The Only Sassenach In The Town.

A Memory of Penninghame Ho.

After the blitz in London, my mum rang her uncle in Newton Stewart. As a result of that call, we spent several months living in Newton Stewart. The uncle owned the 'K' shoe shop in (I think) Victoria Road. His name was William Griffin. I went to Penninghame school where Miss McDonald was my teacher and Mr Barr, the headmaster. My memory of that school is, that the outside toilets had been smashed to pieces and all the children had to use the surrounding field as a toilet. The stench was terrible. Close to the shoe shop was a hotel, the 'Grapes', I think. I remember that on the opposite side of the road there was a cinema and a chip shop. If the cinema had a long queue, close to starting time, the manager would come out and tell any kids that they could enter via a side door for threepence (the threepenny rush). I also remember the following----US convoys taking a break in the town. Paddling beneath the bridge to get money thrown down by US forces. They'd make sure it went directly into the water, so that we had to get very wet retrieving it.The Murphy family in Minigaff. Italian POW's, clearing snow from the streets. An allied bomber crashing into a hill (The Buchan, I think). Finding eels, stuck in the ice, near the river bank.We would chip them out and release them in the centre of the river, where the water was still flowing freely. The name Charles Lambie. I am not sure if that was a business office or a shop. Joining the local sea scouts. The tawse.

---

---