Allandale Cottages : reminiscences

by James Jamieson - www.allandalecottages.co.uk

ForewordAllandale, the village built on top of the Antonine Wall, bordered in the north by the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south by the former London, Midland, Scottish Railway looks as if it could stand for ever. Viewing Allandale from the B816 which runs through the centre of the village, there doesn’t seem to have been many changes made in the last 60 years. The two rows of red Dumfries sandstone houses look as they did circa 1940 when I grew up there. There have been changes made, some of the houses on the south side of the road have been altered by making 40 houses into 22 and each house on that side now has its own garden. The houses on the north side have had another room added upstairs. The street lighting is a lot more efficient and there is much more traffic on the road. In the late fifties, the council built twelve more houses at the west end on each side of the post office. There were also another 12 cottages at Dundas to the west of Al landale where the of f ice staf f and management were housed.

The village and the adjacent brickworks were all owned by the same company, John G. Stein & Co., so, the recollections will contain parts from both areas. Although I grew up in the village from 1934 until 1960, this narrative is not about me but about the village and the folk who lived there plus a record of the environment between those 26 years.

There are few reference books with which to verify all the facts and quite a few of my contemporaries are no longer with us so I have had to rely on the memories of myself and a few other Allandale folk for most of the facts. I thank them for their time and for the photographs. If you have any stories you wish to cont r ibu te o r photographs I can copy, please get in touch with me. If you can correct any of the details, you will also be welcome.

James Jamieson

Through The VillageAs you approach the village from the east there was a small row of 4 or 5 cottages immediately after Seabegs Wood or The Doctor’s Wood as it was called locally. The site is now used to store road materials. This was called Venezia and probably didn’t belong to the brickworks. Further on is another cottage still standing at the side of the pend under the canal. At the other side of the pend on the canal side were two adjoining cottages which were demolished when the line of the road was changed. Next is Underwood Cottage which was occupied by the McLeods for a number of years and still stands. At the foot of the hill is Underwood Lock on the canal, now an Indian Restaurant but was once occupied by the Lauries. Mr. Laurie was the lockkeeper and his house was attached to the stables where the horses were kept overnight when barges were hauled by them on the journey from Grangemouth to Glasgow.

At the top of the hill on the south side is Muirhead Cottage which was once a farm but is now only a villa. It was occupied by the

Reid family and later by Jimmy Buchanan and his family and on the other side of the road is Lockpark Cottage which was occupied by the Millar family. Mr. Millar was a butcher. Underwood cottage and Muirhead cottage were owned by Steins.

We have now reached the east end of Allandale but before the rows of cottages was the White House, also long gone occupied by Sam Reid and his family and later by the Johnstons. Sam kept hens and bees in his large garden and I believe part of his job in the brickwork pit was to deliver explosives from the storehouse behind Dundas Cottages to the pit each day. We are now in the main part of the village, the two neat rows of cottages faced with red Dumfries sandstone and divided every ten houses with a passage or “close”. The houses on the railway side were the even numbers and the canal side the odd numbers. The eight blocks of houses all differed in some way. The first block to be built was at the west end of the south side. These consisted of a living room which for some reason was called “the kitchen”, a bedroom, the kitchen which was called “the scullery” and outside toilet. All the other

houses in Allandale had inside toilets. There were front and back doors to each house. The bath for all the houses on the south side was in the scullery and there was no privacy. These houses also had an indoor coal cellar. Except for four end houses in the middle two blocks which had their own landing, all the others had a shared landing with the house next door both at the front and the back. All the houses had a small front garden but nothing at the back except a shared drying green During wartime there was the “dig for victory” campaign and everyone was encouraged to dig an allotment or ‘plot’ as they were called. Some of these utilised the ground between the drying greens and the railway but others were dug in a field at the west end next to the canal. Between the houses and the drying greens was a dirt road and at the side of the greens, which contrary to their name did not have any grass, were two sets of swings for the children. There also was a maypole but I can’t remember seeing any ropes attached to it. At the west end of the south side was a small playpark where football was played but this was slightly difficult owing to the almost 30 degree slope.

On the north side were another four blocks of houses which were the last to be built. These were roughly all of a similar layout. There was a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor and a bedroom upstairs. Except for all the end houses in each block which had their own landing, these houses also shared a landing but they shared t h e f r o n t l a n d i n g w i t h a d i f f e r e n t neighbour.They also had a dirt road next to the houses then drying greens. As the ground on which Allandale was built sloped from the south down to the canal in the north, the area was levelled off using ashes, etc. from the brickworks and the part next to the canal had a steep drop. In fact, the rubbish from the houses was still being collected by horse and cart up until the 1940s and dumped over the bing next to the canal. This was supplemented by waste from the brickworks.

We continue our tour from the west end of the village up the slight incline to the post office and sweet shop at the top of the hill. This shop is still in existence. The shop was locally known as ‘the dairy’ for some reason but, as far as I can remember, no milk was ever sold there. The shop was run by Mrs. Dunsmore.

Her husband, Adam, had a job in the brickworks and her son, also Adam, was employed there also. Later, Mrs. Dunsmore passed the shop on to her sister, Kate Bell, after the war and she ran it with a friend from the army.The Dairy had a house attached which was occupied by the Dunsmores. Above the dairy was two houses, one occupied by Bill ‘Whistler’ Millar and his family and the other by Willie Weir and family. Incidently, I believe Bill Millar was the only person in Allandale who owned a car during the war but it lay in the garage all during this time. The whole building was owned by a Mr. Tom Scott and was sold to William Stewart when he took over the running of the shop and post office.Further on about a 50 yards westwards, was the other retail establishment, namely the Co-op or as it was called locally, ’the store’.This was a branch of the Longcroft Co-operative Society. More about it later. Above the store were two houses, one occupied by the Jimmy Burnett and family and the other by Jessie Climie and her mother. Jessie was an accomplished violinist, she played for various local orchestras and taught the violin and the piano. Your tuition competed against

the distracting sounds of your pals playing football in the adjacent football field.

On the other side of the road from the store, a road went off under the railway bridge then forked again with one road going up the hill to the east entrance to the brickworks and the other going of to the east towards Woodend. The first house on this road was a railway house occupied by the Stirling family who worked on the railway. Then the road turned south up past the entrance to Strang’s farm, or more correctly, North Woodend farm.The farm was run by Mrs. Black whose maiden name was Strang. Her husband was a businessman in Glasgow and their two sons, Hamish and Melville, had other jobs too although they worked on the farm outside working hours. The farm was a source of milk for the village but you had to collect it from the farm. Further on up this road was a row of cottages which might have belonged to the farm but one of them was occupied by a shoe repairer called Swannie and the other by Bob Hamilton and family . Then over the other railway bridge at the LNER railway and we reach Woodend, which has now vanished. Mr. Tom Scott who I mentioned before as owning

the shop also owned this building which had about ten houses plus South Woodend farm and the Thorn . At the south side of the LNER railway were two adjoining cottages occupied by a Miss Towers and Paddy McRae, both elderly people. Up the hill from Woodend is South Woodend farm which was occupied by Bill Salmond and family, Betsy, Jean, Bill and Harry. Bill sold milk round the village at one time from churns on the back of his cart. This farm is now occupied by Bill’s daughter, Jean and her husband, Willie Dunsmore. There is a house at the other side of the road, called “The Thorn”. It really was two houses , the main house and a smaller house. The house was occupied at one time by Tom Scott and then by Adam Irons and family. Willie and Jean Dunsmore now live in the Thorn. The road continues on up the hill to more farms.

Back down on the main road, next to the store was the football field and changing hut then further along was the bowling green which also belonged to the brickworks and was called the John G. Stein Bowling Club. The bowling clubhouse was host to a variety of events which will be told later. Another hundred yards and we reach Dundas

Cottages, twelve houses which were occupied by office and managerial staff of the brickworks. Opposite Dundas was the west entrance to the brickworks under the railway bridge. Dundas was named after the family name of the Earl of Zetland. A hundred yards further west was Castlecary School which was an alternative to Greenhill School for the children of Allandale for about the first four years of their education. There was only one teacher at the school. Opposite the school was the site of the Roman Fort although there is not much to see as most of the stone was used in the building of the Forth and Clyde Canal but artifacts from the site can be seen in Dollar Park, Falkirk and in Edinburgh Museums. The last house on the road belonged to the Purdie family who had a small transport business. Then down the hill and the road met the main Glasgow road at Castlecary Viaduct.

The BrickworksThe brickworks of John G. Stein were opened at Castlecary Works in 1904 on ground owned by the Marquis of Zetland. The company had other works at Denny and Milnquarter Works at High Bonnybridge. The houses in Allandale were started soon after. The original owner John G. Stein died in 1927 as the result of a slight accident on the works which developed into gangrene. His son, Colonel Alan Stein took over as managing director. He had been an officer in the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He purchased Millfield Estate in Polmont in 1912 for £5,900 and this was the family home for many years. He died in 1954 and left a small sum of money to every employee who had served at least one year. The first manager was Charles Taylor, known as Old Charlie, who retired in 1945. Harry McGregor took over for a short time until Alex Birse, called Sanny became the manager and eventually a director.

As has been said before, all the householders in Allandale has to be an employee of John G. Stein except for any who had retired but there

was not many of them. They were not the only source of labour as special buses brought workers from Airdrie, Kilsyth, Twechar, Denny, Bonnybridge. Haggs, Banknock and Falkirk. At its peak the works employed app. 600 people and they built another works at Whitecross, Manuel Works, later. Most of the brickworks in Scotland were built on a line across the central belt as the clay seam ran along this. The larger firms would buy up smaller firms to get access to their clay supplies. Women as well as men were employed in the works but they were only employed in certain areas such as taking the newly made bricks from the Bradley machines, laying them out on the floor to dry then working alongside men in loading the dried bricks into the kilns for burning. Only men unloaded the kilns after burning. The hand moulders who made the more intricate shaped bricks were all men. All these operations with the exception of the machine operators were on piecework and they were usually finished by mid-afternoon. The factory hooter sounded at 6.30am and again at 6.55am. The hourly paid workers including all the tradesmen worked 44 hours per week in the 1940s and early 1950s. They started at

7am and finished at 5pm with 30 minutes off for breakfast at 9.30am and 40 minutes for lunch at 1pm The office staff worked from 9am until 5pm. Many of the workers from Allandale went home for their meals and the others either ate in the works canteen which supplied good hot meals or took a ‘piece’ with them and ate it at various convenient places. If the workers were working overtime which usually finished at 8pm, they had to take sandwiches, etc. with them as the canteen closed at 3pm. Allandale workers’ children sometimes took sandwiches to them at 5pm.

The works canteen started in February 1941 after a meeting presided over by Mr. Charles Taylor, the works manager, was held with the view to forming a committee to run it. The directors had agreed to fund the provision of the cooking facilities, utensils and the staff for the canteen which would then be run by the committee. The meeting was informed as to the amount of food allowed by the Ministry of Food , a guiding menu and the prices operating at another works scheme in the district.

