I was born in Haifa, Israel because my father was in the Merchant Navy and was based in Haifa for a year. He was Scottish and my mother was Danish.
My parents met on a ship bound for the Faroe Islands in 1950. It was love at first sight and that same year they were married in Torshaven, Faroe Islands. They then travelled to Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland where my father had grown up.
My older sister Ann was born in 1951 and my younger brother James was born in 1956.
My parents lived in various places until, in 1958, we moved to Ibrox in Glasgow. We lived in Walmer Crescent, a Rennie MackIntosh tenement building (see the main photo above). We stayed there until I was 17, so Ibrox forms most of my childhood memories.
In 1967 my father died suddenly. This was obviously a shock for all of us. My mother was left a widow at age 42 with three children still at school. She had been working part time for a few years but now had to find a full time job to support us all. She soon became employed as office manager in Rowan’s department store in Glasgow. Ann and I were aged 16 and 13 so we were able to look after James after school and help prepare meals.
By 1971 we were all students. My mother had given up her job and decided to go to Jordanhill to train as a primary school teacher. Ann was at Glasgow University and I started at Glasgow University that summer. James was at Hillhead High School. Since we would all be based at the north of the city we left the rented flat in Ibrox and moved to a flat in Woodlands Road in Glasgow. My mother had bought the flat four years earlier and had rented it out to students.
0 Comments