A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

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John Donnelly
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by John Donnelly »

Now there's a blast from the past. John Breen used to stay in our house in Boglemart before we moved in. He worked in the gasworks in Stevenston. I knew him well. His daughter Christine and her husband took over Joe Rankins after he retired.

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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by Milda »

I knew Mr and Mrs Breen well too John and ran about with Christine when we were young.In fact after searching for her for a while and it was Robert ( Bobbyderg) who told me where she lived , I didn't have much time to talk with her because she died not long after that which made me sad that I had lost so much time that I could have had with her .
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by MANBEAR »

Fantastic reading this stroll around Salcoats is really enjoying it when I left school I went to work for McPherson,s dairy as a milk boy pay was £3 per week places I remember in countess street was Veronica,s chip shop possible called las scala and tony,s called the three blind mice
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by down south »

Always great to get new readers; thanks, Manbear. :D And if you put the likes of Veronica or the Three Blind Mice in the search box at the top of the page, you'll find plenty more interesting reading, both in and out of the Stroll.

Susan
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by MANBEAR »

Thanks Susan it has brought back so many memories,I try and visit Salcoats twice a year but the wee toon has so many shut up places you start to think is this the wee toon I remember but when I've,d had a pie in the candy bar and a walk along the front it all comes back I think how lucky I was to be a Saltcoats lad.
Ian .
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by Penny Tray »

down south wrote:
And a final thank you to the late Charles Carragher, author of " Saltcoats Old and New "; that invaluable source of Old Saltcoats lore, and which might well be described as something like a stroll round 1860s Saltcoats , written almost exactly a hundred years ago; I hope we can see ourselves as having followed in his footsteps ,and that this Stroll also continues to be read and re-read with pleasure and profit into the future.

Susan
GLASGOW HERALD
9 NOVEMBER 1922

DEATH OF ARBROATH DRAMATIST

The death has taken place in Aberdeen of Mr P Charles Carragher, a well-known Arbroath author and dramatist.

Deceased, who was 57 years of age, was for the greater part of his life resident in Arbroath, and was a keen student of its local history.

For a time he lived in Saltcoats and in 1909 published a work on "Saltcoats Old and New."

His other books include, "Arbroath, the Royal Burgh of Romance," "Red Light Recollections," and "Fairport from the Footlight," this being a history of the drama in Arbroath, while as a writer of plays he produced among others, "The Spaewife" and "The Crock of Gold."
Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by down south »

Delighted to discover something about Charles Carragher at last, PT !

But I'm surprised to learn he was neither local in origin or an old-timer ( only in his mid-forties when he wrote the book ); it comes across so much as though he's reminiscing about the town as it was in his younger days. Shows what lengths he must have gone to in gathering stories from veteran residents.

Susan
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by sherlock »

Windmill st. Next to Hilda Flemings fruit shop was a bakery that had been closed for a long time there was a close in between the two shops with single end houses above, I used to help Hilda out in her shop when I was a young girl. I also stayed in the corner house no.13 until I was 6. Across from Hilda's was Aldridge's Drapers that sold school uniforms,underwear ladies wear and some gents clothing next door was gift shop that sold everything from spades and pales,rubber balls toys and all sorts of household goods postcards etc.
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by wellparkno9 »

the bakery you mention was Hilda's husband's,
Owen Kelly.
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by Penny Tray »

down south wrote: Does anyone know the Plumb Rock, which is also mentioned in the article?

Susan

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE BATHING POND

Bathing in Saltcoats seems to have become popular about 100 years ago when for a number of years bathers disported at the harbour and the territory behind its southeastern wall.

The harbour then had not been reconstructed and swimmers dived from the quay end into the water which at low tide was about 20 feet below.

Just before the turn of the century many bathers began to prefer the old Saltpans area where the present bathing pool stands, and for a while both locations remained in use.

Both places suffered from similar disadvantages — at low tide the water receded leaving only rocks and sand, and in those fastidious days undressing in the open was found to be an uncomfortable and distressing business.

At low tide it was necessary to resort to the Plumb rock farther out to sea and about 300 yards to the west. The longer trail was a burden to all except the enthusiasts and the rock had also the reputation of being somewhat dangerous.

The regular frequenters formed themselves into the Saltcoats and Visitors Bathing Club whose object was to improve facilities at the Saltpans. A slipway was laid down to deeper water at low tide, a concrete diving butt was constructed and a clubhouse was provided. The first bathing attendant was a well-known local man, Mr D. M. Scott, a retired lighthouse keeper.

The town council began to take an interest in 1894 when they spent £33 on "bathing erections," but two years later a heavy storm swept away the first clubhouse.

The council then built, or took over — it is not clear which — a new dressing house, incorporating the old gable of the Saltpans, and the pond was formally opened in 1908. This remained in use until 1932 when it was demolished to make way for the present pool.

In 1900 another pond was provided for the free use of bathers behind the old harbour, but that pond never proved very popular. Traces of it can still be seen from Sandilands promenade just over the sea wall opposite the Mission Coast Home.

Saltpans bathing pond was completely rebuilt and opened in its present form in June 1933 since when it has been a favourite haunt of the young each summer.
Susan,

I was reading an article today in an 1872 edition of the Glasgow Herald, the full contents of which I'll post next month in another topic, but it describes the death by drowning of a Glasgow holidaymaker at the THE PLUMB which is described as the configuration of rock in the sea opposite Melbourne Terrace, Saltcoats, "a very dangerous place.....where three other bathers, at different times, have lost their lives. It is situated near the corner of a rock, where it is supposed there is an undercurrent, working the sand into a large hole."

This is undoubtedly the phenomena described elsewhere on 'THREETOWNERS' as the 'SALTCOATS WHIRLPOOL' and which, to the best of my knowledge, last claimed the life of REBECCA LENNOX, aged 9, in June 2004.
Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by down south »

Thank you, PT. Every question, it seems , gets answered sooner or later.

Susan
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Re: A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

Post by hahaya2004 »

Hi Susan,
The Plumb Rock might be the one shown on this map - across from Melbourne Park/Melbourne Terrace, as PT mentioned.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/75494342

Irene
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