The working conditions were not very good. Steam heating was run under all of the floors to dry the bricks and it was exceptionally hot in the summertime. Later, dryers were built utilising the excess heat from the kilns to dry the bricks before burning. Long service employees could usually be identified by having one or more fingers missing. This was mainly caused when using the small brick presses which were kept moving all the time and one man put the block of clay in whilst his partner at the other side of the machine took the finished brick out. If the first man did not get the clay in quick enough, the next cycle of the press could catch his finger, Sometimes his partner knew of the accident first when he saw the finger pressed into the brick. The victim had not felt it coming off. This lack of fingers caused one or two problems such as the difficulty in signalling the time to one of your workmates ! One or two others got a hand or leg off after getting it caught in the machinery. There were not many fatalities which is surprising as much of the machinery was unguarded. In fact, my father was killed in the works in 1947 by an injury to his head. He had been a regular soldier in the Argylls most of his life. Silicosis was also a hazard for

many caused by inhaling silica dust over a long period resulting in serious lung damage. The continuous kilns in which the bricks were fired were all coal fired and the coal came into the works on railway wagons and these were emptied by barrow to the side of the kilns being used. The fireman would shovel the coal into the fires at the correct rate so that the temperature inside the kilns was correct. There were frequent rows when the charts showed that this was not being done. On one occasion the works manager laid the chart out and carefully showed how the graph should rise. “That’s alright doing it with a pencil,” said the fireman, “you should try doing it with a shovel ! Later, the kilns were oil-fired which produced different problems. The boilers which supplied the steam to run the engines which produced the electricity for the works and the houses were also coal fired. One of the employees with an artistic flair drew intricate designs on the ends of two of the boilers with chalk. When one of the directors saw this he immediately supplied him with paint to make it more permanent.

All the bricks were despatched from the works by rail and there were two sidings which ran

right through the works. These came from the LMS Railway. The bricks were hand loaded into the wagons throughout the day, some direct from the kilns and others from the stockpiles. After 5pm, the shunters from the railway arrived and proceeded to take out all the wagons which were ready to go. This involved many movements of wagons and took many hours. In the morning, the train of wagons were taken to Grangemouth to be attached to trains for various parts of the country. This procedure meant that bricks could take a week to get to the customer and eventually this was abandoned in favour of palletised bricks being loaded onto road transport. In this way the bricks could be at the customer the next day. Stein exported bricks all over the world and they were usually shipped out of Grangemouth or Glasgow. During the 1960s the houses were passed over to the control of the Stirling County Council.Two peculiar stories ( which I am told are true )A soldier from Steins who was serving in North Africa was tramping through the desert when he stumbled on something buried in the

sand. When he checked to see what it was he uncovered a Steins firebrick.A correspondent of this site offered to lend me a copy of Kenneth Sanderson’s book “Steins of Bonnybridge”. He had been given the book by a freind who had come across two copies of the book on a bookstall………..in Albania.

The RelationshipThere was a close relationship between the residents of Allandale and the brickworks. Each relied on the other, the residents needed the brickworks for their living and housing as much as the brickworks needed the residents to staff the works.The brickworks started in 1904 and soon after the company began building the houses. By 1912 55 had been built then there was a lull during the 1st World War and building resumed after the war and was complete by 1925. The cost of building the houses before the war was £225 each and the last to be built cost £600. The houses are described elsewhere. The electricity for lighting was supplied from the works and was 500w DC current. The power was switched on from the works at 5am in the morning and off again at 11pm. The only exception to this was when someone had died or was dying. A member of the family would go to the works manager’s house and get a note to take to the engineman in the works. So, if the lights did not go off at 11pm, you would wonder who they were being kept on for. Nearly everyone supplemented the electric lighting with

paraffin lamps. The medium for cooking was gas stoves and the heating and hot water came from coal fires. The rent for the houses averaged 3/6 per week and this included the electricity. One peculiar fact was when the council built garages in Allandale in the 1950’s and the weekly rent for these was more than the house rents.

The householder had to be an employee of the company but others in the family need not be although most were. If the householder lost his job then they could be evicted but this did not happen very often. But, when my father was killed in an accident in the works, my mother got notice to quit the house one month later. However this was hurriedly withdrawn when the whole works threatened to walk out on strike. The company said that the notice had been a ‘formality’. The owners of the company, the Stein family, were the modern equivalent of the feudal lord and were usually treated as such by the employees. But they were quite benevolent employers although there was always a class difference. For instance, if anyone was helping the Conservative candidate at a General Election, he was paid his day’s pay but, if he was

working for the Labour candidate, he did not. The only people invited to the annual staff dance were the management and the office staff. Being an ex-officer in the Argylls, Col. Alan Stein would usually find a job for an ex-soldier.

The Stein family were very much involved in supporting Falkirk Royal Infirmary and their financial support is recognised in that wards and beds were named after the family. This still can still be seen in the commerative boards on the main stairway.

The PatternshopIn January 1950 I started an apprenticeship as a patternmaker in the brickworks at the marvellous wage of 9¾d per hour. The newest apprentice got all the odd jobs to do. These included making the tea, sweeping up, going for the papers, keeping the fire going, running messages, going for ice cream in the summer, plus any other jobs that the patternmakers wanted done. The sawdust from the machines was collected and used to line the football field on matchdays. The foreman who started me. Walter Bain, was off ill and died a few days later so I never got to meet him. The underforeman. Tommy Hamilton, was in charge for some time before another foreman was appointed. The new foreman decided to change a few practices. He decided that the apprentice should get a more formal training s o I wa s t o wo r k w i t h o ne o f t h e patternmakers from 7am until breakfast time at 9.30am. Unfortunately no-one took into consideration that I went for the tea for the men at 9.15am. The patternmaker wouldn’t allow me to go for the tea and I thought a riot was going to start. A compromise was

reached and I was allowed to go for the tea. Apprentices had to attend evening classes three nights a week, we were not allowed to attend the trade school which operated in Falkirk during the day. The foreman would ask what I had been learning the previous evening. On one occasion I said we had been doing cubic capacities so he gave me the size of a boiler and asked me to work out the capacity. The patternmaker on the other side of the bench asked me what I was doing and when I told him he started working it out too. Soon half the shop was doing it and all getting different answers. When the foreman discovered this he did not give me any more sums.The patternshop was situated on the top storey of a two storey building on the north side of the works and was quite a large building. The patternmakers when I joined were Tommy Hamilton, David Crawford, Wull ie Gladstone, Mungo Reid, Wil l ie Dalrymple, Adam Scott, Adam Dunsmore, Adam Stewart, Johnny Stark, David Anderson, D a v i d L i n d s a y , J o h n P u l l a r , A r c h i e Gillan and Hugh Campbell who was the apprentice above me. Later on many other people came to work in the patternshop

among them being: David Mitchell, Archie Stanners, Jimmy Scott, Peter Adrian, Ian Preston, Allan Lowe, Bobby McLean, Billy Wilson, Walter Watson, Alan Lawson plus some others whose names escape me.There were always competitions on the go at any one time. Most of the meal breaks saw the bridge school in action where the game was taken very seriously and people sometimes stopped talking to their partners because they had made a wrong call. There was also a pitchers competition. Pitchers are a smaller version of quoits where the pitchers were thrown at a pin stuck in the centre of a hole filled with clay. Darts were also played quite a lot. Each day some of the men played a Target word game taken from one of the newspapers. No one was allowed to start until after breakfast time and the competition was fierce to get the nine letter word plus the target of other words. Various small “arguments” were started for a bit of fun. For instance, one person would say that he could walk from Allandale to Denny in 30 minutes and somebody would disagree with him. The others would join in until everyone was at it. All good fun.

There were other patternmakers in the shop who made moulds out of steel. They were not allowed to join the United Patternmakers Association for some reason but were allowed to join the Engineering Union and I don’t think they served a recognised apprenticeship. Among them were Duncan McKenzie, Wullie Moffat, Alex Sorley, George Kordas, Jimmy Murphy, Billy Beck & Frank Burgess. George Kordas was Polish and had escaped from Poland when the Germans invaded that land at the start of the Second World War. He was quite strong and competed in hammer throwing at the Highland Games.There was an ongoing competition in the shop concerning a block of steel which was shaped for bending pieces of steel to be part of the wooden moulds. It was quite heavy and the object was to see how many times you could raise it above your head using only one hand. The record stood at about 80 times until somebody tempted George to have a go. He managed app. 300 and put an end to the competition and also just about put an end to himself as he was off work for a few days after straining the muscles of his back.The railway siding ran under the patternshop and the wood for making the patterns was

delivered in wagons and pulled up through a trapdoor in the floor of the patternshop by the patternmakers. This could be quite a heavy job especially when the 20ft lengths of yellow pine were wet. On my first time at this job I was to partner another patternmaker to stack the timber at the far end of the shop when it was pulled up by the others. When we had finished the foreman said he thought the stacks were not very safe and asked us to fix it. Unfortunately the other patternmaker thought otherwise and refused to fix it. As a result he was sacked. I found out later that there had been bad blood between them for some time.Another man to fall out with the management was Bobby McLean. Bobby came from Airdrie and had been a patternmaker at Fairfields shipyard in Glasgow which got him his nickname of “Fairfields Bobby”. He was a very good patternmaker with a tool box filled with tools we had never seen before but he also thought that he was indispensible. One day something went wrong with the steak pie in the canteen and everyone who had partaken of it had a bad case of diarrhoea during the night. We all managed to come out to work the next day except Bobby and

when he appeared the following day he demanded to be paid for his day off. When he was refused, he said he would leave if he wasn’t paid so the management said he could leave, which he did.Yellow pine was good wood to work with but could be quite expensive and the foreman decided to buy cheaper timber which was full of knots and the grain was uneven. In addition to this, the yellow pine was good for making “home jobs”. “Home jobs” were an on-going occupation in the patternshop and leant a bit variety to the work. These jobs were not always for the patternmakers as the various managers in the works wanted jobs done too. One Christmas the whole shop was stopped to make a layout for one of the Stein’s son’s railway which was to be a Christmas present for him. It was quite an expensive present. The foreman was also into this. he tried to make an aluminium casting which was to be used as a deflector on a fireplace of a friend of his. This was to stop hot ashes falling out of the fire and on to the carpet. He had about ten attempts at before he was successfull and the total cost was about £100. “Home Jobs” were his downfall as it was discovered he and his wife were

making furniture in the patternshop in the evening. He was sacked and Tommy Hamilton became the foreman again.Most of the men were involved in petty thieving such as taking firewood kindling home each evening all nicely ready for their wives to start the coal fire in the morning. Other bits and pieces were taken, some with permission, some without. Most of the management knew it was going on but turned a blind eye to it so long as it didn’t get out of hand . Arch ie G i l l an , one o f t he patternmakers, had been given a job for life after losing a leg in an accident at the brick machines. Archie played on this and I don’t think I ever saw him making a mould. His principal job was looking after the mould stores and telling anyone where to find a mould that was required. He also slept part of the day. Archie needed some green paint at home and duly filled a lemonade bottle with this and placed it inside his coat pocket at 5pm when he was going home. Unfortunately the weight was too much for the pocket and the bottle fell out and smashed on the ground at his feet while he was clocking out. Archie just walked on and later we saw the works manager and the watchman looking at this

