh's 900th anniversary, along with her new book, Time Travellers Tales.
Glasgow Times
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
6 photos which tell story of great Glasgow department store Lewis's
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly's daughter Rosie, who recently had a baby, revealed she had been discussing the famous department store with her gran. 'Visited great-granny this weekend and she showed me the receipt for the essentials she bought when my mum was born in 1959,' she posted on social media, with a picture of the receipt. (Image: Instagram) Among other items, it shows a Moses basket for £3 and 18 shillings; a mattress for 15 shillings and 11 pence; and a pillow for 5 shillings and sixpence. (Today, a Moses basket from a Glasgow department store could set you back £119, with mattresses and pillows costing from around £12 each…) The famous Argyle Street store, which towered over the city centre, is much-missed. Famous for its fabulous Christmas window displays, its popular food hall, and for having the city's first 'moving stairs' – escalator – it opened its doors in 1929 and closed in the 1990s. We took a trawl through the archives and found some fantastic photographs which tell its story over the decades. Sophia Loren visited Lewis's department store in December 1982. The Hollywood actor – pictured here looking out of her hotel room window in the Albany, was promoting her perfume, Sophia, by Coty. (Image: Newsquest) Former head chef at the store's restaurant Peter Toher, once told the Glasgow Times: 'The general manager, Mr McKillop, donned full Highland dress to meet Ms Loren at the entrance of the shop. Her visit was brief and she had lots of bodyguards with her. She did a short promotion in the perfumery department then went to the boardroom." READ NEXT: The story of why this famous North Glasgow area had a different name for decades READ NEXT: The global superstar rock band with roots in an East End Glasgow tenement He added: 'I had prepared what used to be called hors d'oeuvres - now they are known as canapés – for her to eat. It was all very quick afterwards, the general manager changed back into his suit. When Mr McKillop went to take his hired Highland outfit back to the store, it had gone – it seemed Sophia thought it had been a gift and taken it with her..' A week before Sophia's visit, this newspaper ran a competition for readers to win the chance to have lunch with her at the Albany Hotel. 'It's the stuff dreams are made of,' the report said. 'People will call you a storyteller because who is going to believe you had lunch with Sophia Loren?' (Image: Newsquest) At Christmas time, Lewis's had 14 window displays full of toys, and passers-by would stop in awe to admire the extravagant festive displays. (Image: Newsquest) After a hard morning's bargain-hunting, these shoppers sit down for a much-needed cup of tea and a snack in Lewis's restaurant. (Image: Newsquest) All the best-dressed men headed to the gent's outfitters department of Lewis's, like this dapper shopper in 1956. (Image: Newsquest) There was a great view from the roof of Lewis's, and it was also the perfect sun-trap - as these office workers from the 1950s can attest. Send us your great Glasgow department store memories. Email or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.
