Born Queen's Park area, Glasgow. Attended Melville Street and ARA 1945-1957. Attended
Langside College, then left Scotland for Canada in 1959. Now live near Toronto. Married
with three children and two grandsons. Retired editor. Hobbies are painting, writing and
creating web sites.
Heard from primary school pal Isabel McGibbon through the site and May Young from senior school, now looking for any mention of Angus McKinnon.
If you'd like to be included on this page, click here ......
....to email me
note: cursor over all photos below changes to school age image, if it was available.
Eleanor Andersen (nee) Reid
Lived in Kinning Park. Attended Lambhill Primary School from 1948 to 1949, Shields
Road Primary to 1956, then ARA to 1959. Went to Langside College for one year then worked as a shorthand typist and secretary. Married, divorced, married again. One daughter, one son, one graddaughter. Hobbies are reading, sewing, going on holiday and eating chocolate!
Survived (obviously) lung cancer five and a half years ago. Now fit, but fat. Trying to lose
weight but cannot stop eating chocolate!
Update - February 2010: As my operation for lung cancer was in September 1996, I have survived for a bit longer than 5½ years now. Have had to give up chocolate (almost) as I am now diabetic, caused by a severe viral infection.
Sarah Anderson (nee Livingston)
Born in Blantyre, raised in Glasgow. Schools attended, Scotland Street and Lambhill Street. Attended Langside College for one year. Moved to Paisley 1954. Moved to
Toronto, Canada 1957. Married, with one son, one daughter, one grandson, one granddaughter. Retired banker, Hobbies: walking, swimming, dancing, reading, computers. Would love to hear from anyone who may remember me from school days, or who lived in the Kinning Park area.
Robert P. Downie
After leaving ARA, I went on to Bellahouston Academy from 1960 to 1963. Then I emigrated
with my parents in '63 to Pugwash, Nova Scotia. I joined Canada Immigration in 1967 and
worked at various centres in the Toronto area and at the Canadian High Commision in London, England. In 1987, became self-employed Immigration Specialist/Consultant, assisting and representing clients as Counsel with their applications and procedures both here and overseas at our Visa Offices. Married to Jean since 1967, we have three sons and three grandchildren (including twins). We live in Oakville, Ontario.
John Sayers (Iain) Henderson
Born in Glasgow. Attended ARA 1946 to 1951. National Service 1951 to 1953 (Germany). Emigrated to Canda 1955. Married Muriel Paton (known since childhood) in Canada 1956. Three daughters, three grandsons. Started on assembly floor, and worked through many positions in factory and offices for same manufacturer of electrical distribution equipment for 43 years. Took various university level courses in accounting, sales and marketing. Spent 30years in International Sales, growing business from zero to $18 million annually. Retired in 1997 as Manager, International Sales. Business and recreational travels have taken our family around the world. Favourite places, (apart from Scotland), are New Zealand, Chile, and Costa Rica. Now live in Wingham, Ontario. Enjoy travel and theatre, golf, garden, church and various masonic lodges. I'd like to hear from Ralph Davidson, Frank McCann (Forth Street), Agnes Anderson (Nithsdale Drive).
Ian Pearson McDowall
Born Kelvingrove, Glasgow. Attended Melville Street 1930-37, "Big School" 1937-42. Degree course in Metallurgy Royal Tech. College, Glasgow 1942-45. Graduated B.Sc. (hons.) University of Glasgow 1946. Worked as Metallurgist, various companies until 1971 (Fellow of Institution of Metallurgists 1969). 1971 became Director in Head Wrightson Steel Foundries Ltd. 1980 left industry to teach Physics in 6th form college. Retired 1988.
Married Yvonne 1949 (died 1983) 3 children, 10 grandchildren. Travelled fairly widely in Western Europe and North America. Hobbies: golf, reading, theatre, cinema, art galleries.
Would love to hear from survivors of the pre-historic days in ARA - some names - Bob Anderson, Isadore Lyons, Edward Guinness, Frances Hamilton, Marion Campbell.
Now live in North Yorks. England. Visit Scotland 2-3 times a year.
Pat Bisset (nee Burns)
Attended ARA 1940 to 1947. Left at age fifteen to attend Miss Allpress's Secretarial College, Pollokshaws. Then worked in Glasgow as secretary to one of the directors of House of Fraser.
I have been married to Edwin (a Fifer) for 42 years and have three daughters and six grandchildren. We left Glasgow in 1960 and gradually moved further south, living for short periods in Doncaster, Wolverhampton and then to Surrey, where we lived for 30 years, before reitiring to the Algarve where we live most of the year. My hobbies are golf, gardening and trying to learn to play bridge.
I would love to hear from Maureen Livingstone, Sheila Smith (emigrated to Canada way back) Bridget Gumprig, or anyone who remembers our class.
Page started April 2002
Larry Bureau
After Pollokshields S.S. 1954-58, completed apprenticeship training in Lithography. Married and moved to South Africa for about eleven years. Joined South African Police Force (was always too short for Glesca Polis). Then to Canada. Set up Commercial Art and Design Studio. Next, to Toronto to take on production/art direction of a new regional magazine. Later to Alberta, U of A faculty of Education, vocational Ed and Edtech. Set up and developed an apprenticeship program in Graphics Arts for Alberta government. Currently with Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Edmonton.
My Canadian wife is also a college prof. at a rival institute. We have four children, five grandchildren, three cats and one very shaggy dog named Ceilidh. My hobbies include building model boats, graphic design and computers.
I'd love to hear from Margery Watts, Anne Summers, Stuart Smith, Kenneth Henderson, John MacIntosh, John Niven, Walter Whitehill, Wee Wullie Clugston et al.