pool of paint. Undaunted Archie arrived at work the next morning with one black shoe and one green shoe !!! He also used to take the valves out of his radio and bring them to work so that his landlady wouldn’t be able to listen to his radio. He sent a letter to a Norwegian radio station congratulating them on the programmes they broadcast in English. They replied thanking him for his kind words but also stated they didn’t broadcast in English. Once someone had written their name and address on a length of timber that arrived in the works from Canada. Archie duly made a note of this so that he could write to them (possibly to get an invite to Canada). The next batch of timber to arrive in the works also had names and addresses on it and this was pointed out to Archie. Unfortunately he wasn’t told these had been added after the timber arrived. What a character ! He met a couple on holiday once and, as people do, they invited him to visit them if he was in the area. Archie took them up on this and visited them in Dunoon…… every Friday evening and stayed till Sunday. One Friday when he arrived he discovered they had moved to another town without telling him. It took Archie a week or two to

trace them and resume his visits each weekend.Patternmaking was quite a skilled job and very different but equally as skilled as patternmaking in the foundries. The foundry pattermakers made patterns which were the exact shape of the finished casting whereas the brickwork patternmaker made moulds in which the finished brick was moulded. There was a very large range of bricks which were hand made in the works and many intricate shapes from arches to domes. They also made bricks for the fireboxes of railway steam engines and also made the firebox linings for the Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth ocean liners and many others.The patternmakers were left pretty much on their own without much interference mainly because none of the higher management k n e w m u c h a b o u t p a t t e r n m a k i n g . Occasionally one of the directors would make an annual appearance and just stand in the middle of the shop and look around just to make sure nobody had stolen it ! On one such occasion, Kenneth Sanderson, a director, w a s s t a n d i n g l o o k i n g a r o u n d a n d , unfortunately Tommy, the foreman, was cutting up firewood for Bob Fraser, the

company secretary, and putting it into bags. He got quite nervous of the director standing behind him and eventually he turned round and said, “It’s not for me, ye ken”. I don’t think the director had even noticed or bothered what was being cut.Tommy was a very genuine man and wouldn’t do anyone any harm but he was never cut out to be a foreman and unfortunately some of the men played on his good nature. I think he would have been happy to remain an underforeman.Another good point in having a patternshop on the premises was that parts for machinery could be processed in-house. For instance, if part of a Bradley brickmaking machine was worn out and had to be replaced, a pattern could be made and sent to a local foundry in Denny and they would make a casting which would be sent back to the brickworks and machined ready to be fitted to the machine. This was a cheap and quicker alternative to buying parts from the manufacturer although probably illegal.

The PipebandAllandale Pipe band was founded in 1933 by Pipe Major Malcolm McLachlan of the 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. He wanted to raise the awareness in Allandale of the pipes and also encourage youngsters to learn the pipes and drums. He soon managed to gather a few enthusiasts for the band but there were no instruments, uniforms or money to buy them. He appealed to the villagers for help in raising the money and soon there were many fundraising activities on the go. Mrs. McLachlan even made toffee apples to sell to the children. A sum of £200 was raised and instruments and uniforms were purchased but they had no meeting place for practice until Mrs. McLachlan allowed them to use her kitchen night after night.

The band went from strength to strength and in 1938 returned in triumph from the Cowal Games as world champions after winning the Lord Inverclyde Shield, the Sir Harry Lauder Shield, the Crozier Shield, 72 medals and £10 in cash.

When war broke out in 1939, Malcolm McLachlan asked the band to join up, and, in a body, they marched to Bonnybridge and enlisted in the Argylls, except for a few who were under age. The pipers, as part of the 51st Highland Division, took part in the Battle of El Alamein where they piped the troops into battle. But the triumph was darkened by the death of Malcolm and his brother Ian. Another brother, Kenneth, was severely wounded in the battle.

In February 1946, a meeting was held to revive the band as soon as the surviving members were released from the army. The new president was J. McKenzie Miller, vice-president, Archie McLachlan, treasurer, G. Smith, secretary, Stewart Cunningham. The committee were messrs. G.Gall, F. McLachlan, P ipe Majo r J . Smi th , MM, and Mrs . M.McLachlan, widow of Malcolm McLachlan. As one of their number said, “We will go all out to win fresh honours for the band until the time comes when once again, as in 1938, we can march in triumph through Allandale, for we all recognise that such a ‘victory march’ would be our best tribute to Pipe Major McLachlan”.

Allandale Pipe band did indeed win many further honours and marched through the village in triumph on many occasions. There were many other members of the village and the surrounding area who were part of the band in future years. Some I recall were Pipe Major John McConnachie, Hugh Campbell, Malcolm Graham and supporters George Bell and Jimmy McWhinnie. I would like to record other members of the band here, if anyone can add to the names please e.mail me.

Pipe Major John Smith B.E.M., M.M., was a member of the World Championship winning band of 1938 and he was one of the band who joined the Argylls at the start of WW11. He was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery at the Battle of El Alamein. His citation reads “Sgt. Smith, as medical Sgt. gave an outstanding display of courage, calmness and efficiency. In spite of continuous heavy fire and numerous casualties he carried out his work with a complete disregard of danger and a thoroughness and determination which was an inspiration to the men he led.”He was also decorated with the British Empire Medal for his services to piping at a ceremony at Edinburgh Castle on 7th December 1964.

He is 2nd from the right in the 1938 photograph.His two brothers, George Smith and Ronald Smith were also members of the pipe band after the war. George Smith is the Pipe Sgt. on the right and Ronald Smith is the piper seventh from the right in both the 1950s photgraphs.Pipe Major Smith’s son, Roy, joined the band as a young piper just before it broke up. He went on to join other pipe bands including the Fallin Pipe Band, the 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Pipe band, the 153 H Regt. RCT Pipe Band. In 1964 he was founder/instructor with the Denny & Dunipace Pipe Band who have just celebrated their 40th Anniversary and he is still involved with them.I am indebted to Jim Bell, Roy Smith, Bobby Tasker & Adam Baxter for information about the pipe band.

WartimeAs Steins made firebrick for the steel industry, most of the men in Allandale did not have to go to the forces as they were in a reserved occupation. Some did volunteer and served throughout the war in the various services. In fact. in 1941 there were 149 employees serving in the forces of which 22 were prisoners of war in Germany. The War Relief Fund had sent 127 parcels to the serving soldiers the previous Christmas and the ladies of the district had knitted 300 pairs of socks, mittens, scarves and helmets for the soldiers. There was little information coming through as to the whereabouts of the prisoners of war but word was received from Private Willie Dunsmore, the son of Mr. & Mrs. James Dunsmore and also from Private Michael Kennedy, the son of Mr. & Mrs. James Kennedy that he was in Stalag 1XC at Bad Sulza in Germany and that he had received the parcel they had sent to him the previous October. Other prisoners of war were John Millar, Robert Dalrymple, Thomas Kirk and Bobby Morris and a Mr. McGhee. Bobby Morris was in Stalag XX1D near Posen an area

of Poland which was annexed by the Germans at the start of WW2. Polish name is Poznan. (see photos) Most, if not all of the soldiers taken prisoner were with the 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders who didn’t get out at Dunkirk and the 7th Battalion were nearly all either killed or captured. Bobby Morris relates that he was captured by an Arsenal supporter. He was a German officer who had been working in London just before the war and had supported Arsenal during his stay. He had received his call-up to the German Army while still working in London. Bobby says the officer treated them very well and made sure they were given food as they hadn’t eaten for some time. Bobby probably was called up at the start of the war as he had joined the Territorial Army about a year before the war started. He was told to report to the oil pumping station at Castlecary where he stayed for a short time then was bussed to Grangemouth where they lived in tents on the docks. The Argyll Museum at Stirling Castle contacted me as they had read Bobby’s story on the site. They wanted to find out more about his experience as a POW to include it in their magazine. They sent a list of topics for Bobby, assisted by his son, Alan, to write

about. They worked at Bobby’s story and finshed it on a Friday but sadly Bobby died the following Monday. But his story will be available for others both in this site and in the Argyll magazine.George ‘Dodie’ Anderson who was a moulder in Steins was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions during the battle to take Monte Cassino in Italy in February 1944. He was later to take charge of the Ambulance Room at Castlecary Works. Details of his citation can be found on a following page.There was a works committee comprising the management and workers who had the power to recommend removal of the reserved status of any worker who did not attend work regularly. An outward sign of the hostilities was the removal of all the iron railings from the front of the houses. These were to be sent away as scrap iron to help manufacture armaments but the fact was that they were still lying in the brickworks long after the war was over. Eventually they were replaced years later. The village had its own company of the Home Guard, named the Castlecary Works Home Guard ( No. 6 Platoon) A Company, 2nd Stirlingshire Battalion under the command of

Lieut. Willie McEwan, with Sergeant Stewart Cunningham & Sergeant Moffat. Other members of the platoon were Cpl. Alex Birse, L/Cpl. Robert Stewart, L/Cpl. Alex Miller and Privates Tom Dalrymple, George Buchanan, Robert Lyons, James McAuley, Jimmy O’Neill, Robert Proffitt, George Scobbie, Alf. Sludden, Tommy Valentine, Thomas West. They were often seen practising for the day when they would have to guard the village or the brickworks against the enemy. Fortunately they didn’t have to. There is a story told, which may or may not be true, that one night a Home Guard soldier was on guard at the west end of the brickworks when he saw men creeping along the railway. He shouted to them but did not get a reply so he opened fire on them. Unfortunately they were railway workers who had to work in the dark as lights would be seen by planes. Fortunately no-one was hit by the bullets. The Home Guard were disbanded in 1945 and at the final function Col. Stein presented trophies for shooting then complimented the men on the excellent marksmanship. Lieut.McEwan then presented each man with a certificate from H.M. the King. Corporal Birse then presented Lieut.

McEwan with an umbrella suitably inscribed from the members of the platoon.

The Stein Allandale Branch of the St. Andrews Ambulance Association was very active during the war and held regular meetings where members were instructed by a local doctor on the elements of first aid. The commandant was Mr. Harry McGregor and other members were Peter Duff, John Reid, Alex Rollo, Tom Duncan, Harry McArthur & T. Dalrymple,jnr. Among the junior members were Campbell Miller and William Preston.

