Kennoway Den

I moved to Kennoway from Kirkcaldy at the age of five and lived at 40 Kenmount Drive in a steel house as was then. Went to Kennoway Primary School which was practically opposite where we lived so that was very handy. I'd just started at the school when I was given the strap for not missing a line in between sentences in my jotter. must have been a sadistic teacher.. but I never forgot again though. I should think the strap especially at primary school has long been abolished! Managed to get the strap again though by a teacher called Mr Robertson at Hallfields Secondary for not doing my homework! Used to love going down Kennoway Den I remember going with pals along a path from the Causeway then down 99 dodgy worn steps (was it really 99 steps or did I make that up?) and there was a wooden bridge at the bottom of the steps with some of its planks missing that went over the burn. My mother didn't like me going down the den as she thought it was a dangerous place - and maybe it was in those days but I used to go down with my pals anyway. ..and she didn't appreciate the huge bunch of white flowers I brought her back from there on one occasion, she shrieked 'stinkin ingins' and threw them in the bin! Some parts of the den were covered in those white flowers think they must have been wild garlic in bloom. Remember some boys making a fire in the round cave which had two holes to it and boys pouring out from both holes as the smoke choked them. I once tried getting to the square cave which was high up in a cliff (John Knox was supposed to have hidden in it) but I chickened out when it got to the part of clinging on to tree roots and shuffling across a sheer drop to finally get to the cave! There was a stone bridge going over the burn at some part of the den where boys used to make a dam and swim. I moved with my family to Yorkshire in 1964 - my brother Glen died suddenly in July this year and I intend to take his ashes and scatter them by that bridge where the dam used to get built as he swam there. I've noticed mention of the Lady's Brig but I don't remember calling it by any name. Hope I'm able to find it again this coming week-end if the weather holds out and I can travel up. Glen's main pals in the street were Ian McIntyre and Smiler McClarron. His name was Glen Barr, I'm his sister Ella - my friends were Sheila Grieve, Sheila Duncan, Sophie Smith, the twins Issy and Betty up the Star Road (can't remember their last name). But my very best pal was Jeanette Thomson who joined me in England a year after I moved here. Looking forward to going up the Den again on safer paths than we had!