Ed: I am deeply saddened to report the death of Larry in October 2009. Our group will miss this fellow student, a kind and honourable man.
William (Billy) Kean
Born 1942 and raised in Kinning Park. Attended Kinning Park Public School near the Plantation Park end of Scotland Street. Moved to Melbourne, Australia February 1971, met my wife Agnes, a Scot, and have two daughters, Jennifer and Allison, 24/19 years. Still keep in touch with my daughter and son in Scotland from a previous marriage. Love reading and have written poetry since 1962 and in 1985 had a wee book of poems published called, "Stirrings of the Heart". One of my teachers at Kinning Park was Miss Bain who introduced her pupils to poetry by reciting 'Schule (School) in June' written by her father, Robert Bain who was a published poet. When I wen home in 1976 to visit my sick father, who died that year, I visited Miss Bain's home in Keir Street, (the street that is the boys' playground entrance to ARA). She complimented me and gave me a couple of her father's poetry books.
I became a Baha'i in 1975, and now being 60 would like to track down as many former pupils known to me, just to make my life complete.
Gilbert Wilson
Initially lived in Houston Street, Tradeston and attended Shields Road Primary. Moved to Herriot Street, Pollokshields when I was nine and attended Melville Street Primary until 1958. Teacher, Miss Paterson, was a bit of a tyrant but instilled in me a love of reading. Went to Pollokshields Secondary until 1961 where my performance was abysmal and was virtually thrown out. Latin teacher, Mr. McPhail, told me I had gone "ad canes" (to the dogs).Fortunately, got a grip of myself and got HNC in engineering at technical college and eventually a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Strathclyde University. I must have been a late developer. After uni, worked in Zambia for Anglo American where I met my wife Pat to whom I've been married for 31 years and have two children. All the way to Africa to meet a girl from Nottingham! Then worked for Bass Breweries for 28 years in Scotland, England and the Czech Republic. Took early retirement, stopped playing rugby 2001 at age 55, and now just chilling in Loughborough where I am the unpaid caretaker of the Elim Pentacostal Church.
Tom Berman
After I left ARA and Glasgow in 1951, I spent a year on a farm in Berks., then went off to a kibbutz in Israel. I did my army service there and went to study in the U.S....(why, and how, is a long story). I spent four years at Rutgers U. in New Jersey, followed by four years at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Ended up with a PhD in microbiology, one wife and two and a half daughters when we went back to the kibbutz in 1964. Been there ever since with occasional time off for Sabbaticals in exotic places like Western Australia, Hawaii, Chile, France and assorted parts of the USA. If asked what I do, I call myself an "aquatic microbiologist". For much of the last 35 years I was the Director of a limnological (i.e. lake science) research lab on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (here called Lake Kinneret and a major source of water for this country). Now and again I also had a chance to do some marine microbiology. I am now officially retired but I still work as a "consultant", so I have an office and lab to mess around in. Just published a collection of poetry (Shards, a Handful of Verse, Writers Club Press).
Still have the same wife after 42 years, 3 daughters, 5 granddaughters and one grandson.
ed. note:
to read Tom's account of the Winton Train reunion in September, 2009, scroll down.
We are saddened to say that Tom passed away in April 2013 at the age of 79. He will be sorely missed by many of us on this site.
ed.
Above two photos courtesy Bill Smart. "Stitched" panorama by Deana
Albert Road - 2002
Norrie Henderson
Did my national service with the RAF in Hong Kong. Got married to Sheena in 1962 and we
have celebrated our ruby wedding anniversary this year. We have two sons and one grandson.
I worked at St. Andrews University as the Pensions Officer for twenty-five years until I took advantage of an early retirement package in 1993.
Since then I just play golf six days a week and we take Spanish holidays in order to seek out the sunshine.
Life is pretty wonderful!
Douglas Carrick
Son of James BF Carrick, jannie at ARA 1949-52. Lived in the jannie's hoose, which was the groung floor flat in the close nearest the school on Keir Street...difficult to be late for school! Then moved to Newlands when my Dad died. Still attended ARA....a long trek! Got into CA apprenticeship in 1958, but after three years, decided that earning money was a better bet. After a short spell as an accounts clerk and management trainee I was advised to become a computer programmer. Can't remember name of who advised me, but he knew what he was talking about. Most of my life has been in the computer industry, latterly as Quality Manager, with a short side step to House of Fraser (for retail experience).
Married, divorced and married again, much of my time spent south of the border. My main pastime is the theatre and I have sung and acted in musicals and plays. Have also directed and written plays, under the name David Welsh, (nine plays published). Now retired and helping out with Meals on Wheels so I can suss out the best retirement flats in Formby.
(ed. note: Sadly, Douglas passed away July 2005)
I was Velma Livingstone and lived in Maxwell Road, a stonesthrow from the school. So near, that in air raid practice I had to run home down Keir Street, accompanied by two "big boys" Isadore Lyons major, and his cousin Isadore minor.
I remember the following teachers....gym/hockey, played on the square, Miss McGavin.
History and English, how we had to learn Midsummer's Dream, Miss Hay. Music, Miss Souter.
French, learning the Marseillaise, Miss Bryson or Bannerman. Science, Mr Bernstein.
Maths, "stand the girl who's not here", Mr. King, Mr. Ross. Headmaster, Mr. Hamilton.
Here are some pupils....Irene Paterson (who lived in McCulloch Street), Irene Dennison (a good swimmer), Suzanne Edmiston, Olive Aitken, Myra Chapman, Jenny Stuart, Sula Friedlander (lives In London), Grace Simmons (lives in USA), Sheila Black.