Nobody heard any bombs being dropped on Allandale but after the war, William Rollo found a live naval shell near the canal. There had been no reports of naval battles on the canal so this was probably a memento of the war that somebody had disposed of. The shell was dealt with by the army bomb disposal squad. There were no air-raid shelters built and when the sirens went off everyone retreated to the makeshift shelters under the iron bedsteads in the houses. But to the children of the village life went on as normal except for the fact that sweets, etc. were all rationed and they all had to keep count of

their sweet coupons. There was extra time for playing in the evening as Double British Summertime had been introduced to allow farmers to work later. Gas masks had to be carried at all times and there was regular practice at school in putting them on quickly. One of the fatalities of the battles was Pipe Major Malcolm McLachlan of the Argylls from the village who was killed at El Alamein. Another who was taken prisoner was Bobby Morris and there was great rejoicing when it was learned that he was on his way home. The street was decorated with banners and flags as everyone waited for his return but as the night wore on without any sign of him, they all went off to bed and Bobby arrived in the early morning when nobody was awake. The village had a Welcome Home Fund for the returning servicemen and many events were organised to swell the kitty with which to give each man a small sum for his pocket. The Welcome Home Fund was wound up at the end of the war and the total sum raised had been £428 and this was handed over to the Bonnybridge & District Central Committee.

Captured enemy prisoners of war were offered employment in the brickworks and the first

batch were Italian. They were kept in Castlerankine Camp near Denny and were transported to the works each morning on the back of the work’s lorry. At first they were guarded by soldiers but as Italy surrendered towards the end of the war, the guards disappeared. The prisoners all wore dark brown uniforms with big coloured patches on their backs. They were replaced later by Germans who again were guarded most of the time. There did not seem to be any animosity shown to these men and they worked alongside the other workers. I got to know one or two of the men as my father was a chargehand in the brickworks and, like a lot of the other children, I took his lunch, etc. up to the works. One of the Germans asked me to get him tartan notepaper to send letters home and I eventually found some in a stationers.

The showing of l ights was rigorously discouraged and all the windows of the house had blackouts fitted at night. Vehicles headlights were shielded so that only a small beam was directed on to the road. Buses windows were also blacked out and the conductress had a small flap which she could peer out of and shout out the next bus stop.

At the end of the war there was great rejoicing.

On VE Day and VJ Day, large bonfires were erected between the north side houses and the canal. Most of the material came from the brickworks with adults and children bringing the wood, etc. down to the site each evening f o r a week be f o r ehand . The wo rk s management had given permission for empty tar barrels to be utilised as the base for the bonfire but, ‘unfortunately’, the men took the full barrels instead with the result that the fire burned with great effect for part of the next day. There was dancing in the street to the music of Agnes Hutchison on the piano, which had been carried into the front garden. On VE Day, Harris’s Picture House in Bonnybridge was free to all the children of the area. Rationing continued for some time after the end of the war and some fruits, etc. did not appear for some time. When the word went round the village that the Co-op had bananas, everyone rushed up with their ration books. The assistants made the remark that “ You would think they had never seen bananas before” but some of the children had not. In

fact, some of them did not like this strange delicacy.

CitationC i t a t i o n f o r t h e a w a r d o f t h e Distinguished Conduct Medal to No. 2983211 Sergeant George Knight Anderson of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.

“During the Cassino operations, this NCO was attached to an advanced dressing station of 17 Field Ambulance as NCO in charge of a party of stretcher bearers. On the night of 17th/18th February 1944, 1/2 Gurkha Rifles were involved in an attack on the Monastery of Monte Cassino. During this action, the Battalion suffered very heavy casualties and the advance was halted in very close proximity to most strongly held enemy positions. At approximately 04.30 hours in the morning of 18th February, information was received at the advanced dressing station to the effect that casualties had been incurred in the Regimental Aid Post of 4/6th Rajputana Rifles. Sergeant Anderson at once organised a party of stretcher bearers and proceeded up the treacherous and exposed hill path to the unit. Although the track was under shell and

mortar fire he went direct to the Regimental Aid Post and successfully evacuated three casualties.Soon after his return assistance was asked for by the 1/2 Gurkha Rifles. Immediately Sergeant Anderson volunteered for duty and set out with a party without delay. Owing to the attack the enemy was employing all his available fire power both on the Battalion positions and on the approaches. On the route that had to be taken by Sergeant Anderson’s party, snipers were very active and the whole journey was undertaken through an inferno of shelling, mortar and small arms fire. On arrival at the Regimental Aid Post he found the Commanding Officer was badly wounded and would undoubtedly die if speedy surgical attention was not available. At once he proceeded with his squad to carry this officer back a distance of one mile over the route on which – such was the intensity of enemy fire – there seemed no chance of survival. Throughout the ensuing nightmare journey, Sergeant Anderson’s only thoughts were for his patient and he refused to endanger him or cause him discomfort by undue hurry or jolting. Happily his task was successfully

accomplished and the officer received the necessary attention in time to save his life.Sergeant Anderson then sent his squad back to rest and then without a thought for himself proceeded to organise further parties of bearers, each of which he led personally with cheerfu l encouragement back to the Regimental Aid Post. Altogether he made four more such journeys to the R.A.P. and back. His self-sacrifice, indomitable courage and cheerful determination were the direct means of saving at least one life and of bringing twenty more stretcher cases to safety. His conduct throughout was beyond all praise.”

George “Dodie” Anderson

The Day The Train StoppedAdditional Article by Hannah (McBeath) B a t e m a n , o r i g i n a l l y p r i n t e d i n Scottish Memories

The Day the Train Stopped.

“In 1940, my father brought my mother and his six children from our farm cottage in Lanarkshire to live in a small village called Allandale where we were to spend our childhood.

Allandale boasted a pipe band and at the onset of the Second World War the pipe major had marched his pipers and drummers to Bonnybridge where the entire band enlisted.

In early 1942, word went round the dwellings like wildfire that the troop train which included the Allandale pipers had to pass the village that day. The brave men were on the first leg of their perilous journey to fight in North

Africa. Mothers, families, friends and neighbours awaited the train to get a fleeting glimpse of their loved ones. The time was imminent and all eyes looked towards Larbert Station where the soldiers had embarked.

The train thundered into sight then slowed, shuddered and paused. Beret-clad heads leaned out of every window. Soldiers smiled and waved cheerfully. Hurriedly scribbled notes which had been wrapped round stones were thrown from the carriage windows. One landed at my brother’s feet and it was quickly delivered to the mother in the next landing to ours. This fortunate mother’s son returned unscathed from the battles. Not so lucky were the two piper McLachlan brothers who were killed in the Battle of Alamein and one of their daughters was to become fatherless before she was born. Long after the train had gone, women stood weeping then slowly returned to the shelter of their homes. I look back on that day with conflicting thoughts. Did the train stop or merely slow down ? I prefer to believe througth the eyes of that patriotic child of yesteryear, that for one golden moment the war stopped for Allandale.”

EducationIn 1939, children had to go to school from the ages of five to fourteen, this was changed in the forties to fifteen. Allandale children had a choice of which school to enrol in. There was no choice for Roman Catholic children, they all went to St. Joseph’s School at High Bonnybridge but the others could either go to Castlecary School, Greenhill School or Bonnybridge School. If they went to Castlecary, they only stayed there for four years then transferred to Greenhill or Bonnybridge. The others who had enrolled at Greenhill or Bonnybridge could stay there for their entire schooling. This was changed in 1947 when Greenhill became a primary school only with secondary pupils completing their education at either Bonnybridge, Falkirk Technical or Denny High Schools. To get to Falkirk or Denny, pupils had to pass a control examination. In 1939, Castlecary School had a roll of 30 pupils although this was supplemented by the arrival of evacuees from Clydebank, and after 1940 there was only one teacher, Mrs. Chalmers, who was there until she retired in 1949 when Miss Stark took

over. The school was now only an infant school and the roll was 19 pupils. Pupils attending this school had to walk there. The school closed in 1975 but is now a private nursery.

Pupils travelling to Greenhill, Bonnybridge and St. Joseph’s Schools had a special bus morning and afternoon. This cost 1d per journey and, in the morning the conductress sometimes got one of the children to collect all the pennies then made out one ticket. In the afternoon, the bus driver was usually Alex Cunningham and the conductress Dodie Smith. For some obscure reason she used to take the tickets from everyone after she issued them We always felt there was an ulterior motive. Woebetide anyone coming on the bus with dirty shoes or clothes, on more than one occasion they were told to get off and walk home. When there was heavy snow and the buses couldn’t get to Allandale, the children usually walked to school, a distance of app. 3 miles. For pupils going to Denny High there was a special bus which also went on to St.Modan’s in Stirling but for travel to Falkirk Tech the journey was not so easy. They had to get the Airdrie bus at 7.50am to

Castlecary then get a Bo’ness bus to Falkirk. In the afternoon they got a Glasgow bus to Longcroft then walked over Underwood Loan, across the canal locks at Underwood and on up to Allandale. In the late forties, Alexanders put on a Falkirk bus at 8.20am which made the journey much easier. Free bus travel was introduced about 1948 for pupils who had to travel more than three miles to school and this was much appreciated by the parents. Some of the Greenhill teachers names were Mrs. Thomson, Miss Anderson, Miss Batchelor, Miss Irvine, Miss Gillies and the headmasters were Mr. Deans and Mr. McGregor. The janitor was Mr. Horne who went round the houses of the absentees on his bicycle each morning to check up on why they were not at school.Some of the Falkirk Tech. teachers were Miss Webb and Mr. Dick (English), Miss Barrie (Maths.), Mr. Collumbine and Mr. Allison ( Woodwork and tech. drawing ), Mr. Gillies (Art) , Mr. Woods (Swimming), Mr. Brown (P.T.), Mr. Cranston (Mechanics), Mr. Currie ( Science). The headmaster was Mr. Lockhart and headmistress was Miss McKerracher.During the war, pupils helped at the potato harvest or, as it was called, “tattie howking”

and they helped at local farms for about one shilling an hour and, if the farmer was generous, a boiling of tatties to take home at the end of the day. A lot of the farmers thought they were getting overcharged especially having to pay 10/- an hour for the teacher who accompanied the pupils. Most of the teachers helped the farmer but they didn’t have to. At Greenhill School we were sent to Denholm’s Farm (Drum Farm ? ) and to Starks of Bondomonie at Castlecary. At first Starks was quite good as he didn’t have a tractor and the digger was pulled by a horse which meant we had a long wait until it came round again. But this was changed in the afternoon when he hired a tractor which went round at about 30 miles per hour ! At Falkirk Tech. we went to farms near Doune. As part of the National Savings campaign, a large bomb ( without the explosive !!!) came round the schools and the pupils bought savings stamps and stuck them on the bomb which they were told would be dropped on Germany. Of course, the stamps did not need to be redeemed. There was also a collection of rose hips which were sent away to be made into rose hip syrup. All the windows in the school had a net material stuck to them so that the glass would not

shatter if a bomb was dropped and at the end of the war this was removed and used in the craft lessons to make teapot stands. Pupils were encouraged to save and most would take a small amount to be added into their school bank books each Monday. Then, when they had saved a £1 in their book, they would bring in their Falkirk & District Trustee Savings Bank book and this would be sent away for the £1 to be added in.To be able to leave school at the summer holidays, your 15th birthday had to be before the 1st of September, if it was even a few days after this you had to stay on until Christmas. Most of the pupils in this category were put into the same class and quite often didn’t have a teacher. Some took a regular half day off to go to the pictures and nobody seemed to notice.

