MY DAD WAS A DUX .......by Anne Nish
I was looking through the Newlands Blog and discovered that my dad, the late CRAIG DAVIDSON, was listed on the Newlands Dux Medal Board. What a strange feeling it brought to me. My father had recently passed away and I was missing him - and wondering why on earth I had never really asked him about his own childhood and earlier life. I'm sure many people can relate to the feeling I had. My dad had passed on, and only then did I discover that he had been a clever scholar at Newlands School.
In 1947, he is shown to have won the DUX MEDAL jointly with AUDREY FLEMING.
My dad's sister, JEAN DAVIDSON, who also went to Newlands told me that she had been good friends with ROSE REYNOLDS, another medallist shown on the Dux Board.
Like many of the Dux winners, my dad was sent on to Allen Glens School for Boys and did well there. After he finished his two years' National Service in Malaya, he became a Lecturer in Springburn College. He eventually was named Department Head at Springburn College and continued his career there until his retirement.
He and my mother lived happily in Stepps for over forty years until dad passed away at the age of 68 and my mum still lives there. Mum was brought up in Shettleston and decided to go to a Dance at a hall in Parkhead one night. And having gone to Parkhead, fate stepped in and introduced her to her future husband and my future father.
Their firstborn was my older brother (also named Craig Davidson), and I made my entrance into the family in 1957. Obviously my dad was an early starter......in fact my mother very charmingly jokes that my birth was the end result of a 48-Hour Pass that my dad had obtained so he could attend the funeral of my grandfather! My mother had me blushing bright red when she shared this little gem of knowledge with me. (It was too much information!!) lol....
My husband and I live in Cumbernauld and we have one son, Graeme. I really miss my dad and I would just love to hear from anyone who remembers him, or his sister Jean Davidson, also from Newlands. Thank you and best wishes.
My husband and I live in Cumbernauld and we have one son, Graeme. I really miss my dad and I would just love to hear from anyone who remembers him, or his sister Jean Davidson, also from Newlands. Thank you and best wishes.
by ANNE (nee DAVIDSON) NISH.
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( Photo of board by kind permission of Charlie McDonald at the "Glesca Keelies" Website.)
7 comments:
Hi Ann, thanks for leaving your interesting comments. I have an idea that you may have contacted me a long while ago with this info. But unfortunately my computer crashed and I lost all sorts of stuff.
So nice to hear from you (again)
Brian.
Hi Anne,
I have just discovered this blog and it is great.
I knew your dad, we were the same age and lived in the same street - he lived in No 31 McEwan Sttreet, I lived in No 23. I knew the Reynolds family, they also lived in No 23, and Rose has an elder brother Andrew. I also attended Newlands school. There were 2 classes of that age group there, your dad was in the other class. Audrey Fleming was in my class, she lived in London Road in the houses attached to Belvedere hospital whre her father worked. Audrey had a younger brother called, I think, Daniel. I have often wondered how your dad and Audrey 's careers went after they left school. I remember playing with your dad when we would be about 12 years old, his cousin was with him at the time, I think (but could be wrong) his surname was Smith but I cannot remember the Christia name. I attended Riverside Senior Secondary after Newlands, and in February 1949 a few months before my 14th Birthday my family moved to Pollok. Although I still attended Riverside, I sadly eventually lost touch with my Parkhead pals.
After your father gained the bursary to Allan Glen's we saw very little of him in the street because of his school work.
I shall be happy to answer any firther questions you may have, and I have a photograph of our building in McEwan Street which I took in January 1974, i am eternally regretful I had insufficient film to take the full street. I shall look out the phootograph and have it posted on the blog.
because of my work I moved to England over 30 years ago, but still viisit Glasgow regularly. I am sorry to learn of your loss.
Bill
Hello, Bill Piper & Anne ... and others:
I knew the Fleming family you mention very well. They lived in a terraced house attached to Belvedere Hospital on London Road (No.1215). I lived in MacDuff Street, Newbank, just across the road from the hospital. Audrey was 3-4 years older than me but her brother HARRY and I were good friends for several years until Harry left school (Riverside) in 1954. After that, we lost touch and I often wonder what became of the family. Thanks mainly to some excellent teachers, notably the lovely Miss MacFarlane(Snr),like Audrey Fleming, I was Dux of Newlands (in 1951) and also went on to become Dux of Riverside in 1956. I later become a full-time academic at the University of Canberra, Australia. Nowadays I am enjoying retirement on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. I would be happy to hear at any time from anyone who went to Newlands and/or Riverside, especially during those years. Best wishes to all ... an excellent website. (JOHN CONN)
Hi bill
Thankyou very much for the information on my dad it was soo good to hear from you His cousin was called jim smith and his sister was jean smith. What was he like as a child he was really very quiet when he was older. He was a right brain box unlike me !!!!
Thankyou
Anne
Hi bill
Thankyou for letting me know you knew my dad his cousin was jim smith and jean smith was his sister. Was he as quiet as a child as he was when he was older !!!
My dad was a right brainbox unlike me. Lol
Thankyou
Anne
Hi billy
I have just spoken to my mum and she remembered my dad speaking of you he said you were goods friends this is so amazing im so pleased.
Anne nish (davidson)
Hi Anne,
Sorry, I have not visited this site for some time. Thanks for your reply. My first name is Bill, but "piper" is one of my activities, my surname is Bissett. Your dad was just the same as all the other lads in McEwan Street - and the adjoing Helenvale , Ardgour and Dechmont Streets (sadly McEwan and Ardgour Streets are no more), but when he went to Allan Glen's he did not get much chance to join in with the rest of us. He was fun to participate in games whenever he could. Up the same close as your Dad was another family - McLarnon.
There was a large open ground between McEwan Street and Tollcross Road, for some reason it was known as "The Eylie" (at least that's how it was pronounced). I think it was the site of a long-demolished brick-built factory or some kind of workplace, anyhow it was littered with bricks, and this provided a place for many gatherings and escapades for the neighbourhood boys. Very often we would use the bricks to build a den of some sorts, would then meet together in the rather unsteady erection and while talking together it would often happen that someone would creep up and push the whole structure down on those inside, naturally a miniature World War III would then erupt, peace only being restored when mothers' voices called, signalling mealtime (which was more important than clobbering someone with a brick.
I have very happy memories of my time at Newlands School. For the last 18 months I was there I had the job of ringing the gong, which was in the main hall, every day. I had to leave the class - at the beginning of the lunch break and also for the morning breaks and the end of schooling at 4pm - to give 3 pulls of the rope attached to the hammer which connected to the gong and was the signal for classes to stop and gather outside their room, then when all the classes were assembled on the separate landings I had to give one tug on the rope as a signal that the classes were to march off. One day the rope broke, so the janitor handed me a hammer, then he stood on one of the forms which were in the main hall, then I stood on his shoulders to hit the gong with the hammer - no health and safety concerns in those days, we just had to get on with things!!
IAlthough there was a B.B. Company nearby (the 132nd Glasgow) attached to Parkhead Metnodist Church, at the corner of Burgher street and Ardgour Street, as my family attended Tollcross Park Church I was a member of that Company (the 126th Glasgow). It was there that I first learned to play the bagpipe, and then joined an adult band and progressed to playing with Pipe bands in competitions. I still happily play although now only solo. I also remained in The B.B, when the family moved to Pollok in 1949 I joined the 208th Glasgow attached to St.James' Church and served there as Boy and Officer , keeping up my interest when we (my wife and family) moved to England.
I shall look out the photograph I have of McEwan Street as it shows the part where your Dad live . Hope this blog is of use to you.
Bill
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