Munroe Placemillbank Rd

A Memory of Wishaw.

My name is John Jeffrey. Our family lived in the sandstone buildings across from Youngs Windows known as Munroe Place. Our house number was 66 Millbank Road. I remember a few names when growing up there till they knocked it down, like Jim and Morag Moffat, Francie Murray, Jim Neilson, Mrs Cargill, the Littlejohns our relatives, Mini Caldwell, the Bunces, Mrs Mclaren, and Mrs Murray with her wee Scots Terrier who she washed in the wash houses at the back of the building. As weins we used to sit at the top of the green hill and watch the dog racing at night or make our own entertainment having bike races on the drying green. My Uncle Robert who also lived at Munroe Place had a few big black sheds before the prefabs where he sorted  bikes for the Hamiton auctions. I knew a lot of people from the prefabs who went to Wishie Academy with me from about 1958 to 1964/65. Wishaw South train station was open at that time with the steam trains for Glasgow and the south. I remember when they built the flats on "Cali" Road and shops like Bowes, Leathams, and the Co-op, not to mention the hairdressers and the "Cali" bar which was run by the Scott family. Our house was up the stairs with an outside toilet, as well as a large front bedroom, it had a living room with a hole in the wall bed and a small kitchen. Jim Neilson who I mentioned had a yard next to the end of the buildings where he sold coal from a horse and cart and one lorry and next to him, "Francie" Murray who also had a horse and cart and sold straw to the farmers. The Priory was the place to go for "chessies" and a family called Burns lived there. Gowthrapple was just fields and a farm and Overtown still a small village with the famous Jacob's Ladder where everybody used to go to roll their Easter eggs. Wishaw is steeped in  history and I wish people would take the time to find out more about it as it's forever changing with the times. I have done my best to bring forward my early childhood memories of Millbank Road and will be checking this site in the hope a can find auld pals...