Leisure and RecreationMost people would say that Allandale was a great place to grow up in in the 40s and 50s. There was always plenty to do although there w a s n o t a l o t o f o r g a n i s e d entertainment.There was an abundance of open space to play games such as football and get up to all kinds of mischief. The canal was a popular area for fishing. Perch, pike and eels were quite plentiful and unfortunately we hadn’t learned to put them back into the canal after we caught them as they were no use for eating. But there was always a plentiful supply when we went back with another supply of worms. Swimming in the canal was not very popular as we were well warned about the dangers of drowning but we did have an occasional paddle. There were not many drowning accidents although we did lose a pal in Tommy O’Neill who fell off an overhanging tree branch. Adam Baxter from Woodend and a Mr. Taylor from Allandale also drowned after going for a swim after finishing work. Adam Baxter’s body was not found until many days

later when it floated to the surface 100 yards from where he drowned. It was spotted by Italian P.O.W.s on their way to Steins and one of them dived in and recovered the body. Mrs. Kennedy from Allandale also drowned near her house. When the fishing fleets were moving from one coast to the other through the canal, we would wait at Underwood Lock and ask for a sail to the next lock, Lock 18. Then run back down for another sail. In the winter the canal would freeze over and even the icebreaker, the Clydeforth, couldn’t keep the way open. The more adventurous would walk across the ice but this was not something to be tried often. In the autumn, burning the grass was a popular craze and the youngsters would come home smelling of smoke and, of course, your mother would know what you had been doing. But the fires never seemed to get out of control. There was a plentiful supply of woods round about where we would go to play games, climb trees and build huts We would be away all day and no-one seemed to worry where we were.

There was a local troop of the Boy Scouts, the 57th Stirlingshire which met every Friday evening at 7pm. This was put back to 7.15pm

when the serial ‘Dick Barton’ was on the radio from 6.45pm until 7pm. The Scoutmaster was Willie Weir and later Mungo Reid. We did all the usual scout activities and went to the annual camp in the summer for two weeks or three weeks. The camps were at Montrose for two years then went to Berwick-on-Tweed. We always went by train.When we arrived at Berwick, we were transported in a coal lorry to the camp which was miles outside the town. Mungo the scoutmaster at that time arrived later as he had to work and was horrified at how far we were out of town as he wanted to be able to go to the dancing. There was always plenty of adults to look after us.So we transferred to Spittal to be nearer civilisation. I got into trouble when I received a letter from my mother in which she had enclosed a £1 note to be given to Alex. Unfortunately I gave it to Alex Lyons instead of Alex Henderson which annoyed his family greatly when they came to visit. The troop needed football strips and decided to raise funds by collecting glass jam jars which the Co-op said they would buy. Unfortunately, we collected that many that the manager took fright and would only pay us for part of the collection. As a result there was not enough to

pay for the strips so the scout leaders had to make up the difference but they didn’t tell us this until much later. The Girl Guides and Brownies also had a company in the village.

For the men in the village there was the bowling green which had been built by Steins in 1929 for employees only. No women played bowls. Later non-employees were admitted and it was sold to the members in 1980.The bowling green clubhouse was also the venue for whist drives plus dominoes for those who couldn’t play whist. Whist was a serious activity and not for the faint-hearted. You didn’t make many friends if you played the wrong card against your partner. The village library was also accommodated in the clubhouse and officiated by Helen Millar and Jimmy Benson on one evening per week. You were supposed to be limited to three books at a time but this was frequently ignored.

Before the war, there was an active male voice choir in the village but this was wound up in 1941 when the funds of the choir were donated to provide equipment for the new ambulance for the St. Andrews Ambulance

Association. Among the members were , Jimmy Benson, Hugh Adamson & G. Minto

The new ambulance which was purchased by fundraising in Castlecary, Bonnybridge & Manuel Works of J.G. Stein was handed over by Col. Stein to the St. Andrew Ambulance Association at a function in 1941.

The works canteen was also a venue for social activities. There were concert parties at various times, the adult one was formed in 1941 and was called the “Dale Concert Party” under the direction of Mr. John Moffat and they operated during the war years to raise money for the war effort. The childrens’ one was organised by John and Agnes Hutchison who put in many hours of hard work rehearsing the children for a one-off concert. This consisted of musical items and short playlets. Of course, these concerts were always well supported by all the parents and friends of the participants. Also in the canteen, a recreational club was held with various games and carpet bowls. The recreation club was eventually moved to prefabricated buildings at the end of the football field. These buildings had previously

been used as offices at Manuel Works. The new building had table tennis, billiards and darts plus a television room. Refreshments such as tea, soft drinks and biscuits could be purchased f rom George Stewart the clubmaster.

Allandale had a football team which played in the Stirlingshire Welfare League. One of the highlights I can remember is the team beating Grangemouth Dockers in the final of the Stirlingshire Welfare Cup at Brockville. Among t h e p l a y e r s w e r e J i m m y ‘ H e c t o r ’ McKenzie,Jakey Hamilton, Jimmy Millar,Jock Millar, Maxie Millar, Adam Dunsmore and Dick MacDonald, who was the lockkeeper at Lock 18 which was just below the football field.

There were no pubs or hotels in the immediate vicinity of Allandale. The bowling club did not have a licence. If the men wanted a drink they had either to get the bus to Bonnybridge or Falkirk. They could walk over the canal and Underwood Loan to Longcroft but not a lot bothered. Jock Thomson who had a licensed grocers shop at Longcroft served drink unbeknown to the authorities in a back room. Later, the Post Office was taken over

by Bill Stewart who had been the manager of the Co-op and he applied for an off-licence for his shop. The company annual staff dance, which was only for the management and office staff, was held in Mathiesons in Falkirk High Street and there was no alcohol served at this until 1962. But the more daring would have a good drink before they went to the dance. Before WW2 the Steins Ball was held in the Bonnybridge Public Hall. One of the Mrs. Stein, probably Mrs. Alan Stein, enjoyed dancing the old set dances such as the Lancers and the people to dance in the sets were notified beforehand so that they could learn the dances if they did not know them. It was a very formal occasion.

In the winter nights, especially if it was cold or wet, the radio was enjoyed as much as te levis ion is now.There were al l the favourites,“ITMA”,“Have A Go” with Wilfrid Pickles, “Paul Temple”, serials such as “Dick Barton, Special Agent”, “ The McFlannels” The news was followed each evening during the war by “Into Battle” which, with its distinctive theme tune,was a favourite with the details, or maybe part of the details, of all the fighting fronts. My father, he had been demobbed just

before the end of the war because of his age, had a large map of Europe mounted on a board on which he would colour in all the advances reported that day. Most of the radios in the village were powered by accumulators. It was advisable to have two and one was recharged ready for the time when the other one packed in. Other communities had to pay to get their accumulators recharged but Allandale was lucky as they could get theirs recharged for free in the brickworks. Care had to be taken when carrying them as the acid in them could spill and burn your skin or clothes.

A big event in the village was the gala day which was held in June each year. The children dressed in their best clothes and with their tin mug on a ribbon round their neck would parade through the village led by the band to the football field. During the war when the pipe band was not available, bands would be brought in from various parts of the district. There they would all be given a bag containing cakes and buns plus a bottle of milk. Then races would be held for all the age groups with money prizes for the winners. Adults would have 5-a-side football and tug-

of-war. The pipe band would play during the afternoon. If the weather was bad, the cakes, etc. would be distributed in the works canteen and the races might be held on an evening next week. The Longcroft Co-op and Bonnybridge Co-op also held gala days for members’ children. Although there was a football field available, football was often played on the main street and there were few interruptions to let traffic through and there was heading matches in the closes.

The 1940s and 1950s were the boom years for the cinemas. Allandale did not have a cinema but occasionally there would be a film show in the canteen. This would probably be old documentaries and Charlie Chaplin epics. The nearest cinema or picture house was Harris’s in Bonnybridge where the programme changed three times a week. They also had a matinee on Saturday for children when the admission was 2d for the wooden seats at the front and 3d for the cushion seats further back. Smoking cinnamon sticks was common at this time among the young people and we would go to Robertson’s shop at Bonnybridge Toll to select one that would smoke well. In the evening the admission was 6d for the

‘dumps’ , as the wooden seats were called, 10d for the cushion seats or, if you were “winching” , as courting was called, you might splash out for the 1/3d double seats up the back. For this you got a ‘B’ picture, cartoon, serial, news and a big picture. People went to the pictures regularly without sometimes knowing what was showing until they got there. When we got more adventurous, we ventured into Falkirk. Firstly, we would go to the children’s cinema clubs which were held in the morning in the Pavilion and Regal Cinemas. Then when we got a bit older the whole world of the cinema was available to us. Or that should be the Falkirk cinemas, there were five to choose from in the centre of town, The Pavilion at Newmarket Street, The Regal in Prince’s Street, The Picture House in Bank Street, The Salon in Vicar Street and the Cinema in Melville Street. Denny had two cinemas, the Picture House and the De Luxe. There were queues at all of them every Saturday evening. The shows were all continuous so you could go in at 2pm and come out at 10.30pm. If you lived in Allandale, you had to be out to catch the last bus which left the bus station at 10.20pm and was in the village at 10.45pm.

In winter time there was always the attraction of the frozen canal to be resisted but there were plenty of sites available for sledging. The less venturous could go onto Strang’s field at the other side of the railway but for the ultimate experience you had to go to the brickwork brae. The run started at the end of the brickwork then went down the hill crossed the Woodend road, went under the railway bridge, across the main road then down the side of the Co-op and finished behind it. It was fortunate that there was little traffic on the road at the busiest times but there was no traffic when the snow came so it was quite safe to go across the road. For those less fortunate who did not have a sledge there was always the opportunity to borrow one of the firemen’s shovels and slide down on that. At the end of the evening everyone was soaking wet and the brae was like glass which made us very popular with the workers in the morning.

ShoppingThe Allandale Branch of the Longcroft Co-operative Society was opened for business in 1914 and continued until 1958 when it was s o l d a n d c o n v e r t e d i n t o h o u s i n g accommodation. The dividend for members was calculated by the amount of plastic tokens they had purchased. The tokens were from 1/2d up to 10/- and heaven help you if you paid for anything with cash and therefore did not get any dividend for that purchase. The co-op or ‘store’ as it was called, sold practically everything you could require from paraffin to clothing, fruit and vegetables, groceries, sweets and even carbide for the miners lamps. It was also possible to buy your furniture from the store. You got a line to take through to the Wholesale Co-op in Glasgow who had a large selection to pick from . The Longcroft and Bonnybridge Co-ops also sold merchandise from vans. They had butcher vans and bakery vans. Some came every day and others once a week.

The post office and shop, called “the Dairy”, sold sweets, lemonade, called “ginger”, cigarettes and tobacco plus other small items.

There were two hardware traders with vans who visited the village once a week. They were a type of “Open All Hours” on wheels. They were Marshalls and McKenzie. They sold every possible household supplies you could ask for.

