Auld Stinston's Awa - by Bob Auld

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Hughie
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Auld Stinston's Awa - by Bob Auld

Post by Hughie »

Where yince we daunered wae pride
Kindly neighbours were on every side
The folks that ye met, day in, day oot
Were the same as yersel', branch and root.
Aye singing or whustling like a bird
Greeting ever day was a kindly word
Or a deep throated chuckling, 'Haw, haw'.
Noo heaven help us 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The Toonheid's a wreck, it's an awfa upturn
Gone was the summers we aw still yearn.
Mount Pleasant tae, awa like the rest
The doos every Saturday, sport at its best.
A needle, an anchor, a fower inch screw
Was easy tae get frae auld Jimmy Doo.
The Mill, the Lade, the Bridal Faw
The cheery sing-sangs, but 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The Grange Road noo is torn apairt
Yet the smell o' baking warms ma hert
Nae maitter who the win' did blaw
Ye aye could smell it up at Kerelaw.
Jock Conn's yaird at the fit o' the brae
The stables, the trootwell aw gone tae
Times and places I remember wi' awe
It's a sad afair noo, 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The Schulwal and the Auld Manse Brae
Where Spud and we aw spent money a day
Sitting roon the lamp post at Sanny Broon's
Filling the air wi' auld Scots' tunes.
We'll never forget Jeanie Burns' stables
The McMails rechristened it Gartnavel.
The Pun, the taur biler, the sights a saw
Still warms ma hert, but 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

Nineteen-twenty-fower, they covered the burn
Progrees ye ken is hard tae spurn
The Auld brig was left like a dying ember
For we auld folks tae fondly remember.
Patrick Warner's fountain, rebuilt on the Loan
But somehow or ither 'twas out of tone.
If this is progress I'd change the law
It breks ma hert, for, 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The Boglemart tae, neglected and bereft
Alas, there's only a hauf o' it left.
Auld Mrs Kerr's, the last thacket hoose
Is noo jist history like Wallace and Bruce.
The Gasworks, the smiddy, the auls Sawny Hills
Where aw the boys showed their fitba' skills.
Even in the rain or through the snaw
It's nae the same, 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

What's left o' Cowrodden, San Tam's gone
The Scottish Loan and Joe Clark's pawn
Oor first Y.M. burnt the grun
The auld De-Luxe where the fleas had fun.
The Higher has been demoted
Where yince the best o' scholars swotted
Dan McMillan wae his hammer and saw
helped tae pit some o' 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The caley's been swept frae east tae west
As if by some savage destructive beast.
The Quarry's landscaped for recreation
It'll never compare wae the Caley Station.
Burnbank's left tae amuse the vandals
Doors and windows jist hang in shambles
Blawn in the wind like vagrant straw
In these restless times 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

I took a walk through Portland Place
Wee funny offices were going apace
The Trades Hotel now used for storage
The Wee Electric was a dirty garage.
Across the road frae the aging Trust
Caurs lying aboot were rotten wae rust
The dirt and the squalor stung tae the raw
'Twas a shabby sight, 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The station gates noo go up and doon
But they're aye closed faur too soon.
The Coalrie tae is quite desolate
Hauf the toon's suffered the same fate.
Woodburn Cottages went without a protest
Yet Geordie Sinclair's is long past its best.
Still the cooncil staun up and craw
It's a sad affair 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The wee corner's gone cawed Phesdo Place
Carment Drive and the Limekiln's replaced
George and Warner Street, even the big boot
Awa tae the museum, Saltcoats tae suit.
The Co-op and Gilmour's, gone wae never a sigh
Sadly these stalwarts had to die.
Colso's and Sufferandina' went tae the wa'
It's bad through the station, 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

The Auld Square's gone, so is Redan
Auld Warner Park where Ardeer began.
The Chemical Raw wae its fine Arran view
The Rabbit and Monkey Raws too.
The Cuckoo Brig, The auld Chanty Gates
Where the Ironworks always unloaded its freight.
Dae mony remember? Hoo mony care a straw?
The place is aw changed, 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

