by Toryglen Boy » Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:47 pm
I went to Galloway House when I was in Toryglen Primary School. I must have been about 10 or 11 years old at the time, around 1957/8 or so. Like most other contributers on this Post, there were two other schools sharing the House with us for the month. At the time, these other schools were from other areas of Glasgow I'd only heard about, but hadn't a clue where they were in the City, such was the tight little local geographic cocoon we all lived in in those days.
My memories of the House are:
1) going to the beach and finding fantastic sea shells like 'Pelican's Feet' and 'Razor Shells'. My usual family holiday resort was Kirn, near Dunoon on the Clyde, and I'd never seen such exotic shells there before.
2) walking along a path at the edge of the bay (Garlieston?) and finding a row of about 6 dead crows suspended in a line from low hanging branches by string round their necks. These birds were just above our heads too so you got a right good look at them as the class went on its daily walk that way. They seemed to shrivel and shrink in size as the days passed by too. Never saw anything like that in Glasgow before or since, even though there were some cruel little so and so's about at the time. We were told that farmers had shot the birds, and had hung them up to frighten off other crows etc. which ate the crops.
3) going to a local woolen mill, which wove sheets of Mohair woolen cloth. We were all given a 2"x2" sample of this woolen cloth to take back to the House and stick into our daily diary. My wool sample was bright red, and I used to stroke it whenever I opened my diary, so strange and unusual was this piece of hairy, loose-woven piece of fabric to a 10 year-old boy.
4) being shown the famous Handkerchief tree in the gardens of the House. Think it had just flowered, but was past its best when we saw it.
5) unlike many others on this topic, I've got NO recollection whatsoever of going to a village and buying sweets.
6) the House itself had a very peculiar smell to it. It was a rather musty smell, and I'd never smelt anything like that kind of thing before. On reflection years later, I guess the house had more than a touch of dampness about it, such was its many years of history.
My biggest shock however, was as an adult, around 1977, reading quite by chance an article in the Glasgow Herald about Galloway House, which had just been closed by Glasgow Corporation.
Seems the declared purpose of this 'Residential' school was dedicated to benefit deprived inner city kids who had limited opportunities and choices in life, such was the level of poverty and deprivation in some areas of the City. Toryglen, I only then realised was in this category, and our school had apparently met the required level of deprivation to quality for a month down there.
My reaction to this article was one of total surprise, and of some hurt, as in all the time I'd lived in Toryglen, I never once realised, or even suspected that I lived a deprived life or lived in a deprived area - everyone around was the same as me, living in a council house, with very few material possessions.
Oh ye cannae shove yer Granny aff a bus.....'cos she's yer Mammy's Mammy!