One type of trader who has vanished from the scene was the man with the suitcase who went from door to door selling clothing. There was a man from Cumbernauld called Watson and the other went under the name of “Johnny the Jew”. They seemed to make a good living from this type of trading as they were part of the scene for many years. I seems quite funny now to think of these men with their big cases pulling out items of women’s underwear and displaying them on people’s doorsteps.

The unforgettable Alex “Sanny” Pollock came round the village selling fruit and vegetables usually in the evening. He had a yard at Greenhill. He offered a personal service, going

into the house, getting their order and then delivering it.

After the war, the ice cream vans appeared. usually on a Friday evening after the workers had been paid. One of them from Glasgow was called Coia and he had a flashy American van. There was also a local ice cream manufacturer at Longcroft called Gentles who traded under the name “Dairymaid”. He manufactured ice cream and ice lollies, called “Icicles”, from a small farm steading.

There were two coal merchants who came round the houses each week.

TransportAs I have mentioned before, there was only one car in Allandale and most people travelling anywhere would use the buses and the service through Allandale was operated by Alexanders. The usual bus service was the Falkirk-Airdrie bus which ran every two or three hours in both directions during the day with the last bus arriving in Allandale at 10.45pm. This bus did not go any further but turned and went back to Falkirk. On Saturdays there were a few buses which went through the village to Glasgow. If anyone wanted to go anywhere outside the bus times they would have to walk to Longcroft and get a bus there. There were some people who were apprehensive about going on the bus to Bonnybridge or Falkirk because the road ran right beside the canal and they would walk to Longcroft instead.

Occasionally men would hire a private bus to take them to a football match in Glasgow. When they hired Tam White’s “Easy-Oasy” from Cumbernauld they would usually have to push it at times to get it started.

There were a few motor-cycles in the village, John McConnachie and his son, Willie, each had one with a sidecar attached. Robert Stewart also had one. John Manson had a tandem with a sidecar attached which was a novelty at the time.

There were plenty of bicycles and there would be an occasional group outing to Callendar or South Queensferry. On one outing to South Queensferry, Bill Preston had borrowed a bike from someone and, after many stops to mend broken chains, we arrived outside Queensferry but on descending the hill to the waterfront his brakes failed and he pressed the front mudguard against the wheel to slow down. Unfortunately, the bike had cel luloid mudguards which burst into flames with the friction. So he made a grand entrance. I don’t know how he managed to stop as we were all laughing our heads off. Geordie Robertson allowed us to use his bedroom to paint our bikes and repair them and there would often be a bike hanging from the upturned legs of the bed while its owner gave it a coat of paint and stuck transfers over it.

Alex Lyons and myself went on a holiday by bike to St. Andrews and camped all week and I also went by bike to Berwick-on-Tweed for a holiday with David Galloway. We travelled overnight and both fell asleep at the side of the road when we stopped for a bite to eat.

The CanalThe Forth and Clyde Canal was still rising when it reached the vicinity of Allandale although I got a row at school for disagreeing with the teacher when she said the highest point on the canal was at Lock 16. The stretch of canal within the area was from Lock 17, Underwood Lock, to Lock 19 which was the last lock before the swing bridge over the main Stirling to Glasgow road.There was plenty of traffic on the canal during and the after WW2. Firstly there was the horse-drawn barges then the puffers, the f ishing fleets,some naval boats including a miniature submarine,and a few pleasure craft. A constant visitor was the Clydeforth, a combined dredger and icebreaker which worked at the problem areas along the length of the canal. Apart from the fishing for perch, pike and eels which were plentiful, the canal also served the village by being somewhere to dispose of unwanted pets and other articles.It was rumoured that after the war the authorities had a purge on firearms which had been brought home by the servicemen and some of these firearms found there way into

the canal. The canal was also useful to the local industries many of whom drew water from the canal for various processes.

‘Clydeforth’, dredger & icebreaker on canal

ReligionThere has always been the story, which I have helped to perpetuate, that religion did not reach Allandale until after the Second World War.This is probably not true but there doesn’t seem to be any prominent religious presence except for Roman Catholics. St. Joseph’s at High Bonnybridge was the local church for the Roman Catholic families in the village and this would be well attended. I am told that Roman Catholics were not accepted for jobs in the head office of the company but I am not sure whether this was a deliberate policy or just the whim of the person who was interviewing. One Roman Catholic was started but that was because she had attended Falkirk High School and her interviewer thought that all catholics were educated at St. Modan’s. There was no such bigotry in the works as there were foremen & workers of all denominations. One or two people attended Haggs Parish Church which was the parish church for Allandale and any banns of marriage would be called there although some couples were married in Bonnybridge Parish Church or the church manse. A small group of

children attended the Ebenezer Gospel Hall in Bonnybridge for Sunday School. They had a childrens meeting on Monday evenings at which lantern slides would be shown and this was very popular.

Then Haggs Parish Church under the ministry of Rev. Mr. Michie started a Sunday School in the Bowling Club in the late 1940s. This was run by Willie Weir, Isobel Millar and Campbell Miller and was well attended by the children of the village. There was also a Bible Class for older children and they went on walks over the Kilsyth Hills, etc. The Sunday School also went on trips, some local and others farther away. They went on one to the Walton Farm up the Walton Road at Castlecary.The transport was provided by horse-drawn carts from the local farms plus the works dust cart c u r t e s y o f W u l l i e B r o w n & h i s horse. Unfortunately, one of the farmers, Johnny Fleming, decided to paint his cart the day before and the paint was still wet when the children got on, resulting in all the good clothes getting covered with paint. Then one of the teachers, Miss Millar, fell off a cart and broke her ankle. There were two lady evangelists who came once of twice and

lodged with Mrs. Bennie. They held meetings in a small hall in Longcroft but I can’t remember any Allandale residents going to them apart from Mrs. Bennie, her daughter, Mrs. Cleland, Jim Cleland and myself.

Children at Greenhill School attended services twice a year at Christmas and Easter in St. Helen’s Church at High Bonnybridge where the minister was Rev. Malcolmson. The hymns were practiced for weeks beforehand, first in sol-fa for many weeks and then we were exposed to the words. On the day of the service we would walk along the path at the side of the LNER Railway to High Bonnybridge which was always a big adventure.

RailwayAlways there as a backdrop to Allandale was the railway, the London Midland Scottish Railway. Some of the houses at the west end of the south side were, and still are, only 20 yards from the embankment. In the 1940s and 1950s, the trains were a bit different from today.The engines were all steam driven and this is still seen as the romantic era of the railways. Many of us at that time collected engine numbers and there were books you could buy with all the LMS engine numbers which you could tick off when you saw them. The goods trains were usually all open wagons with the names of the various companies along the sides and there was the guard’s van at the end of the train. I always thought that would be a great job with your own little house on wheels with a fire and a verandah at each end.

To the people of the village, especially on the railway side, there was an added bonus with the steam engines.During the war when coal was in short supply, the engine driver or fireman would be coaxed into pushing some

coal off the tender.When this was successful there would be a mad rush with pails to collect as much as possible of this free fuel. It was usually women and children who were involved in this enterprise. At other times there would be a speculative trip along the lines looking for any accidental spillage and, if you were friendly with the linesmen, a supply of used wooden keys which held the rails in place would be forthcoming. The dangers of walking along the lines were not really thought about and there were at least three shortcuts across the tracks.Mrs. Mary Stewart was fined for trespassing on the railway. Her brother-in-law was killed walking along the railway while on demob leave. One of the prisoners-of-war working in the brickworks killed himself on the railway when he learned he was being sent home. The other POWs knew he was going to do it as he had given all his possessions away the previous evening.One of the highlights of the year was when the Royal Family were passing on the railway on their way to their annual holiday at Balmoral. We would know when they were coming as a policeman was stationed at each bridge as a security precaution. The children

would all get to stay up late until the train passed. I don’t know if we ever saw the King or Queen but, if there was a face at a window, it was one of them or so we imagined and we would all wave and cheer. The train would go onto a siding near Larbert for the passengers to sleep before going on the next day.

There was another railway line a short distance away at Woodend, the London North Eastern Railway, but we didn’t take much notice of that one, ours was the LMS. Once when we were at Greenhill School, a local farmer was moving his entire stock by rail to another farm and we all went along to Greenhill Station to watch all the animals being loaded up. The big farm horses in particular were exciting to watch as they had all to be blindfolded before they would walk into the special cattle trucks. But the bus came to take us home and we had to leave.

A View from Dundasand in conclusion….A View from Dundas ( The following contribution came from Jimmy Scobbie formerly of Dundas. He was the eldest son of George Scobbie who was the Head Draughtsman at John G. Stein. Jimmy has now retired from a career in the Merchant Navy where he was captain of various ships. He lives in Colchester and his brothers, John and Ronald, l ive near Vancouver, Canada)

Wartime Castlecary Works Home Guard was a serious team of Stein employees dedicated to fulfil Churchill’s uplifting speech, “We shall fight them in the fields and ditches and we shall never surrender”.Initially the Home Guard had no weapons or uniforms but with the passage of time supplies permeated through. Excitement was generated with the provision of a .22 rifle and the construction of a proper firing range into the bing adjacent to the west end of the works. Local children relished the treasures of collecting the spent cartridge cases which were to be found in the heather and extracting the lead bullets from

the wooden railway sleepers in the target area. Their parents, however, were not enamoured at finding these with their bare feet in the carpet at dead of night.Ultimately, a Lee Enfield .303 was allocated to the platoon complete with assembly, dismantling and cleaning instructions and that rifle must have been the cleanest in the British Army because every member of the platoon had custody and responsibility for the weapon on a rota basis.In anticipation of invasion, various Home Guard exercises were held in the Big Wood to the south of the L.N.E.R. railway and these were monitored by enthusiastic children concealed in the heather, bracken and trees until detected and thereafter reprimanded by their parents. Serious defences were i n t roduced a t Dundas . A t t he wes t end banking a mortar trench was established to monitor any enemy approaching eastbound from Castlecary School and at the east end of Dundas an anti-tank trap was established for any enemy approaching Westbound from the bowling green….this in anticipation of the supply of a mortar, ammunition and anti-tank mines. (this gets more like Dad’s Army by the minute !)Sentry Duty protecting Steins was taken seriously.

On one occasion a stranger in a car arrived at the west end of the works at dead of night and, since suspicions were aroused when no j u s t i f i ab l e r eason o r au tho r i t y was forthcoming, he was apprehended, searched and escorted to the home of the Works Manager, Charlie Taylor. Disturbing Charlie at dead of night required sound judgement. It eventually transpired that the stranger was a Government Inspector with responsibility to monitor and inspect Stein’s black-out facilities devoid of appointment or invitation. He was eventually released from detention but not before the Home Guard, during the period of his interrogation, had deflated all four tyres in his car to prevent any attempt to escape. ( Def in i te ly Dad ’s Army !) A i r Ra id Shelter. With the imminent threat that Steins sur face works, p i thead and work ing employees could be bombed, a 30 degree downslope shaft was cut at the west end of the works to a junction with the main pit level several hundred feet below. Walking access to the pit level then served as an Air Raid Shelter for employees at work, for the residents of Dundas and as an escape route for trapped miners and was utilised in simulated exercises and in reality when

Clydebank was blitzed. When the all clear was sounded after the blitz, from the high elevation atop the rifle range bing, one could witness to the west, the glow in the sky from the Clydebank fires.For whatever reason, an anti-aircraft shell exploded in the field between Dundas and the canal which caused great excitement for the local children who, after the authorities had departed, excavated the site to retrieve shrapnel. The children’s pleasure however was shortlived because Mr. Weir, the Dundas Air Raid Warden, requested through the parents the surrender of any shrapnel containing letters or numbers in order to establish the identity of the manufacturer. It was understood that an anti-aircraft battery was sited at Castlecary, probably to protect the Viaduct or the oil pumping station, and defective shells fell in the vicinity of Dundas and Allandale.