I married Joe Lazar from Wales in 1950...widowed in 1985, live in London near our three children.
Hope all had a lovely time at Reunion.
phone: 020 8446 7795
George Graham Allan
Dear ARA Alumni
This is a note from George Graham Allan who was a student at ARA from 1942 until 1948. I am now Professor of Fiber & Polymer Science and Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.
My elder brother Frederick James Allan II (now deceased) was also a an ARA student from about 1934 until 1939 when he entered Royal Navy Research in England.
It was fascinating to read about the Pollokshields reunion on the ARA website and see quite a number of names that I recall. It would be helpful if there was a list of email addresses so that one could contact former classmates easily. My email address is create@u.washington.edu and I would be delighted to hear from any of you. If you are in the Seattle area please telephone me at home, 425 485 7249 or 425 486 1648 or fax 425 486 3348. My work no. is 206 542 1491. You can see me on the internet by looking up the Chemical Engineering Dept. of the University of Washington in Seattle. Don’t confuse it with the University of same name in St. Louis.
It is quite amazing the number of names from so long ago that one can recall so clearly. I have been interested in the chemistry of memory and how can those names be stored for so long without much deterioration ?
Some of the students whose names flash instantly back are Yvonne Barnett, Beatrice Swan, Margaret Ross, Shelagh Foster, Edna Nelson, Pat Samuels, Elspeth Harris, Doris Wilcox, Nan Grey, Margaret McClure, Rita Boyle, Claude Cowan, Monty Landstein, Sam Leckie, John White, Stanley Mason, Hans Burien, Hugh Sanderson, Hugh McCall, Tom Gunn, Raymond Bremner (somewhere near Toronto ?), Tom Hobson, Alan Marks, ? Bergman, Gordon Young, Campbell Love, Fred Wilde, Glen Hardie, Felicity and Derek van Heerden, my very good friend Gordon Moore (now deceased) as well as those listed as attending the reunion. I am not now in touch with any of these except Hugh McCall (lives at Glenfinart, 44 Sherbrooke Ave., Pollokshields) though I believe Monty Landstein changed his name and appeared in some movies. He certainly was on the stage in Glasgow.
Our collection of teachers was quite bizarre but did an amazing job which now being a professor I look back upon with fondness. Hamilton was the headmaster, then the charming MacEwan, then Weir as I recall. I had some severe brushes with Sammy Weir because he would never entertain the idea of ARA having a soccer team which the boys wanted …. only rugby had the requisite snob value. That brings to mind the gym teachers, Sam Ritchie and the statuesque Miss McGavin who dragged any reluctant male dancer to the floor to cavort with her during the joint gym periods near Xmas. I never had that pleasure because I did enjoy and still enjoy Scottish Country dancing and the Tango. Miss Bryson and Miss McCance taught French valiantly but why we never spoke French in class is still a mystery to me. We could construct complex if and when sentences, read Edgar Allen Poe in French , write poetry in French but we never SPOKE to one another It would be nice to meet them today and say Bonjour, c’est une plaisir de vous voir de nouveau. I have had graduate students from France, the Congo and Martinique, so now I can converse a little. How pleased they might be to see that all their efforts were not in vain.
Other teachers that spring to mind were Miss Scott , Bernstein and lastly Inverarity (Science) as well as Moffatt, Young, King and Ross (math). Poor Teddy Ross, a shell-shocked WWI veteran, was treated shamefully by some of the boys who did unflattering impersonations of his idiosyncrasies behind his back. An appreciation to him for all he suffered for his country would be well merited. Yuile and Miss Hays in English/History will always be remembered. The former because he frequently wore his pyjama jacket with its large buttons as a shirt and sneaked out to catch a tram at 3.45 leaving the bible 15 minutes unattended. Miss Hays always reciprocated one’s interest in History. And of course, Miss Soutar in music. Since I sometimes am invited to teach high school students as a guest I now appreciate what a gang of ruffians the ARA boys could be. What an opportunity missed to learn more about music theory. No wonder the strap (the illegal Lochgelly Special) was occasionally required. We also had Dorian for Latin for a time but I can’t recall his predecessor. Miss Baxter in Art was a committed teacher and ultimately had a male colleague (Stevenson ?) but I can’t recall his name for sure.
There was also an older white-haired lady whose name escapes me who came in temporarily during the War Years to teach English. She was a superb actress and made the Macbeth witches and Shakespeare really come alive.
Finally let’s not forget the janitor who lived in the close in Keir St. next to the school and whose main aim in life seemed to be to prevent the boys using the school playground after classes were over.
As for myself I went from ARA to the Yoony and the Tech. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. While a graduate student I taught at the University of Paisley in the evenings. After graduation with First Class Honours in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1955 I took a position with the DuPont Company in the USA for an intended couple of years (later six to be precise) which turned into a lifetime. After a transfer from Wilmington to and a very brief stay in Niagara Falls (too snowy in Winter) I moved to the West Coast and joined a giant pulp and paper company called Weyerhaeuser for four years. From there I returned to teaching and research at the University of Washington in 1966 and have been there ever since. In 1970, I received the first Doctor of Science degree awarded by the University of Strathclyde for Distinguished Research in Fiber & Polymer Science.
There is no compulsory retirement age in the USA and I am still teaching. At the moment it is a class on Creativity & Innovation with 255 students. It is has been rated one of the five courses at the university which should not be missed. This gives me the opportunity to influence some wonderful students and I get a great kick out of that.
All the best to all the ARAians.
GGA
Ian Hannah
After leaving ARA in 1958, I studied electrical engineering in Paisley, then London, before going to Canada. My work involved assignments in various places, from Dallas to Moscow, Washington to Stockholm, Caracas to Rome, and many others in between.
