Summerford [Boys Paradise]

A Memory of Camelon.

I was born at Maryfield 25 Feb 1941, a screaming, greetin 10 pounder. The family moved to Summerford the next year. As I got older I began to realize I had landed in boys' paradise, so many things to do and so much to explore. We swam in the Forth and Clyde Canal [when the oil was thin enough], fished for pike, perch and dace in the Union Canal. We climbed huge chestnut and beech trees, ran wild on the Summerford, Greenbank and Red Hills [really they were spoil heaps from the many factories that operated and used to operate in the area]. The Red and Summerford Hills were overgrown with birch and willow where we built hideouts and fought battles [not always imaginary]. We climbed over abandoned factory roofs, into old condensing vessels and old machinery. We raided the old factory where the ropes that used to pull the horse drawn barges along the canal were stored. We used these ropes to make Tarzan swings up on the Roman wall. Within half a mile or so there were working factories and foundries and also derelict works. A paradise indeed.
I hope all the friends and others who grew up there have as many happy memories as I have of Summerford. I have bored my wife and others for years with my tales of derring do. I can bore people for Scotland for hours and never repeat myself. Well enough from me, I hope I have given a taste of my boyhood.

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