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| Towns | Stories of Old Auchterarder |
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With a millenium approaching it seems timely for older citizens to recall and record what they remember of their town in the early and middle years of this century.... CHILDREN Going to paddle in the Ruthven, children followed the Wee Roadie to the now demolished Mill and looked for locusts to nibble amongst the milling litter. (Not insects, but edible debris considered a delicacy!). Children paddled and had picnics, damming the water with big stones so as to have a swimming hole. There were plenty of brown trout to guddle. Sailing boats in the gutters down Auchterarder High Street was a favourite game, as was sledging down the street in winter and football at any time. Jackets were laid in the road to mark the goals and passing traffic only held up the game temporarily. Boys also enjoyed annoying respectable townsfolk sitting at home. One method was bumming the rones; paper was stuffed up the house drains before being lit with a match. The burning paper was then sucked up the pipe, making a weird moan which filled the house. Furious householders, once recovered from their fright, came roaring out to catch the villains, who watched with delight from across the road! Another torment was to fasten a button on a thread above a window, take the thread round the corner and then, from out of sight, tap on the window repeatedly. The increasing fury of the occupants was a delight to the boys - until they were spotted and pursued with much foul language. SCOUTS, CUBS, GUIDES & BOYS BRIGADES It is agreeable to remember that James Miller, scoutmaster, married Miss Brownless, Cub mistress. She was a lodger at Ben Affray. Leith Boys Brigade camped regularly every summer at Cloan, where there is a plaque in memory of their much liked Captain Gavin. The Dundee Boys Brigade camped on the school playing fields. Good manners were all-important and children who offended could get a hammering if they used bad language. The threat was washing your mouth out with soap - not an idle threat! One boy said of his friend that he 'needed a whole bar!' CHURCHES For most townsfolk Sunday was strictly confined to religious duties - church attendance, reading good books; no games, travelling or frivolous entertainment; no cooking of meals, which had to be previously prepared. Evangelism was an enthusuastic element in the town's religious life. Visiting evangelists held meeting in tents outside the school gates or, more formally, in Templars Hall. Some of this was to do with Temperance (qv) but youngsters also enjoyed dramatic presentations of the Gospel story. The lights in the Hall would be dimmed to an eloquent description of the hopes of salvation or the terrors of Hell. Old men still recall, with masculine scorn, how girls were found in tears when the lights went up. In all the churches, particularly Presbyterian, services were long and frequent. Dr. Gardner, for instance, would preach for an hour and the whole service, starting at 11.30am, lasted at least an hour and a half. The children would sit through this and then attend Sunday School at 1 pm. In the evening there was Bible Class for the older children at 5pm. and Evening Service at 6.30pm. Nevertheless families found time for long walks on Sunday afternoons when the weather was fine, meeting their friends on the popular paths. Sunday School outings were highlights of the year. Every second year all the Churches combined in a trip to Broughty Ferry. The special train left Auchterarder station in the morning to a series of loud explosions (the railway staff never failed to place fog signals on the line). It was quite a send off! Sunday clothes were formal; ladies all wore hats, of course - new ones at Easter and new Summer outfits if possible. Men wore frock coats and tile hats - if they could afford them - especially for Communion. Under the pews in the Parish Church can still be found wire racks to hold the hats during the service. Funerals and Weddings were also occasions for frock coats and top hats. Only men attended. The funeral procession up the High Street to the cemetery was a sombre sight, a great hearse drawn by black horses with black plumes. Men and boys raised their caps as the cortege passed, window blinds were lowered, curtains drawn in all windows. ENTERTAINMENT There was every form of self-organised entertainment before TV took over. Together with the local Literary and Amateur Dramatic Societies, there were whist drives and dances were held every week for all ages. Whist was probably most often played but in this age of the Culbertson conventiosns there was an increasing amount of home bridge . The radio (more commonly called the Wireless), was the central home entertainment before television. The children's programmes were popular - Tales of Tammy Troot being well remembered as is the Scottish country dancing music and the MacFlannels of Glasgow. Lord Haw-Haw is also not forgotten. For housewives The Kitchen Front during the war years was an essential source of advice on how to make best use of rations. Wireless accumulators - before batteries and electricity took over - were charged at Peter Millers. Cinema (the Movies) provided a favourite entertainment, with changes of programme three times a week. There were queues down the High Street at opening time, for seats at 4p (old pence) in the front and 6p in the gallery. Childrens matinees were always packed. In the evening usherettes, well acquainted with courting couples, led them to the back seats. At the interval there was icecream, or one could nip out to Bella Dewar's next door for sweets, and after the show for tea. Mr Dickson was the Manager and John Eadie (Helm Eadie's son) the projectionist. Servicemen based locally not only enjoyed the pictures but would often give concerts themselves. One local Auchterarder resident remembers hearing there for the first time the wartime favourite A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square, the young man who sang it was killed two weeks later. Dancing, ballroom style, was immensely popular with