I have lived in London, Montreal, Vancouver, Willimantic (Conn), and am now based near Dunfermline, Fife. I have been involved in Quality Management Innovation since 1967, (in Canada, USA and Scotland, as a Quality Manager, Quality Consultant, then as a College and University tutor.
Having earlier graduated "P.Eng" in Vancouver, B.C.,I returned to Scotland with a U.S. company in 1972 to help start a new company making specialist cables for computers. I took a technical teaching course at Jordanhill College, Glasgow in 1980, then taught industrial management at two colleges before accepting Prof. Moore's invitation to take up the post of Director of Programmes at the newly formed Scottish Quality Management Centre at the University of Stirling in 1990.
Eight years later, I left the University to create SQMC Ltd., a private company dedicated to the provision of cost effective management training and consultancy.
Would love to hear from anyone who knew me at ARA.
I attended Primary and Secondary school at ARA, between 1936 and 1949. For the first half of
that period I lived on Kenmure Street; the family then moved to Newark Drive. I was not a prize-
winning student at any point; I would be better categorized as average to indifferent! My only
claim to school fame was that I was made captain of the swim club in 1948 after winning a
bronze medallion in life saving (which came with a free pass to the public swimming pools).
After graduation, I was drafted into the Army for two years. I later qualified as a Chartered
Surveyor. In 1958, I emigrated to Canada, where I obtained successive positions with several
agencies in Vancouver, B.C. In 1967, I joined the faculty of the Building Program at the B.C.
Institute of Technology where I taught construction economics and also served as Program Head
for 5 years. From 1990, I taught project costing in the School of Architecture at the University of
B.C., until compulsory retirement in 1995.
I have earned two university degrees, one in philosophy (BA) and one in adult education (M.Ed).
I have had 4 books published (3 on building technology and 1 on humanism). I also volunteered
on committees related to my work. A life-long interest has been playing piano, mostly by ear.
In 1965, I married Lorraine, a Vancouver woman, and lived happily ever afterwards. We have
two grown children, Lindsay and Karen. Since leaving ARA, I have traveled extensively, to
Australia, most of Britain, China, Costa Rica, parts of Europe, Fiji, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Japan,
Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, to most Canadian Provinces and half of the United States.
Commander Donald Clark, shown at right in British Columbia at the age of 87, with his catch of the day, a 28lb salmon, passed away at the age of 92, on January 12, 2007. Following is an obituary published in The Herald (Glasgow) on January 22, 2007.
"The last link to Clydebank's founding family, Commander Donald Clark CD RCN, has died. He was 92. Born in Pollokshields, Glasgow on September 7, 1915, he died on January 12 at Saanich Peninsula Hospital in Canada.
Clark was the son of Dr, Donald Clark MB ChB and Esther Thomson, and the last surviving grandson of James Rodger Thomson of J & G Thomson Shipbuilding (later John Brown Shipyard) of Clydebank.
With the sale of Thomson's shipyard to John Brown, of Sheffield, in the 1920s, the extended Thomson family began to break up. Dr. Clark eventually settled and remarried in Salonika, Greece, where he founded Harman Keiu Hospital. The effects of both diabetes and malaria ravaged Dr. Clark's health and he and his new wife moved to Australia, where he died in 1928.. Esther and the couple's children moved to Canada in 1928 and settled in Montreal. It was there that Donald was placed in Weredale House Orphanage for Boys in 1929. He stayed at the orphanage until 1933. By 1938, he had worked for RCA Victor and the Foxboro Instrument Company in Montreal and was training as an apprentice electrician. In 1940, he joined the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve and, after receiving his journeyman's papers, worked on radar at the National Research Council before transferring to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1945.
His work with the navy led to an involvement in shipbuilding and he helped to write the manual for principal naval overseers as well as overseeing the building of HMCS Nipigon and HMCS Bras d'Or in Sorel, Quebec.
Clark had come full circle from the founding of the family shipyard of J & G Thomson in 1840 by his great grandfather, George Thomson, to overseeing the building of warships for the Royal Canadian Navy in the 1960s.
Clark retired from the RCN in 1966 and became a successful estate agent in Victoria, Canada.
He gradually retired from his second career to care for (sic) full time for his wife, Phoebe, who had suffered a severe stroke in 1975.
Clark is survived by his daughter, Anne. Phoebe died in 1984, and their son, Grant, in 2005."
Ken Anderson
Attended ARA 1950-55. On leaving joined the Royal Air Force for National Service. Then J & P Coats Ltd, at their Head Office in St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. Worked there for some seven years as a shipping clerk. Moved to the oil industry where I worked for Gulf/Chevron for 30 years in Glasgow and Edinburgh in marketing administration. Retired in 1993. Worked for Glasgow District Council Social Work Department for 4 years at the Gorbals Addiction Project. Retired in 1997 and moved to Haywards Heath, West Sussex where I live presently. I have a son and a daughter both of whom live with their families almost within a stones throw. Both have two children altogether three girls and a boy. I have been married to my wife Shirley for 46 years. My hobbies are - summer -lawn bowls, winter - building web sites. Would be very pleased to hear from any of my old school chums, at haywardlad@tiscali.co.uk
Ken Anderson
Tom Berman - September 2009.
I recently returned from a truly unique experience. Together with Ilana and her two oldest daughters (Shaquede and Denny), I spent four days on the Winton Train. This was a reenactment of a Kindertransport train from Prague, across Czechoslovakia, Germany and Holland, then by ferry to Harwich and Liverpool St. Station in London. The train, hauled by steam locomotives and with pre-War coaches, left on 1st Sept. 2009, exactly 70 years to the day when the last Kindertransport from Prague, loaded with about 250 children did not leave Prague station; that morning German forces invaded Poland and WW2 began. (Of the children due to leave on that train, only one survived the War, and she was on board the 2009 train).
