Growing Up In Moniaive 1954 1969

A Memory of Moniaive.

I was born and brought up in Moniaive, and my mother owned the local hairdresser's salon (JACIE'S) at 3 Ayr Street. I lived with my mother (Janet), sister (Jenny) and maternal grandparents (who also had a house in Dunreggan, 4th down on the right from the bridge) (Dickie and May until 1964ish).
I started school at Moniaive Primary, and then went to Wallace Hall Academy at Closeburn on the school bus.
Moniaive was a fantastic place to grow up in the 60s, we had our resident 'Bobby', whose Police Station was directly across the street from my house. It was first manned by PC Clinton, and then by PC Dick Bodle, his wife Jean and son Ed (who went on to join the RAF). These were the days that, if you were in trouble, the village bobby would first give you a good clip around the ear, and then drag you home to get some more! And far more effective than today's standards.
The 50s and 60s were the days when the police and teachers had some authority, and you would never consider doing half the things the kids do nowadays.
One of the highlights of living in Moniaive at that time, for me, was that the RAC Rally of Britain, and the White Horse Rally used to come through the village every year. The RAC would come down Chapple St, turn right at the cross and go straight up Dunreggan Brae. The White Horse Rally would come up Dunreggan, over the bridge and up Chapple St. And every year at around 2am you would find me sitting at the Cherry Tree by the Cross, waiting for the cars to come through at full chatt with my friends, Albert Dykes and Eric Todd. My mother would even bring us a flask of tea in the early hours of the morning.
During the school holidays we were always out on our bikes, either round the village or going round the back road to Kirkland and returning up the main road back to the village. I would also wash cars for some pocket money, I earned 2 shillings and 6 pence per car (25p now), which was a huge sum of money then, and one of my regulars was my neighbor Dr Milne, who lived in the big house next door where his surgery was, and he was assisted in the village by Nurse Young.
Other jobs I had were helping Eddy Miller, the local milk man, deliver his milk from his horse and cart milk float, 1 shilling (10p) a day, delivering groceries for Willie Cranston, who had a little grocers just round the corner on the High St, on his 'Open All Hours' bike for 1 shilling (10p) a day, and helping in my mother's salon, sweeping and taking bookings etc, for 2 shillings and 6 pence (25p) a week.
On a Saturday I would go into Dumfries with my pockets full of money, (max of 15 shillings or 75p), and go to the 'Regal' Cinema to see the film of the week in the 'ABC Minors Club', (who can remember ALL of the song's words? I can remember some of them and the tune!).
The facilities in Moniaive at that time were quite good, we had my mother's hairdresser's, two grocers (Willie's & Glencorse's), one general store (Cranstons), a Post Office, Donaldsons haberdashery, The Craigdarroch, The George, two garages, a sweet shop, an electrician's, a butcher's, a mobile fish van and the Masonic Hall where there were snooker tables downstairs, and we held dances, a youth club and whist drives etc upstairs.
Winters were very hard at that time, I remember one year the village was cut off for days due to the amount of snow that fell, I would be 10 or 11 and we had to dig our way out of the house as the snow was up to my head (about 4ft ), and they had to fly supplies and water in by helicopter, but it was great fun as the school bus could not get through!
Winter was not the only time we were cut off, I remember a Foot and Mouth outbreak that closed the roads for a couple of days, then they covered the roads in and out with straw that was doused in very strong disinfectant, it was that strong the whole village smelled of it, as it was brought in on the car and bus tires.
Flooding was also a problem for the houses on Dunreggan, the river would quite often break its banks and flood the whole street. I recall that my grandparents' house had guides built into the door frames, back and front, that 'Flood Boards' slotted in to to try to limit the damage, these would be backed up with sandbags against the outside. And many a time we went down there to 'Board and Bag' when a flood was expected.
Growing up in Moniaive was a wonderful experience. I left there in 1969 to join the Army, and only went back to visit my family on the odd occasion. They have all moved on now, and I have retired and live in Spain, but I still have very strong, personal ties towards the village, it is where my fondest memories are from, and because of that, I still feel that I belong there.

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