all ages, but particularly with the young. Foxtrots, waltzes and tangos were all the rage. At Gleneagles, before the war Henry Hall, the best known bandleader of the time played every weekend. Donald Dewar, a big man not to be trifled with, ran the Saturday night dances at Templars Hall with Hamish MacLaren and Nichol Dewar playing accordion. There were no bars at such dances - the youngsters went for the dancing, if necessary walking miles to Blackford or further. Behaviour was reasonably good, although on one occasion the Police Sergeant, who made a practice of looking in at Aytoun Hall to check up, found his son dancing the tango with a girl of reputation and hauled him home - for a night in the cells! FARMING An annual event was the arrival in spring and summer of useful casual labour, particularly the berrypickers who camped near the fields. Many were keelies from Glasgow and townies from Dundee. The Roman Catholic Church opened to provide services for many of the boys who were from Catholic schools. (Some of these were remand schools for Dundee and Glasgow boys on probation). The troops of berrypickers looked very orderly marching to Church from Aberuthven where they were billeted. One R.C. school from Tranent near Edinburgh arrived every year by Special Train and marched to their camp with pipe band playing. That pipe band always drew a crowd and on the way they would often get chips or sweets from wellwishers. They were regular visitors to the Cinema in Auchterarder. Although there were good times, it was a hard life; at Townhead they are remembered at work at 5am. picking, husking and packing rasberries and strawberries in the strips behind the houses, for delivery at Gleneagles Hotel before breakfast. That was just for local use. The Railways were busy at berry picking season, despatching large quantities of rasberries. Barrels of them went to Scotts of Paisley and smaller lots in pails to shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The townsfolk, although friendly, were rather suspicious of the gangs - the police gave each picker a number and kept an eye on them. Some hospitality was offered; the Brownies gave them a concert but it is remembered that the little girls felt a bit frightened by the grim faced male audience! Years later a former berrypicker, visiting the town in the 1990s, told the lady hairdresser the reality behind the scene of those orderly troops of youngsters 60 years ago. It was not an idyllic summer holiday for them. In the camps there was often violence, brutality and abuse. Of course in those days no one talked about these things, or would have been believed if they did. HIGH DAYS & HOLIDAYS Christmas Day was a normal working day - shops and offices open, the usual meals, small gifts in some families. Hogmanay was the major festivity of the year and New Years Day was marked by Beefsteak Pies (from Eadies Bakery) for midday dinner. Large enamel pie dishes full of steak from Scobies the butcher would have been delivered earlier, with name tags attached. On the day itself the shop was said to look like a sea of pies, waiting for families to collect. Other families got their steak from Beatons in Ruthven Street and took their pie dishes to Drummond the Bakers for firing. Auchterarder itself was something of a popular holiday resort in those days, particularly for country sports - fishing, shooting and golf. The great houses in Western Road were almost all built as the home of, or for letting to families from Glasgow who wanted a comfortable country retreat. Families already in the town, understandably, wanted to go elsewhere, although it was by no means a matter of course to take time off for holidays. However, when time and money permitted, some families or church groups would take a day or two for a visit to Broughty Ferry and other coastal resorts. HOME LIFE Before electricity, keeping the house in order took a lot of time and elbow grease. Well organised families had a strict routine with each day having its specific chores. Monday was for dusting, sweeping, boiling beef for broth. Tuesday was laundry day, Wednesday was mangling and ironing, Thursday for mending clothes and linen, Friday for thorough cleaning of one room - turning it out completely. Saturday was for cooking and getting ready for Sunday which of course was a day of rest. Paraffin lamps were used in many homes until well into the 1930s. Trimming wicks and the cleaning and filling of them was a daily task. However, the Auchterarder Gas Company came about the turn of the century, first for road lighting and public buildings but eventually introduced into private houses. Gas light was mellow and luminous but the mantles are remembered as delicate and expensive. Electricity came in 1926-7, which brought a rapid changeover in public services - a slower one domestically. Most homes were heated by a coal fire, which was often the only means of cooking too. The old iron pots and girdles which took a lot of cleaning, are still around. Washing was a hard and time consuming part of women's life . The white shirts, blouses and starched collars mounted up in a week and required exacting care in washing and ironing. From 1900-1939 there was a good local laundry down Star Wynd, run by Miss Edwards, Miss MacDonald of Rushiehill and Miss Annie Johnman. Customers delivered their laundry in baskets. The Laundry had two big brick boilers, under which the coal fires raged, and a huge mangle, big enough to smooth any sheet. The sight of all those sheets flapping in the wind was likened by one man to a fleet of old sailing ships at sea! The Laundry closed when the last of the ladies retired. Despite this local facility, most laundry was still done in the home with, in the best equipped homes, a double tub, a mangle, an ironing table and flat irons heated on the coal range. Smelly carbolic soap was hard on the skin. It was usually the man's job to get a good supply of hot water in the boiler on Mondays. In all the back gardens lines of washing were to be seen, especially on a good day of druth (a day of sunshine with a drying wind and no threat of rain). |
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