As you probably know the Kindertransport “operation” from Czechoslovakia in 1939 was organized by Sir Nicholas Winton, and those of us who owe our lives to him consider ourselves “Nicky’s children”. (Of course, there were others involved in organizing and running the Kindertransport from Czechoslovakia in1939. Some names that are rarely mentioned but who should always be remembered in this connection: Doreen Warriner, Trevor Chadwick, Bill Barazetti, Elizabeth Wellington, Josephine Pike, (in Prague) and of course, Nicky’s mother, Barbara (in London). And then, we must wonder at and remember our parents who had the unbelievable courage and fortitude to send us off on these kindertransports).
About two years ago, Zybnek Honys, the Head of Public Relations for Czech Railways heard about the Winton story (it is very well-known these days in the Czech Republic) and conceived the idea of reenacting a Kindertransport Train, complete with pre-War steam engines and carriages. The theme of the exercise was “Inspiration by Good” and the Winton Train quickly evolved into an international educational project with competitions being held for school and university students to create works (writing, graphic arts and film) inspired by Winton’s acts in 1939. Despite huge difficulties in obtaining sponsors and adequate funding, and almost insurmountable logistic problems, Zybnek and his team managed to pull it off.
There were 22 original “kinder” on board, plus family members, plus Nicky’s daughter Barbara and her son and daughter, plus students who had won places in the competitions, plus the project organizers, plus Czech and BBC TV crews, plus (very importantly) a great jazz band and the Hungarian crew that manned the old-style dining and piano-lounge cars. In all about 150 people.
On the first day, we traveled from Prague to Nürnberg; next day on to Cologne; the third day we crossed into Holland to Hook van Holland and then overnight by ferry (the only modern means of transport used on the trip) to Harwich. From there to Liverpool St. Station, where the train and its load of kinder etc was met by Nicky Winton (and some others of his “children” who were unable to make the trip, plus a host of family members journalists, photographers etc. Our daughter Ora was also there, having flown in from New York the day before). After a fairly brief but quite moving Press Conference on the platform, we were taken in pre-1939 London buses across town to a reception at the Czech embassy. All along the way of our journey people had come out to wave as we passed by. At our stops (Nürnberg, Cologne, Hook van Holland) we had been greeted by city mayors and other government dignitaries as well as media people and well-wishers.
Because I knew that were to be spending ten or more hours each day on the train, I had brought along books and reading matter. I never opened a single page…there were just so many people to talk with, so many interesting stories to hear. Of course, there was much sad nostalgia and grim memories for the original “kinder” and their family members but it was really quite a joyous occasion. The fact that we had quite a bunch of young people on board, including my granddaughters livened up the proceedings as did the jazz band. I don’t think that anyone regretted coming on this extraordinary journey.
I cannot begin to recount all the amazing tales and coincidences that cropped up on the trip…but here’s one. There was one of the original kinder on board who was a year younger than me, i.e. she was about 4 years old when her parents sent her off by herself on the Kindertransport in August 1939. Now, on this trip she met for the first time, the woman who as a 16 year old had taken care of her on the original trip! (I had hoped maybe to discover who looked after me in 1939 but in vain). So much for a glimpse of the Winton Train experience.
I had another “Nicky Winton” related trip this year. In May I flew to London to take part in a celebratory reception given at the Czech Embassy to mark Winton’s 100th birthday. About 25 of his “children” showed up for this, including 5 or 6 from Israel. There were a few short speeches the best of which was from Nicky himself. Of course there really was not much chance of talking to him quietly on this occasion, but a couple of days later I went so see him at his home near Maidenhead and had a very good relaxed visit.
David Jackson
I started at ARA in the Albert Drive kindergarten in 1940 when I was 5, moving to Melville Street a year later. Miss McCance or Miss McKeith (I can’t remember which) tried to teach us French but had an unfortunate lisp which didn’t help our pronunciation. From June 1944 we followed the Allied invasion in small maps in the Bulletin with their help. We were taught “La Marseilles” in French (I still remember the words to my wife’s astonishment) and Brahms Cradle Song and “Silent Night” in German - which on reflection was a rather odd thing to do. There was also the personable Guernsey-born Miss Albiges who looked after the top primary class with whom I kept up a correspondence for years, as I think did many others.
We all returned to Albert Drive having sat the Qualy. Names that come to mind are Mr. Young, Mr. Bernstein and Miss Brown. There was also Mr. Dorian who gave 30 of us the belt for being late after lunch because we were watching prefabs being built.
I finally left when I was 16 in 1951 and developed a lifelong interest in the theatre over the next two years. When I went off to do National Service in 1953 I was stationed at RAF Headquarters in Germany where in a former large spa hotel there was a lovely small theatre. People I met and put on plays with there are still amongst my closest friends. After I was demobbed I returned home and worked in the evenings at the Glasgow Alhambra. One of the dancers in the panto that year became my wife - 51 years ago.
I worked at the Royal Opera House for 12 years. We lived in Surrey where our three children were born and moved back to Glasgow in 1975 when I was given the job of reopening and managing the old Theatre Royal – where I’d appeared in the Boy Scouts Gang Show at the age of 16.
I was delighted to be able to attend the 2003 reunion and meet up with many of my former classmates. One of them was Tom Berman who was in the same class as me from age 5. We knew he had come from Czechoslovakia but weren’t aware of how he ended up in Glasgow. We now know about Nicholas Winton and when Tom spent a day with us earlier this year, he told us he was booked to go on the Winton Train. What a stirring and emotive tale that is.
