Summer Holidays on the Clyde

[Godsgift]

Every year we would be driven to Largs to catch the little ferry called the Keppel to go to Millport. To a wee boy, it was like going abroad purely because the buses were a different colour. Dad would bring a big case of tinned grapefruit. We never had tinned grapefruit at home. The pier at Largs would be mobbed. None of these landing craft boats. But the Maid of Skelmorlie and her sisters. The Glen Sannox was another one. And the Waverley and talk of the then scrapped Talisman.

As you came off the pier at Millport, there was the machine selling cartons of milk and more importantly, cartons of orange. There was a shop selling buckets and spades and everything you would possibly need for your holiday displayed outside. The Ritz Cafe with it's American style decor and the juke box. The old Glasgow taxis with the open sides running around. Dad buying me a wooden yacht to use on the boating pond. The brown plastic sandles that gave you tartan feet with sunburn. Your back lobster red and peeling within 2 days. No skin cancer or factor 70 then. Your mum had Amber Solaire out of the chemists. The black and white pics that you only got back 2 weeks after you returned home. Mrs Sandersons house on Crighton Street with the outside toilet and no fridge save for a small white box that you put water on top of. Watching the steamers pass and the puffers too. Hiring bikes and going round the island, initially in a little seat on the back of dad's bike till I was old enough to ride my own . The lion rock and the Indian rock.....sticks of rock. Staying up late and getting into the X rated pics at the cinema...all Hammer Horror with Cushing, Karloff or Cristopher Lee. They were more innocent times. Kinickerbocker Glories (sounded saucy) from the other cafe with tall glasses and a long long teaspoon.

And the sadness as I would realise that the first week at passed and we had less than a week to go.

What's your own holiday memories.

[Haggis]

My mum took me and my twin to Bute in early 60s.she was very ill and my uncle let us have a cottage at Asgog.She always described a little bay with sand and some shingle stones and 3 little steps to go down onto beach and a church that sat on the right of the bay.I have no real memory of it as i was too wee:).After mum passed.We decided to go and find this wee Asgog Bay.and when we got off the bus from Rothesay in a beautiful sunny day,The very same wee bay was there in front of us.The bus door opened and those 3 little steps were right in front of the bus door We were struck in silence .As it was just as mum had described .NOTHING had changed:).We scattered some of her ashes at the rocks on the side of the wee beach.The peace .and quite and stillness.Everything seemed to make sence.We Go over a lot.The whole island is a brilliant place to visit.And the folks are very friendly.Rothesay like any seaside town is a bit battered at the edges.But the money is being spent on upgrading the main square etc and pavillion.Its a great place to go to for even a day.it recharges your batteries).

[banjo]

haggis,i agree with everything you have just said about beautiful bute.we visit every year at least once.kilchattan bay is our favourite spot.

[Haggis]

Yes Banjo.Its a great place for a visit.an away day etc.My twin took me into the Black Bull pub for a pub lunch and it was delicious.The steak pie and chips with veg mmmm.And one day we just sat at front tucking into fish n chips.The seagulls are HUGE:).It was early springtime.And we didnt realise we had been walking for hours and it was only when we went into one of the pubs .folks were chuckling at us.We were like a set of traffic lights stuck at red!oor faces were sunburnt.And when we got back into Glasgow folks were staring i was getting paranoid hahaha.Its a great place to destress.

[Godsgift]

Lovely story Haggis. I have many special memories too.

[Toby Dammit]

What's your own holiday memories.

Wonderful post, I can remember many fo those sites, sensations and the Keppel too.

[War Baby]

In the mid-fifties, the thing I remember most about Rothesay was the huge waves that came rolling in one after the other every time a paddle-steamer approached the pier. The kids playing on the sand near the pier would all rush out to meet these waves, skipping and whooping and squealing with sheer delight. It was like tidal waves coming in, and the kids waded right in to meet them. I'll never forget that.

I also remember Punch and Judy on the seafront. Once, just before the Punch and Judy show began, this young girl of maybe about fourteen entertained the small crowd by getting up and singing: "Ma - he's making eyes at me!" She had a powerful voice and was really great at it, and I always wondered if she made anything of herself with a voice like that. I don't think it could have been Lena Zavoroni, but I wondered if it might have been Sally Logan.

