This was taken in 1953 West Coats School. Since I would have been 13. I
presume that makes it our first year in High School.
I can identify a few people.
Back row
Second from the left (the wall end) George Watson, third from left Calum Murray. Third
from the right end Edward Ramsay, end of the row Richard Banks.
Third row
Extreme left James Jack, second from left Netta Young
Second row
Fifth from the left Eleanor Henderson (I think)
At the end of the row, kneeling George Goodlet (me)
We used to live on the Main Street near the cross close to Cooper's (?) until about 1950
and then moved to Park Street until we were rehoused in 1960.
When I was about 10, I worked for Kirk`s, going to the station each afternoon
to pick up the newspapers which came by train.
My father came from Halfway and my mother from Hallside.
You asked about memories. I was born in 1940. My father was in the army and was sent to
the Middle East, probably in 1941 and then to Ceylon (as it was then) and then India. He
did not come back until 1945. There was only my mother and me. I remember being in a a
shelter during an air raid. That seemed so unlikely that I confirmed it with my mother
several years before she died. I also remember how the stores would be empty and then
would have stock, things like apples, because a convoy had arrived. I never saw a banana
until after 1945. I remember VE day because there was a bonfire in the middle of the
square formed by the tenements. The cops appeared and were very interested in where the
railway sleepers had come from but I think they found the crowd so hostile that they left.
George R Goodlet
London
Ontario
Canada
goodlet @ execulink.com
The thin girl on the second bottom row seated beside George Goodlet is Mima (Jemima) Laird from Halfway. Sadly she died last year. She left a husband David and two sons, Hamish and Allan. DOB 10 October 1939, married name Crosbie. Lived up in Crieff for many years where she was a teacher. She was brought up in Castle Chimmins Avenue in Halfway. Her younger brother John Laird lives in Dumfries.
John Laird – ex Hallside Primary and Westburn prefabs.