Parkhead Library & Baths 1963 -1966
Thanks to Brian Charlton for making special trips into Glasgow
to capture for us these photos of the places we spent our childhood years in and around.
to capture for us these photos of the places we spent our childhood years in and around.
It's terrific to see the colours these buildings were originally - and not the shade of Dark Black (!) they appeared to be made of back in the 1950's and 1960's.
I was a member of this Library my whole school life and went once a week for new adventure stories to read in bed at night. Later on, in my early teens, my pals and I would use the Baths.
We would typically go up to the Baths on Saturday morning and, while soaking in the hot tubs, would sing our hearts out, rendering our best efforts with the latest releases: "She Loves Me," the Beatles, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," Rolling Stones, and most of the songs in the Top Twenty that week. Some of the younger married women, unseen in their own private bath cubicles around us, would join in singing the chorus with us, as almost everyone knew the Lyrics, or at least the chorus, from listening to the pirate radio stations - Radio Luxembourg & Radio Caroline, and television's best show, Top of the Pops, on each Saturday evening at 6:00pm.
That program on Saturday night gave us the lyrics, and we had all week then to practice them by heart, in time for our next Expedition & Concert at the Parkhead Baths. We had to put up with the occasional shout from some crabbit auld wummin who'd snarl loudly, "Here youse! Ahm tellin youse tae KEEP IT DOON HEN!"
Undaunted, we would call back, "Sorry missus, we'll try tae sing quieter." Then after a wee interval, we'd go back to expressing ourselves lustily. Those ancient Romans in their famous Baths had nothing on us up at Parkheid!
See the Newlands team rehearse for Saturdays at the steamie......
2 comments:
Yes I remember the hot baths well. Me and my brother were sent for a bath every fortnight whether we needed it or not. My mother was a widow so we had to share a bath when we were younger, but they were huge and the man used to fill them almost to the brim. When he left us we used to play at jumping in and the water went everywhere. But we could not top up the bath again as you needed a special key to do that. The man was really quite nice and did not bother as the water just went down a drain, so he would give us a top up, but just the one mind.
i remember the baths and the steamie monday morning would see all the wives and Mothers in the area with prams loaded with the biggest bundles of washing you ever saw and of course there was the other bundles smaller in size usually with a suit or a coat
these were destined for one of the 2 pawn shops up the street at
Parkhead cross where they would remain until the following friday
in time for the man of the house's friday or Saturday night oot at the pub I dont know if my Mam ever pawned any thing but I am open to the concept that she may have had to my Dad was a coal miner and was on strike more times than I care to remember Good old parkhead steamie
Boaby Irvine
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