Now living in Sussex, we have six grandchildren all living in Scotland – so we do a lot of travelling up and down the country. And we now have a great-grandchild on the way – due in December 2009. Well we did marry young in those days!
William Hepburn
Left for USA 1960s to work in Boston.After 2 yrs in Canada &5 yrs S.E. Asia in oilfields. Then I returned to Boston area where my wife & I have settled in the town of Hull,.Ma, Scrolling the pics I remember some F.P.s.,Ian Buchanan, Alty Ramsay,Fred Smith,Martin McDonough,HarryCampbell, a very nice girl Louisa Kilpatrick, nee Dimeo.I also remember Hunter MacMillan, Ronnie Yuill, John MacLeod, Joe Letters (left for U,S,A,1949), Iain Henderson, boy all teachers said"most likely to succeed", to name few. Teachers I remember-Big Bill Young who married Miss Brown, Mr.Glen,Mr Nicholson,Mr Binnie,(all Eng.), Lat.Miss Agnew & Mr Dorian, Hist.Miss Hay & MissScott, Music.Miss Soutar, Art.Miss Henderson & Mr Stevenson, Hist. Miss Hay & Miss Scott, Science.MissScott, Mr Bernstein & Mr Inverarity, French Miss Bryson & Miss Lindsay. Not to forget good old Teddy Ross. I hated school then & I couldn't leave quick enough. How I wish I was back there right now.
Yours,
Billy Hepburn
Ian and Janey Hannah, c1959
Ian Newlove
I lived in Maxwell Drive from 1943 until around 1950/1.
My initial memory of school is of my mother and aunt taking me there on my first day in 1944. There after I was given a penny each day for my fare on the No 3 tramcar which stopped on Albert Drive at the end of Matilda Road. I was taken to the tram stop for the next couple of days then left to get on with it. I recollect Miss Munro and Mrs Mcphail as kindly ladies and my time at the primary school was happy and productive.
I also remember that one of the classrooms had a stepped arrangement for desks, I think it was used by infants in the final year.
I soon worked out that by walking to school and home again I could save the fare and buy a penny worth of broken biscuits from City Bakeries across the road from the school. During that period of austerity this was a real treat.
I also recollect walking from Melville Street past the railway station and the tram sheds to get to the Church Hall at the end of Albert Drive where school dinners were served. If we were really lucky we were given a few ball bearings by the men in the tram factory which we could use as marbles.
On one occasion I recollect a train full of American troops sitting in the station some of whom threw packets of chewing gum out on to the platform for us. I also remember walking in file to church on Monday mornings for our weekly service.In senior school, the time in church was often viewed as an opportunity to catch up on unfinished homework.
Having achieved the require standard in the 'Qualy' I returned to Albert Drive and vividly remember several of the staff and having a pretty good time all round. I have been eternally grateful to all of them for their efforts in educating and trying to make me a responsible citizen. There was one occasion when 3 of us (boys) were summoned to the Headmasters' office. The reason for the call was a lady reported a boy in ARA uniform had remained seated downstairs in the tram leaving her to stand. We were identified as a group because of the route the tram travelled and were the three most likely to have been involved. The case remains unsolved!
Unfortunately health issues meant I missed several weeks of important schooling and I then decided that I would rather work than go on for another year to my final year, a decision I have regretted ever since. I did eventually overcome the set back and have lead a pretty good life one way or another. By chance I am on the periphery of the education system in that I chair Admission Panels and Review Panels for three local authorities in the Berkshire area .Something that,almost by accident, I became involved with on retiring at the end of 1999.
The staff I remember in particular are Mr Inverarity, Mr Binnie, Miss Gertrude Scott , Ollie Brown and Mr Bell. Somewhere a Mrs Routledge ,who I think was Austrian, was involved in English and teaching us how to write.She did this holding our hand and moving it with the pen to produce the flowing lines demanded.
As someone else has said, Mr Inverarity did not allow any nonsense and as well as the effective use of a metre ruler over the knuckles, his aim with the wooden duster was unerring. If he heard a noise he threw the duster without turning round. His accuracy was attributed to enhanced senses as the result,reputedly,of having been a PoW of the Japanese.
Mr Binnie was said to have been a pilot with the RAF and was prepared to regale us with stories provided we were well behaved and finished our work before the end of the period.That happened on most of his lessons.
We thought Miss Scott had a French accent and presumed she was French. Miss Scott made learning interesting as well as giving an insight to French customs and France. I subsequently maintained an interest in the language and followed up at further education with some very happy times in France all of which I attribute to Miss Scott.
Mr Brown was quite different to any other teacher and he spent a good deal of time indoctrinating us with the ethos of Scottish Nationalism . I believe he went on to be an official of the SNP.
Mr Bell was fun but took badly to those who misbehaved or shirked.The punishment in the gym was the option of a 'sand' shoe or the end of the knotted climbing rope. If you 'forgot' your rugby or running kit when at the sports ground then 3 laps of the playing field was the norm!
Unfortunately he was not too interested in soccer which most of us would have preferred to rugby, however when he accompanied us to away matches we did see another side to him, and these trips were enjoyable experiences.
Mr Glen was a gentleman and endlessly patient with us as was Mr Yuill.
My cousin,Gregor Egan, followed a year behind me through primary school. He went on to Allan Glens' school.
I also have two younger sisters Mhairi and Norma who were 2 and 4 years respectively behind me.They left to attend Shawlands as the result of us moving house around 1950. I was unable to identify either in photographs and have asked them to check to see if they are included anywhere.