VE & VJ Bonfires The Dundas bonfires, small in comparison with Allandale, were apparently supplemented with fog detonators “donated” by the L.N.E.R. and when they exploded in the heart of the bonfire a spectacular display of sparks flew heavenwards. All round the

valley, bonfires could be detected at Haggs, Longcroft and Dennyloanhead.

The Brickworks Steins recognised that a plentiful supply of clean, fresh water would be e s s e n t i a l f o r t h e o p e r a t i o n o f t h e boilers. Research would have shown that natural drainage from the Big Woods produced a burn which led to the Bonny Water and that in latter years culverts had been built to take this burn under the L.N.E.R. and L.M.S. railways and the B816 Allandale road.To harness this water a dam was built in a natural hollow between Allandale road and the L.M.S. railway and this pool was known locally as the Dundas Pond. Atop this dam, a pumping station was built to feed water into the brickworks.The pond provided seasonal pleasure for the local boys, swimming during the summer, boating with fence posts, tadpole hunting, rafting using an aircraft auxiliary fuel tank, the introduction of perch from the canal and winter sports when the pond froze over. No Health and Safety in those days. Whilst the brickwork provided an adventure playground for boys, there was no vandalism……….part of the fun was to avoid detection from

employees, parents or the Night Watchman, Wullie Brown.

Shunting of wagons.

The shunting of wagons provided another mischievous adventure for Dundas boys by laying copper coins on the track and to watch as the wagon’s wheels compressed the coins beyond recognition. ( Ed. note: the Allandale c h i l d r e n w e r e t o o p o o r t o w a s t e pennies ! ) Another ploy was to conceal oneself within a wagon and be shunted up and down the siding.

Ham boxes:

One popular childhood venue was to play amidst a huge pile of what was called wooden ham boxes, the name derived from their distinctive smell. They each measured about one cubic metre and were stored and repaired adjacent to Mr. Millar’s joiners shop. ( Steins sent a lot of bricks out packed in crates). To this day some 60 years later, I still cherish the memory of Mr. Millar reshaping a splintered plank of wood into a highly cherished wooden rifle.

The RailwaysIn midsummer evenings we could watch the many named locomotives thundering past on the L.M.S. on their way to London.Annually the south side of the L.M.S. embankment produced a delightful crop of raspberries which were made into jam. The manned signal box adjacent to Dundas was a prohibited building for us but on a few occasions entry was unofficially invited after running an errand for the signalman, the interior was a battery of manually operated levers and a display of gleaming polished brasswork complimented by a roasting open coal fire.In contrast to the L.M.S. in which the railtrack swept on a curve past Dundas. the L.N.E.R. track was dead straight and any approaching train could visually be detected at a considerable distance.The L.M.S and the L.N.E.R. crossed at the west end of Stein’s offices adjacent to the Dundas Pond, the L.M.S. going under the L.N.E.R. Both lines were used as a walking shortcut to Greenhill and Cumbernauld.

The Allandale Pipe Band. Childhood memories of the pipe band were the skirl of the pipes as they marched past Dundas and on via Castlecary and Longcroft on a clockwise

circuit of the valley which reverberated to their music. At the Allandale Gala Day the band would lead the procession from the village into the football field, there to assemble into a circle and continue to play oblivious to the distraction of all the excited children in their Sunday best clothes dancing round their feet.

The Canal Between Locks 17 to 19, the canal is deepest on the north side and favoured by vessels in transit. The south side shoals into shallows. Craft approaching eastbound would sound their siren to alert the bridgemaster who would stop the road traffic on the main Glasgow to Stirling road then manually open the bridge to give priority to canal traffic. He was also responsible for opening lock 19. The sound of the siren would also alert the children that a boat was coming through and they would run down to see what craft it was.Further to the earlier story of Adam Baxter being drowned in the canal. That summer was exceptionally hot. His body was spotted by a truckload of Italian P.O.W.s on their way to the brickworks and one of them stripped and dived in to retrieve the body, a very gentlemanly act.

Gala Days On gala days prior to milk being bottled, the milk was delivered in milk churns and then transferred to huge kettles for distribution to the children’s mugs. The enthusiasm of the milk distributors kept the children’s mugs so full that they could barely compete in the races which followed.

The Patternshop The patternshop provided a generous supply of sawdust for the line marking of Allandale Football Field on occasions when serious competitive games were scheduled. Bags of sawdust would be conveyed by wheelbarrow to the pitch and the backbreaking process of line marking would be done by hand. The west end of the pitch had a suggestion of grass but the east end was pretty bare due to the continuous wear and tear and any serious fall on the rough surface would generally produce blood.

About The AuthorThis book was compiled by James Jamieson with contributions from:

1 Helen (Hamilton) Cameron2 Elizabeth (Hamilton) McGregor3 Peter Lyons4 Alex Lyons5 Bobby Morris6 Donald McIntyre7 Betsy (Salmond) Stewart8 Eneth Jamieson (My wife)9 Jim Bell10 Maxie Millar11 Allan Lowe (ex patternshop now in

Canada)12 Mrs. Reid (Charlie Smith’s daughter)13 Agnes(Moffat) Rollo14 Roy Smith15 Bobby Tasker16 Adam Baxter17 Hannah (McBeath)Bateman18 Etta (Anderson)

19 Jimmy Scobbie20 Ina Henderson21 Ann (Jamieson) Harley (my sister)22 and extracts from books by Kenneth

Sanderson, director of J. G. Stein.23 and extracts from 75th Anniversary

Booklet of Allandale Bowling Club

Special thanks go to my son Craig Jamieson who owns CeeJay Software for designing and hosting the web site.Gilchrist Stein founder of the company

Standing: Jessie, Alan, Nettie, Chrissie, Harold Sanderson, Annie, Norman Sitting: Maisie (wife of Alan), with her son Alan, Minnie,(wife of William Sanderson) with Joan, Mr.J.G.Stein & Mrs. Annie Stein, Elsie (wife of Harold Sanderson) with Diana, Isobel (wife of Norman) with Alistair. Front: Colin, Kenneth, Maisie, Norrie, Ronald

John Gilchrist Stein founder of the company

FAMILY OF NORMAN STEIN Photo taken at Langarth House in Stirling (the family property) Standing: Colin...Ronald...Norman Sitting: Isobel(mother) Norman (father) Alistair and Isobel Anne (photo curtesy of Mrs. Isabella Smith who was a maid at the family) (her own name was Isabella Ferguson) Governess to children was Miss Savage

Millfield House .....Polmont (Stein Family Home)

Aerial View of Brickworks with Allandale at top of picture

Aerial View of Brickworks and Allandale in background Probably taken just before it closed down

EMPLOYEES

Back Row: Peter Adrian, Archie Galloway, Jimmy O'Neil, Wattie Valentine, Jakey Hamilton, Sam Smith, Mr. Thomlinson Middle Row; ??, Alan Lawson, Jimmy Green, Paddy Brown, Dougie Dickson, ??, Bruno, Jimmy Rollo, Mungo Reid, Donald McIntyre Front Row: ??, Dick McCracken, Chrissie Munro, ??, Annie Lyons, Archie Henderson, Dick Cleland, ? Shaw

Back Row: ?, Bobby Stewart, ?, Jimmy Myles. Donald McIntyre, Henry Mitchell, ?, ?, ?, Johnny Stark, Dougie Michael, Robert Towers, Jim Rollo, ?, ?, Matt Murphy, Frank Burgess, John McGillivrey Seated: Peter Adrian, Archie McLachlan, John Young, Alex Birse, Alex Birse's Secretary, Sam Smith

Steins Thistle Oddstuff Moulders Pre-War Back Row: Jim Lilley, John Manson, ?, Harry Lilley, Alf. Sludden, John McConnachie Next Row: Mick Ford, Jimmy Anderson, Donald Mclachlan, John Hopkins, John Reid, Archie Anderson, ?, Robert Dalrymple, Johnny Ryan. Seated: Willie McConnachie, Hugh Crawford, Elsie Cunningham, George Buchanan, Wilfred West, Alex Henderson, Jimmy Black, Tommy Geoghan. Front Row: ?, Willie Tripney, Robert Gauld, Bobby Stewart, George 'Dodie' Anderson

FOREMEN Back Row: Harry McGregor, Willie McEwan, Hugh Dalrymple, John Telfer Middle row:Hugh Crawford, Tom

Dalrymple, Willie Millar, Alex Rollo, John White Front row: Alex Birse, ?,John Wilkie,?, Percy West snr

CLAY PREPARATION DEPTBack Row: Bella Rollo, Mary Young, Nellie Young Middle Row: Bob Young, Alfonso Sludden, Joe Shaw, ?, Jimmy Dunsmore, ? Alex Rollo, ? Third Row down: Second from right: Bobby Lyons, Third From Right: Ned Doyle

ENGINEERING DEPT. Identified So Far: Second row from top ?. Alex Whyte, Bert Haldane, Jim Rollo, Robert Stewart, Alex McCracken, Alex Cleland, William Walker Next row down: Sam Smith, Willie Morris, John Taylor, Willie Millar, Willie Penman Front row: ?, ?, Percy West jnr. ?

Back Row: Willie Meechan, Alex Weir, Andy Cunningham, Adam Menzies, Jock Henderson Front Row: Sammy Dalrymple, Hugh Meechan, John O' Neil, Finlay McLachlan, Joe Dooley, Bill Graham.