Great days!

[Fireman]

My grandmother lived in Largs and every school summer holiday right through the 1960's I was shipped down there for 8 weeks to frolick in the sand, sun and seaweed. In actual fact the sand was an hours walk to the Pencil, it rained more often than not and crabs hid in the seaweed - but I loved it!

I went out on the fishing cruises at night (when there were fish in the Clyde) every night, in fact I did it so often the Haliday's let me go for free if I came down to their wooden 'pier' on wheels an hour early to help set up their boat for the evenings fishing.
Each night I'd walk my gran to the Star bingo, then go to the Halidays to help sort out the fishing lines, bait, etc and then off we'd set over to the Cumbraes to fish to my heart's content. Almost every night I'd catch at least one good sized Cod and on the way back I'd gut and fillet it ready for when we got back to shore. Half an hour to tidy up, then up to the Star to collect my gran and head for home. Once in she would cook the fish and we'd sit down to fresh Cod grilled in flour & butter, tea & toast for our supper - who needs haute cuisine.

Nardini's was a special treat, where the Knickerbocker Glories were huge - and they were huge, not like the piddley little things you get nowadays. Nardinis was sort of posh then, fancy decor, wicker tables, menus and waitresses dressed in black & whites, my gran must have thought she was part-time posh as we'd only go if she'd had a wee win on the 'flyer' at the bingo the night before!

Happy daze!

[The Egg Man]

Mostly Saltcoats for us. The trunk was sent down by train the week before we arrived and was was waiting in the same wee hoose we rented almost every year. Most days were spent on the beach or amusement arcades and there was a large artificial tidal pond which was a haven for crabs and sea urchins.

Every 3-4 years we'd have a change at Girvan, up near the railway station and what seemed like miles from the beach. One year I fell into the boating pond and we never went back.

One year, for a serious change and not on the Clyde, we went to Anstruther and had digs with an old boy and his wife. The old chap's job was carving and painting the name plates for the fishing boats. He'd draw the design freehand and start gouging it out with handtools. He wouldn't let me loose with a chisel but I spent a couple of wet afternoons with a sheet of sandpaper.

[gap74]

I'm too young, alas, to remember the heyday of the Costa del Clyde, but I'm now starting to appreciate what we have on our doorstep - even if the weather frequently lets it down, and the attractions are quieter and less numerous these days.

Part of this came from reading about the holidays Thomas Livingstone and family would take in the dairies of Tommy's War and Tommy's Peace (edited by Dr Scott of this parish) in Rothesay and Largs. Another big factor was reading the diaries of my mate's dad, who spent his summer holidays before and during university as a purser on the Clyde steamers in the late 50s/early 60s - published as The Marchioness of Graham: A Purser's Log and Aboard Queen Mary II: A Purser's Life on the Glasgow Boat

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Marchioness ... 1845300726

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aboard-Queen-Ma ... =pd_cp_b_1

I've been making sure this last few years that every summer features at least one trip down there somewhere. Still sad that I never witnessed these places at the height of their popularity, but then a few hours in Blackpool on Friday night there made me realise that even the giants of the British seaside holiday have pretty much gone the same way too...

[dogface]

Your post reminded me of this Limmy's show sketch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWHNVwxJEeU


Unfortunately I can't share any 'vintage' stories but it's brilliant to see (hear?) that not much has changed - I've shared a massive knicker bocker glory in Nardini's and Bute's maybe my favourite place in the whole of scotland as a holiday option... the campsite there is really good

[Godsgift]

Your post reminded me of this Limmy's show sketch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWHNVwxJEeU


Unfortunately I can't share any 'vintage' stories but it's brilliant to see (hear?) that not much has changed - I've shared a massive knicker bocker glory in Nardini's and Bute's maybe my favourite place in the whole of scotland as a holiday option... the campsite there is really good

I identify sooooooooooooo much with the clip.

[BTJustice]

I know I posted this before but I think it kinda fits with this thread;



Dave

[motman]

wonderful film. Takes me back

[Godsgift]

Seems the Keppel is alive and well and sunning herself in Malta:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV8Hqg6B2f4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RIy8FQB ... ure=relmfu