Schooldays

A Memory of Portpatrick.

I was lucky to live in Portpatrick - my father came to HM Coastguard Station in 1953. We had come from Australia, and it took my mother some time to settle in, I think: she was a town girl through and through. My sister and I felt more or less at home. Well, as much as we did in Australia, I suspect, although it was easier to be called Shiela in Scotland than it was in Australia. Mr Muir the Headmaster at the local school was kind to me, but I did not do very well in the control examination.
I remember beautiful skies, sunsets, cliffs, summers spent at Sandeel Bay, guide camps and guide concerts, village dances, and the lovely Dunskey Castle - how the disused railway line ran along beside the footpath out to Dunskey. Sad to say, disused even in those days. I remember Mr Day in the sweetie shop. And the other sweetie shop beside the burn. There was a library in the chemist's shop. Those great big batch loaves at the baker's shop. And running down the cliff path, late for the school bus. Getting herring and mackerel from the fishing boats.
That will do for now. It was fun remembering.

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