MACHINE WORKERS Back Row: Ian McLachlan, Maggie Cook, Mima McGuire, Charlotte Lamont, Jess Leckie, Ina Black, Sarah Laing, John Manson Middle Row: Willie Anderson, Jeanie Meechan, Kate McLachlan, Rosie McGuire, Cathy Boyle Jean Dalrymple, Nettie Stirling, Willie O' Neil Front Row: Margaret Fulton, Cissie Campbell, Fanny McPherson, Nancy Greer, Agnes Blackwood, Nora Egan, Delia Egan, Harry McGregor

MACHINE WORKERS. back row 2nd from left: Cathie Hacket;6th from left; Rose MeekFront row 2nd Anna Morris, 4th Sadie Buchanan, 5th Isa Bell

Presentation 1970s back row: Frank Burgess, Jimmy McKenzie, Jimmy Robb, Jock White, ?,?, Jimmy McAuley, ?,?,?,?, 2nd Row: ?, Angus McKay, John Pullar, Archie McLachlan, Bobby Stewart, David Anderson, Willie Tripney, Tom Wright, Archie McConnachie, Robert Dalrymple, ?, Wullie O'Neil, George McGuire,?, Front Row: John Stark, ?, Robert Henderson, ?,?, Bobby Morris, Billy West, Jimmy Anderson

Stein's Dance in Plough Hotel, Stenhousemuir

Jimmy Black Moulder........Barber.........SFA Referee

Jakey Hamilton standing in kiln door

Back Row; Billy Wilson, Mungo Reid, Billy Beck, Jimmy Murphy, Archie Stanners. Middle Row: Jock Pullar, ______, Willie Dalrymple, David Anderson Front Row: Alan Low, Malcolm Hunter, Jim Jamieson

PATTERNSHOP

David Mitchell, Ian Preston, Adam Dunsmore, Willie Dalrymple

From the left: Alan Lowe, David Anderson, ?, Archie Stanners,Mungo Reid, ?, Willie Dalrymple, ?, John Pullar, ?, Johnny

Stark

Jim Jamieson, Archie Stanners, Adam Dunsmore, David Mitchell, Ian Preston

CANTEEN

Back Row: Agnes Klemm, Mary Stanners, Jean(Salmond)Dunsmore, Jenny Lawson, Ruby Pate Front Row: Ann Stirling, May McKenzie, Peggy Love, May(McConnachie) Hamilton, Helen McKenzie

Back Row: Betsy(Salmond) Stewart, May(McConnachie)Hamilton, Mary Hamilton, Mima(Hutchison) Stewart,Jenny Ovens, Mrs. Wilson Front Row: Cissie Johnston, Mary Stanners

OFFICE STAFF

Group of Office Staff prior to takeover by General Refractories Ann Moore, Irene Bruce, George Taylor, Jim Morgan, Bill Wright, Ronald Logan, Ian Carson, Lawrence Stirling, Nan Goddard, Cameron Gillespie, Andy MacLeod, Jim McMillan, Tom Fletcher, ?,?,?, Charlie Burgess, Percy West, ?, Harley Marshall, ?

WEDDINGS

RETIRAL PRESENTATIONS

Robert Dalrymple's Retiral Robin Harley,?,?,?,?,?,?, George Anderson, Jean Salmond, ?, Robert Dalrymple, ?,?, Theresa Donachy, ?,?, Peter Adrian

George (Dodie) Anderson's Retiral Back Row: Eddie Bell, Robert Dalrymple, Willie Carruthers, Jim Rollo, Sam Smith Front Row: Jean Salmond, Peter Adrian, George Anderson, Theresa Donachy

Bobby Towers Retiral Back Row: Jim Rollo, ?, ?, Willie Carruthers, ?, ?, Sam Smith Front Row: Peter Adrian, Bobby Towers, Theresa Donachy, Mr. Thomlinson, ?, Jean Salmond

Cissie Johnston's Retiral Back Row: Martha Thomson, Nancy Duncan, Jean Salmond, Betsy Salmond, ?, Mary Hamilton Front Row: Mary Buchanan, Mary Stanners, Cissie Johnston, Rose Irwin, Ina Henderson

ALLANDALE PIPE BAND

Allandale Pipe Band World Champions 1938 Lord Inverclyde Shield....Sir Harry Lauder Shield.....Crozier Shield.......72 medals.......£10 in cash Pipe Major Malcolm McLachlan standing at L.H. side

Pipe Major Malcolm McLachlan, founder of Allandale Pipe Band

JOHN SMITH

Another triumph but where and when Possibly still in the late 1940s

Officials at back: Jimmy McWhinnie.....Jimmy Smith.......Stewart Cunningham......George Bell Two Gentlemen at front next to table were John Russell & his brother Jim Russell Standing: John McConnachie ( Pipe Major) Adam Baxter, Neil Millar, Mr. Wilson, G. Gauld, John Anderson, Ronnie Smith, J. Inglis, Mr. Hutton, Finlay McLaughlan, John Smith (Pipe Sergeant) Seated: Alan Rankine, Robert Marshall, Bobby Tasker, G. Brodie

Allandale Pipe Band leading parade at Bonnybridge Toll to Bonnybridge Parish Church at dedication of new colours of Bonnybridge Branch of the British Legion on Sunday 20th June 1948

John Smith

Roy SmithSon of John Smith

Painting of Allandale with pipe band in foreground Artist: J. Stevenson 1978 Picture found hanging in Cornhill Bar, Bonnybridge in 2004

Type to enter text

ALLANDALE BOWLING CLUB

Back Row: Jack Mitchell, George Mitchell, Bill Preston, Lawrence Drysdale, Jimmy Anderson, Archie McLachlan, John White, Willie Smith, George Penman, Jimmy Burnett, Mick Ford, Robert Dalrymple, Peter Duff, Davie Cleland Front Row: John McKay, David Wishart, David Leadbetter, Tom Dalrymple, Jimmy Buchanan, Harry McGregor, John Meek, Willie Bell, Robert Dalrymple, Hugh

Back Row: Bill Miller, ?, Bob Salmond, ?, Alex Hamilton, Bill Salmond,Jimmy Black, Front Row : ??????????????????????????????????????///

Among those in photo are: Archie McLachlan, Peter Duff, Jimmy Black, John White, Willie Dalrymple, Archie Anderson, Robert Dalrymple, Billy West, Robert Stewart, Tommy Valentine, Alex Birse.Can you name any others ?

Competition Winners 1961 Back Row: Bobby Stewart (Pres) Bobby Lyons, Bobby McCulloch, Bill Salmond, Alex Hamilton, Sam Dalrymple Front Row: Peter Duff, Tommy Valentine, Mary Stewart, Willie Bell, Robert Stewart jnr

Willie Bell... Club Champion 1961

Mrs. Mary Stewart, wife of President William Stewart throws thefirst bowl to open green in the 1980

Past Presidents and Past Champions

Dave Wishart Hugh Adamson

Peter Duff

Bill Salmond

John Hopkins

FOOTBALL TEAMS

Backrow: ??, ??, ??, Jim Lilley, Harry Lilley, ??, ??, ?? Front Row: Jimmy Black, Mick Ford, ??, Willie Smith, John Manson (Photo supplied by Ian Morris ( Willie Smith's grandson))

Allandale Football Team Year ? Standing: John Hopkins, Jim Rollo, Bobby Lyons, ??, ??, ??, Robert Millar, David Cleland, George Stewart, Bill Millar, Adam Scott, Jakey Hamilton, ??, ??, Tommy Hamilton

AllandaleFootball Team Year ? Standing: Archie McConnachie, George Penman, David Lindsay, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, Jakey Hamilton, Tom Peebles, George McAuley Sitting: Hugh Fraser, David Morrison, Jimmy Dunsmore, James Fraser, Mick Toner

This not a football team but may be an athletic or boxing club.Among the participants are: Mick Ford, Robert Henderson, George (Dodie)

Anderson, Alfonso Sludden

BOBBY MORRIS

Group of 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders prior to going to France in WW2 Kneeling at right is Bobby Morris & next to him kneeling is Robert Dalrymple both of whom were captured near Dunkirk

The following photographs were taken of Bobby and fellow

POWs by the German guards at Stalag XX1D in Poland during WW2

SCHOOLS

CASTLECARY SCHOOL

GREENHILL SCHOOL

BONNYBRIDGE SCHOOL

PLANS OF HOUSES

OLD MAPS

BEFORE ALLANDALE

ALLANDALE WITHTWO BLOCKS TO

BUILD

ALLANDALE ANDSOUTH TOWARDS

WOODEND

PHOTOGRAPHS PRINCIPALLYOF ALLANDALE FOLK

Bus trip from Allandale in the 50s or 60s Identified (so far) are from the left: Mrs. Lindsay. George Manson, Percy West, Mrs. Morris, Bobby Lyons, Mrs. Wardlaw, Bobby Wardlaw, Mrs. Cleland, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Bennie, Bella Rollo, Mrs. Archibald, Mr. Archibald, Alex Rollo, Duncan McKenzie,jnr., Mrs. Dunsmore, Mrs. Miller, Jimmy Dunsmore, Lawrence Drysdale, Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Drysdale, Mrs. Henderson,snr., John Hutchison, Willie Brown, Mrs. Smith, ?, ?, Mrs. Stewart, Duncan McKenzie, snr.

Back Row: Mary Stewart, Maisie Hamilton, Julia O'Neil Front Row: Lily Fullard, James Jamieson, Theresa O'Neil

From the back: Mrs. Ella Jamieson Mrs. H. McArthur Mrs. Reid Mrs. Scott

Mrs. Mary Morris & Mrs. Margaret Lilley ( Maggie Penman)

Tommy O’ Neil ? Theresa O’ Neil

Children on swing opposite 60 Allandale Cottages Left Hand Swing: standing Theresa O'Neil Right Hand Swing: sitting Mary Stewart

Allandale Members of Haggs Parish Church Girls Guildry

Who are they ?The only person I think I recognise is Mrs. Millar

(Fourth from left in back row)

At back: Willie Wilson, Bobby Morris, Jimmy Black with his alsation and Robert Morris at front

Archie Anderson, Jim Buchanan & Jim Wilsonat Blackpool

Anna Morris, Duncan Cameron (foreman joiner)& Helen Hamilton at Blackpool

Mary Stewart, Mae Hamilton, Mima Stewart & Willie McConnachie

( at back possibly Mrs, Cleland & Mrs. Lindsay )

John McConnachie & his son, Willie at their garage behind the dairy

George StewartKilled on railway while

Sarah McKenzie(Manson)in 1948

Cammie Millar Isa Cramb & Bill Millaron their engagement

in 1941

Jack McCracken (possibly at Allandale Gala Day)

Brothers Bill and Cammie Millar

Cammie Millar preaching in New Zealand

Wedding of Chrissie Marshall (bus conductress) andJimmy Fleming (they are couple on left) Standing outside Jimmy Smith’s house

Boy on toy horse(He is Charlie Smith’s son)

David Marshall(son of Chrissie Marshall)

James Jamieson..Bill Black...Alex Lyons

Five lassies from Dundas

“The Clydeforth” Dredger / Ice breaker sailing past “Doctors Wood” on Forth & Clyde Canal

Junction of main Stirling / Glasgow road and B816 at Castlecary arches

Company Sergeant Major David Jamieson ofArgyll & Sutherland

Highlanders(my father)

Helen (McAlister) Jamieson

(my mother)

James McAlisterSergeant in Scots Guards

in Boer WarLater Police Constable

Stirlingshire Police(my grandfather)

Mary (Young) McAlisterHousekeeper atPolice Barracks

Falkirk(my grandmother)

Ann (Jamieson) Harley(my sister)

Caricature of me by Bill at Empire Exhibition, Glasgowin 1938

Our family in 2004Ann...Lee....James...Craig...Eneth

( plus Ann & Lee’s dogs, Sprite & Pepsi)

My SonCraig Jamieson