Reading some of the memories, particularly of classmate David Jackson, brought back isolated incidents, not all of them good. In the 5yearolds' class in the Albert road building, my elder sister Grace, who was a prefect and later head girl, was called in because I couldn't count my dots. I loved the oil cloth banners on the walls with pictures of animals and alphabet letters. Kathleen Herron wet the floor and they put a chair over it...we WERE the babies class..... Melville St School,singing "all things bright and beautiful" in Miss McPhail's class. Miss Albiges who had come over from Guernsey with refugee children during the war, and who told how when the cows in Guernsey got into wild onions in the fields, the milk would be flavored with onions....blowing ink balls through the drinking straws, and folding the flattened waxy straws over so that they made a satisfying snap when quickly straightened out......children with "purple stuff" on their hair and heads: gentian violet for lice? The stinky air raid shelters, and obligatory singing to keep our spirits up. I visited after school a classroom where my big sister was in a group knitting "comforts for the troops": balaclava helmets and gloves and socks. I think Miss McKeieth monitered that class, or did she trade with Miss McCance? Waiting for the number 3 tram at Melville St, where some of the boys teased the man whose actions were bizarre, the man they called "Dopey", probably shell shocked from the first world War. I am so sorry, "Dopey", whose name I never knew. Maybe some others remember you, so you still live on. Poppy Day, where everyone acted sadly in front of the memorial board of "Old Boys" from the other war to end wars.... The physical exams in the office, where it was discovered I had acute scoliosis and had to go to Scotland Street clinic to pick up marbles with my toes, while dressed only in my underwear, and afterwards wore a kind of "liberty bodice " brace to straighten me up, which it didn't. I am now a little 80 year old woman getting closer and closer in a lop sided way to the ground. Swimming classes in the darkly green echoing Calder Street Baths, where I wasn't allowed to wear my glasses in the water after changing clothes in the dark little cubicles, and blindly floundered in the scary echoing pool... How I hated hockey at Nether Pollock. I hopefully would be sent to look for the ball, and after enjoying bug hunting in the stream, someone would be sent to look for me... And Miss McGavin, the gym teacher, well knowing my sisters and my lack of physical ability, saying in amazement as I passed up high from rope to rope:"Why, it's the Simmons girl". The torture of "Sports Day" where you were expected to show athletic skills I could never have dreamed of having, clad in black shorts with the red band for "Pollock" house across the chest.The other "Sports houses" were Nithsdale: blue?, Maxwell,:green? and Titwood: yellow.. Sharing the English prize with Tommy Berman, acting in "The Dark Betrothal," about the Wars of the Roses: "Where did they say the fighting was?" "At a place called Bosworth". "I wonder what;s happening there...", and something from Pride and Prejudice, where I was Eiziabeth Bennet, and got to get a peck on the cheek from handsome Darcy, Alan Cameron.... Miss Rutledge, lifting her leg so she didn't get the backlash when she gave you the belt... Lachlan Uriah Ross: Teddy Ross: a black crow in his academic gown, with watch chain taut across his vest, math teacher. I have often wondered how come such an unfit person should ever have been a teacher. Mr Dorian, aptly named Latin teacher. The embarrassment when Eileen Shaw translated Brassiere for Brazier... Miss Henderson, and Mr Nichols, art teachers (she smoked and tried to cover up the smell with violet scented lozenges), and how delighted I was when they said I seemed to be ready to start painting in oils. And Mr Nichols said his Art School days were the happiest in his life, and when I was struggling sometimes in Art School, how sad I thought that statement was....the number three tram to Maxwell Park, heavy leather schoolbags weighing down your back. Betty's little shop near Melville St School, where you could buy clay pipes for blowing soap bubbles, and, during the war, licorice root for sweetness in the absence of sweeties, never mind its laxative effect. Walking to school in dense fog, so foul that your neck made tide marks on the collars of your white shirt. Sometimes slates would fly off the tenement roofs as you were walking. Ah, the smelll of dense fog, and the smoke from the trains on the Cathcart Inner Circle... names remembered: Tommy Berman, David Jackson, Iain Henderson, James Darling, George McCurdy, Greerson Cooper, Allen Nichols, Eve Freund, Agnes Anderson, Betty Wallace, Robert Grieve,Margaret Hall, Joyce Freeman, Beth Urquhart, Eileen Shaw, Noreen Webster,: more come to mind in the night time.... What a spate of memories. If anyone remembers me, I'm much happier now....and would love to hear from you.! Excuse me for blethering on so, but the flood gates of memory got opened! I live in Eugene Oregon, USA..... at Pollokshields Senior Secondary 1946 to 1952.
Thank you for collating the ARA web-site. What a treasure trove of photos and memories! Well done! I found the web-site on a whim and I’m glad I did.
Re the photos, one or two additions/corrections; p.3 the girl in the photo with Dorothy Black, Dorothy Nimblin & Ann Milligan is Betty Dunn (as in 1954 Qualifying class on p.8) In the latter photo, Front row from LHS no.1 is Miriam ?, no.2 Margaret Morrison, no.7 Madge Buchanan, (not Rhona Mc Gillivray), no.8 is Carole McGregor, and no.10, at the end, is ME!, Sheena Gemmell. On 3rd row, boy no 3 is Russell Black, no.4 Robert Wren and no.5 Jack Lambert. I remember them all! On p.5, 1951 Staff includes, I think, Miss Cantley (?English), front row, third from left. And in the Ship group on p.6 the girl wearing the scarf to the right of and slightly behind Douglas Carrick is Barbara Cramp.
