Farewell to Glasgow.

[Fouro]

Oh where is the Glasgow I used to know,
The tenement buildings that let in the snow,
Through the cracks in the plaster, the cold wind did blow,
And the water we washed in was forty below,
We read by gaslight, we had nae TV,
Hot porridge was for breakfast, cold porridge for tea,
And some weans had ricketts, some had TB,
Ay that's what the Glasgow of old means to me,
Many a neighbour complained if we played wi' a ba',
Or "Hunch cuddy hunch" against somebody's wa',
If we played "Kick the can" we'd tae watch for the law,
For the polis made sure we did sweet bugger a',
Youv'e heard o' the closet that stood on the stair,
Oors had tae accommodate fifteen or mair,
And the wee broken windae let in the fresh air,
I sometimes went inside, but just for a dare,
And we huddled together just tae keep warm in bed,
We'd nae sheets nor blankets, just old coats instead,
And a big balaclava tae cover yer head,
And "God but it's cauld" was the only prayer said,
Noo there's some say that tenement living was swell,
That's the wally close toffs who had doors wi' a bell,
Twa rooms and a kitchen and a bathroom as well,
While the rest o' us lived in a single-end hell,
So wipe aff that smile when you talk o' the days,
That you lived in the Gorbals or Cowcaddens' way,
And remember the mice and the rats you once chased,
For tenement living was a bloody disgrace.

FOURO.

[Captain Kong]

Excellent poem Fouro, I could see the picture.
Thanks,
Brian

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmate,{ Great poem }I was back there again in that time ,there were places like that in all the citys...

[Red Lead Ted]

FOURO, Great poem, And has been said could apply to most major cities in the uk. This was a topic of conversation thrown open for people to phone in on BBC Radio Merseyside this week. Where the good old days really better than things are today. The ice on the inside of the windows instead of the outside no central heating then you had to get up and build a coal fire to warm the house and water with the old damper pulled down There are pluses and minuses in my opinion on the plus side..........Children could play out in the streets {No Cars} They could run free in the parks and I have great memories of playing in what we called the bomb dies, Streets of houses still standing after being bombed in the last war uninhabitable if one of you were lucky enough to own an air rifle you could shoot the rats that occupied them. There were plenty of them right up until the early 60s. There was a pub on every corner you could take the empties back and get a joey a bottle or if you found a lemonade bottle do the same the banks of the Mersey was full of dunnage from the 1.000s of tonnage of shipping that trawled up and down the river chop it up and bundle it put it in a home made cart {An old perambulator chassis} and sell it door to door for peoples coal fires. I can remember playing Football, Cricket, Tennis against a wall, Flying a kite, We would make our own push bike often with different size wheels and pedals until your mother finally found you about 10pm with a clip around the ear hole we swam in the Leeds Liverpool canal most days in the summer you could bunk off school and get your mate to write you a note for the teacher the next day. I could go on for hours, Todays kids don't seem to know what fresh air is they are sat in the house on there laptops or game consoles. Every young person I see in the street has wires coming out of their ears. They are like zombies on a train or bus staring into space. Its a very different world alright but is it a better one than we had. I suppose there is a case both ways I watched the Panorama program on BBC last night {Don't Cut My Benefits} Its only 30 to 40 yrs since I had young kids on the floor. The one thing I will say is that when you had 4 kids to feed you stopped having kids because it wasn't easy if you found yourself out of work. But then we had the chance to travel the country and earn a crust these young people today seem to be trapped on benefits for me and like it or lump it there are to many immigrants with 6/7/8/kids draining the welfare system. Landlords can put any price on accommodation as in rent. Which although we are told by consecutive governments over the last 30yrs or so has done nothing to stop them. Talking of government ministers there is to many with double standards. Where they good old days I have to say yes Regards Terry.

[John Arton]

Glasgow is a great city and many of us think of the Gorbals as a pretty awful area to live in up to when they started demolishing all the old tenements but many years ago it was the posh end of Glasgow.
I went up to the Gorbals with a mate of mine who was into vintage cars. He owned a Brooklands Bentley amongst others and had heard of a garage in the Gorbals that was selling off spares for Bentleys and Rolls Royce's.
We went up there with a trailer and eventually found this old garage, it had obviously been built as stables in its former life, situated amongst some of the worst tenements and waste land ever.
The old guy who owned it was selling up and he took us into the back to show us what he had to sell. It was a treasure trove of Bentleys and Rolls Royce parts from the early 100's. Huge circular head lamps covered in grease and not a mark on them, axles again protected by grease and still spun freely, leaf springs etc. etc. A real treasure trove.
I think my mate brought as much as we could load onto the trailer and stuff in the back of a Range Rover for about £10000 1972) and he reckoned it was worth at least 5 times that amount.
I got talking to the owner who had lived and worked there all his life and I commented on the fact that it seemed weird to find a Rolls Royce and Bentley garage in the middle of such a desolate area.
That was when he put me straight giving me a lesson on the history of the Gorbals and how at one time it was where all the Glasgow ship owners and bankers etc. lived and that when he was a youngster his garage sold more Roll's and Bentley's than any other Scottish dealership and was amongst the top dealerships in the country.
Fascinating old guy who had been trained by Rolls and Bentley's on how to maintain there cars and who obviously took immense pride in his work. The workshop, although old, was spotless with all parts numbered and lettered in racks and trays. Spent so long chatting with him that by the time we got back to the Lake District it was almost daylight the next day and we still had to unload and catalogue all my mates booty.
rgds
JA

[Fouro]

The Gorbals nowadays has been unrecognisably re-developed.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century it was the aim of John Laurie, son of a wealthy timber merchant in Jamaica Street to turn the Gorbals into a showpiece suburb of Glasgow. He succeeded extremely well and built well known thouroughfares now known as Warwick, Salisbury, Portland, Oxford, Norfolk, Cumberland, Bedford and Cavendish streets. The houses built by Laurie in the Laurieston district stood the test of time for well over 100 years and it was hard to believe they would become slum property. During the 1800's the rich merchants of Glasgow bought up the splendid Georgian Houses in the Gorbals. At this time great new industries were beginning to grow in Glasgow. The River Clyde was deepened and Glasgow became a port and its first artificial dock Kingston Dock was opened. The multitudes then started pouring in and they also swept into the Gorbals. In the middle of the 19th century the Gorbals had a large influx of Jewish people fleeing from the Russians, they were then followed by the Irish.
Even in 1952 only 8 percent of Gorbals households had the availability of piped water,cooking stove, kitchen sink water closet and fixed bath.
Sir Thomas Lipton, the Prince of British grocers was born in the Gorbals and Loraine Kelly OBE. the present TV presenter was born in the Gorbals in 1959.
This proves the wise old gent who spoke to JA and his friend knew what he was talking about.

FOURO.

[Richard Quartermaine]

As a steward on the Moreton Bay in February 1947 a family immigrating to Oz from Glasgow was on my table and the pretty young lass about my age - just turning 17 - had red marks across both cheeks. She had been sliced with a razor. Later I read a book about the razor gangs on the 'Sooth Side'. I hope her life changed to make up for that terrible deed.
Richard