Whifflet Shawhead And Coatbridge

A Memory of Coatbridge.

My memories of the above are vivid in my memory, I remember Shawhead from about 1959 when we first moved there, when we moved in there was an old railway line that ran in front of the shops which then were the Co-op, Bennetts, and Leslies, the only one left now is Leslies. There used to be an old wooden bridge just opposite Leslies that took you over the railway line to "the other side" of Shawhead. I have some excellent memories of the Daisy Hill which was situated where Shawhead Primary School is now. Then there was the burn that ran through the glen, and of course the Table Top "Mountain" which was really just a big hill, we used to spend hours, days and weeks in the glen, playing all sorts of different games, building tree houses and dens hidden amongst the trees, playing around in the burn, I remember there was a deep part of the burn where you could actually swim, it was near the M8 motorway end of the burn, near the old Mine Safety building. We spent much of our summer holiday down there, making swings on old ropes hanging from the trees, and just having great fun. It was such a wonderful time and place to spend my childhood, nowadays I think it is all gone, much of it replaced by housing. Then we used to frequent Whifflet Public park, where we used to play football and tennis, there used to be tennis courts next to the bowling green, there used to be a big blonde lady called Sadie who used to tend to the tennis courts, in other words she used to take your money and issue you with tennis balls and raquets, she also used to let us know when our alloted time was up. Then we sometimes used to go to the lochs up at Drumpellier, we used to hire the old rowing boats and go out in the loch messing around, it was wonderful. We used to go to the Cinema picture hall which was just opposite the Time Capsule and up a little bit towards James Dempsey Gardens, we also used to frequent the Regal which is now the snooker club at the Fountain, we also used to go to the Odeon picture hall which was right at the bottom of Dunbeth Road on the opposite side of the road next to the old swimming baths which is now the Buchanan Centre I believe. Both the Regal and Odeon had "secret" entrances known only to us schoolboys, and the cinema "congierges" who soon found out where we were coming in, it was a real battle of wits between us and them to see if we could sneak in without being caught! We managed it quite often, but we sometimes had to adapt our style to suit the "current situation" so to speak. There also used to be a greyhound racetrack, they built the police station on the site when they closed the track down, many a Friday and Saturday evening spent there gambling illegally! Then there was the Douglas Estate on the Shawhead/Bellshill boundary where we used to spend many happy hours just wandering around pretending to be cowboys and indians, we were really such innocents then, I remember my Mum used to take us out for walks, down Kirkshaws Road, somehow we used to cross the M8, don't ask me how because I can't remember, but she used to take us into some fields bordering the M8, we used to picnic there and take a football to play, we used to go swimming in an old pool in the field, what happened to my childhood? What are the children of today missing? They have all the technology they want, computers, play stations, flat screen tellies, but where is their sense of adventure? the closest they will everget to what I had is to play the game on their computer, just like I played it in real life. It is so sad that we have progressed the way we have, I don't want to be a dinosaur, and I embrace technology as much as I can given my limitations, but what I would give just to spend one day, or even just one hour back in my childhood days, it is now sadly gone but not forgotten, it is vital that we record our memories for our children and grandchildren and the many generations who will follow, this must never be forgotten or be allowed to be forgotten, this is part of our heritage, our history, our past long gone. I would love to put my memories into a book, if anyone ever reads this and would like to help me to write a book, please call me on my mobile, yes technology has followed me, my number is 07855531005, I would be only too happy to help with the writing of a book along with anyone else's memories, male or female, I'm sure we would all have a wonderful tale to tell. My name is George, I lived in both Whifflet and Shawhead, my early childhood still lies there in my memory, I attended school in Whifflet and Coatbridge, if anyone reads this and feels that they may know me or thinks that they may know me, please call me, I would love to swop tales and stories of Whifflet and Shawhead in the 1960's. Some characters from Coatbridge that I remember, Granny Harvey, Jimmy "beat the bus" Peat, Jimmy Dragon, anyone who remembers Jimmy Dragon will remember why he was called Jimmy Dragon! Who remembers Theresa's fish and chip shop in Calder Street? or the Night Star next to The Big Tree, or the old style Whifflet Arms before it was tarted up, when it used to be a "man's pub" when women never used to venture into pubs, they were purely a male domain. Oh how times have changed. For better or worse?

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