Now for some of my many recollections. I came to ARA around 1951, into P.4 at Melville St, and to the Senior School in 1955, being part the last 6th form in 1961, when the upper school was down to penny numbers. This caused problems – few subject options and the dearth at the end of committed teachers in some subjects (e.g. history). But there were other good ones who stayed to the bitter end. Ones who stand out over the years are: Mr BROUGH, Headmaster of Melville St; Miss PATERSON, P.7 Melville St, who marked the register in purple ink and always wore a brown suit. Years later, when I was myself a teacher in my mid-20s, I saw her on a bus. She looked just the same and she appeared to be wearing the same suit! I didn’t have the courage to speak to her (I might have told her that one of my motivations for becoming a teacher was that purple ink!) : Then in the Senior School my first form teacher Miss AGNEW (Aggy Bags -Latin and history). She left after my first year but made a big impression: Kindly Mr GLEN (English –?and History) with his leathery friend Augustus the Peace-Maker which I only ever remember being used once. He had a great sense of humour: Gentle Miss BARBARA SCOTT (Science), very patient (does anyone remembers the used straws she collected, dried and coloured to make spills to raise funds for a charity, the East Park Home, I think) : Mrs ROBERTSON (PE) who never let us use the equipment in the gym, had trouble saying ‘Strathspey’ in dance sessions, and endlessly made us practice ‘follow through’ with hockey sticks: Miss BAIN (English) who had very firm ideas and high standards but was immensely encouraging: OLIVER BROWN (French) - who could forget him? Again a man of high standards and an excellent teacher. My French grammar is still commented on, and I am no linguist, but it’s stuck, thanks to him. But oh, no spoken French practice, so I have good grammar and vocabulary but an abysmal accent! Nor did he suffer fools gladly. There was a poor girl (no idea who, but I’m sure she remembers) who mistranslated the word for ‘rubber’ as ‘caulflower’ in a prose passage about a breakdown in a car, and Ollie’s acid comments ‘Cauliflower burning? In a car? In a forest? At night? In the rain?’ I can only imagine how small and stupid she must have felt: Then there was Miss MELDRUM (French), sharp and rather glamorous: D’ARCY CONYERS (? Maths), an improbably named Scottish Nationalist, a real character who used to throw the backboard rubber around and shower everyone with chalk dust; Mr MOSS (Wee Moses – Maths) very short of stature who always wore robes tinged green with age and permanently covered in chalk dust. He endeavoured, without much success, but more patience than others, to teach me Maths and I rewarded him with getting 7% in an exam – and all time low I’m sure: Mr McPHAIL (Classics), patient and encouraging: Mrs CAMPBELL (Music) who was very easy to tease. e.g. us ‘Bach had 26 wives and 2 children’ and her response ‘No, No’, you’ve got it the wrong way round!’ Mr DICKSON (geography) who was rather handsome, and we girls all had a crush on him: Mr MORRIS, (?English and History?), a young graduate, inexplicably known as Cuthbert (or to us in the music class, Der Fledermaus, the Bat, after the opera of that name, because his robes were too big and always seemed to fly about behind him); Mr CALDWELL, the headmaster, who was not impressive, and in hindsight was probably a stop-gap at the end of his career because the powers that be had already planned to close the school: and a nameless person drafted in (probably very reluctantly) to teach history to fifth and sixth years, who never bothered to learn our names, and droned on endlessly about 19th cent constitutional history to my immense frustration and boredom. He was an exception. My over-riding memory of the school is of its sense of intimacy and cohesion. All the staff (except the latter and he wasn’t a staff member) knew us, and in hindsight probably cared for us much more than we realised. We all felt proud of it, and of being pupils there.
And of the pupils I remember, thinking back to my first year form class and how we sat in rows, two by two in double desks, alphabetically, starting form the bottom right hand corner - there were Dorothy Black and Marjorie Borthwick, Madge Buchanan and Jessie Chambers (next two desks are a blank), then in the next row Joan Finnie and Moira Fraser, myself - Sheena Gemmell - and Ellen Hogan, behind us Roberta Hutchinson and Eirwen Joy, and after that I can’t recall the sequence, just odd names – Edna Macdonald, Diane Millar, Helen Stenhouse, Dorothy Nimlin, Margery Watts, Margaret Roy (who soon emigrated to Canada and with whom I kept in touch for many years) From later years there are lots of people including Vera McCombie, Moyra Vallance, Yvonne Davis, Elizabeth ( also known as Anne) Ferguson, Mildred (Jane) Allan, Eleanor Fryer, Esme Alexander, Ann Summers, Ann Milligan. Also Donald Ferguson, Eddie Mills, Hamish Robertson, Dougie Houston, Campbell Wallace. Are any of you out there? And if so what are your recollections and can you fill in the gaps?
But there are some negatives too. The lack of cloakroom facilities was disgraceful. I shall always associate the school building with the smell of wet coats which we trailed from room to room with all our other stuff and hung on the backs of our desks. The lack of options in the upper school was also very frustrating. There must be many people who were not able to follow the study and career paths they would have wished to. And the lack of any career guidance at the end of our time was also a big failing. There was also no obvious provision for pastoral support but in my experience the staff themselves, except for Mr Caldwell, stepped in to the breach and gave care, guidance and encouragement where needed. In hindsight this was probably because the notoriously slack Education Dept in Bath St had decided some years before that the school wasn’t viable and made no effort to improve facilities or maintain a well-balanced curriculum. I write now as someone who has spent her career in various facets of Education, including teaching and pastoral support, and who eventually did a degree in a subject, Mediaeval History, which I would have loved to study at school.
However, I shan’t end on a negative note. ARA was a school in the old mould, and didn’t fit the modernising bill. It had a sad and undeserved end. I’m proud to have been an ARA pupil.