Was it yesterday or the day afore
That the Jubilee Brig led to the shore?
Thro' sawnhills that were mountains high
They seemed tae reach up tae the sky.
The Kiosk that Joe Morris made renown
Uncle Geordie, the minstrel, played the clown.
Day's long past, long summers and aw
The best, the dearest, 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

Morrison's bakery, Patrick's and Park's
swallowed up by big business sharks
Ardeer Foondry, the gallant wee Eagle
Aw succumbed tae the law o' the Jungle.
Scores o' men and hundreds o' boys
Respected craftsmen at each o' their ploys
Their heeds were high, nae need tae craw
Honest and prood, but 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

Cunninghame o' Auchenharvie wisna a fool
Yet aw that's left o' his memory's a school
Hamilton o' Grange, that is Kerlaw
Wrote the Bill o' Rights, now American law.
Patrick Warner o' Doo Cot Ha fame
Built Ardeer and gave it that name.
In an auld Scots word it's enough tae 'chaw'
The hert o' a saint for 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

There's nothing left for us tae boast
We're the Cinderella o' the Clyde Coast
But may be in nineteen-eighty-three
Sam Gooding says the blight will lee.
But time never tarries and we're well ahint
May be by then we'll aw be weel skint
Looking back, of money we've little ava
But blessed was content, though 'Auld Stinston's Awa'.

More poems by Bob Auld
Catherine Belle
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Re Bob Auld

Post by Catherine Belle »

Thanks Hughie!
It was so nice opening the lounge door and discovering that an old and much loved visitor had found his way to our "new hoose" (Frank's apt description) :wink:
Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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Post by joromomi »

Thanks for the poem Hugh, it was nice to see it again.
I remember when bus loads of people came to Stevenston for the " glasgow fair", you could hardly get a wee bit of sand to sit on it was that busy!
Now It's like a concrete jungle, so is the 'Cross ', nae character left.
It makes me sad..............Joyce.
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Post by Hughie »

For the Start of our Stevenston Weekend I thought I'd Bump Bob Auld's "Auld Stinston's Awa".
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Post by Catherine Belle »

hewmac wrote:For the Start of our Stevenston Weekend I thought I'd Bump Bob Auld's "Auld Stinston's Awa".
Excellent choice Hughie! :D
My life's a shambles right now...a dozen things going on at once...but I couldn't let my side down on oor big, "All Out Weekend". so here I am with a wee question that I hope somebody can help me with...
Bob Auld wrote:Mount Pleasant tae, awa like the rest
Where and what was Bob referring to? I've never heard of a "Mount Pleasant" in Stevenston.
Catherine
Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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Post by Hughie »

Catherine Belle wrote:Where and what was Bob referring to? I've never heard of a "Mount Pleasant" in Stevenston.
Catherine
Been some time since Catherine asked this question about the whereabouts of Mount Pleasant? maybe newer members have the answer?
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Anne
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Post by Anne »

hewmac wrote:
Catherine Belle wrote:Where and what was Bob referring to? I've never heard of a "Mount Pleasant" in Stevenston.
Catherine
Been some time since Catherine asked this question about the whereabouts of Mount Pleasant? maybe newer members have the answer?
Hi Hugh,
My Dad and his Family were all born up in Mount Pleasant and had 'doos'
If I can remember the Pub on the LHS going up Townhead St was/is Grangeknowe? it was the area way up the back of that. The new houses that were built up there is called Mount Pleasant after the original area
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Post by BWalsh »

I seem to remember "older" Stevenstonians refering to Mount Pleasant as "Doo Hill". Also I remember children's swings there before the houses.
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Post by Catherine Belle »

Thanks for all the replies, folks. :D
And thank you, Hughie, for the bump. :wink:
Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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