- Are there addresses and locations from your childhood you can recall?
- Can you remember your next door neighbours?
- Their name
- What they looked like
- What car they drove (if any)
- Addresses of family and friends
- Describe the houses
- Shops
- Clubs
- Do you have any pictures - houses, street signs etc
(David and Cathy Newman ) and their address was
11 Belville Avenue
Greenock
This is a picture of my brother and sister Andrew and Patricia, and
they are standing in front of my grandparents house.
( see the budgie cage in front of the window )
They lived in a tenement building on the bottom floor.
When you walked into the close, they were on the left hand side
Our neighbour here were Mr and Mrs Cousins, and they had a son George
My Gran and Mrs Cousins were really good friends.
I have wondered over the years how George is... he was older than me.. if he
had brothers and sisters, I don't remember them.
I lived here from the age of 5 till I was 7
My next address was 18 Kelburn Terrace, Port Glasgow
I have to admit that I loved it there.
When my dad married my step mum, this is where she lived.
My Aunt Cathy and Uncle Donald also lived there for a short time,
and their wee baby ( my cousin , ) Margaret.
Kelburn Terrace was beside the River Clyde...
My days were so free and easy here.
This was also a tenement building, and we lived on the top floor.
There were landings with windows at each floor.
I HATE daddy long legs, and they used to go in the corner of the stairs
ALL the way up, and would be floating up and down the windows at each landing.
I was petrified, and would run as fast as I could up those stairs ( and there
were a lot ) till I got to my house.
My heart would be racing by the time I got there...its racing now just
thinking about it... haha
Our next door neighbours were the Diamonds.
Helen Diamond and I became friends easily..
There was Mary, Alister, Alec and Paul also.
Lovely , lovely family, and very kind to me.
I am still friends with them, and thankful to be so. We don't keep in
touch as much, but the friendship is still there.
In Kelburn, in the back greens, there were fences separating each area, there
were also big midden bins ( garbage bins ) not really bins, just a bricked area
that you would put your garbage bin inside. Well Helen and I climbed up on these
midden bins and were taking turns jumping down.
I went first, and there was broken glass there, Helen thought I had left
and she jumped...landed on me..and my face went into the glass.
I still have the scar to this day.. on my chin.
Also we were jumping over the fences..I had a frock on, and was dressed
up to go somewhere...I was told not to get dirty ( cough, cough )
Anyway, jumping over the fence ( each part of the fence came to a point )
I mis judged and my frock got caught on the pointy bit of the fence and
ripped... not a wee bit, but all the way from top to bottom.
Was I in trouble when I got home... Helen was laughing so hard !! haha
I have to say that even though many families lived in each tenement building,
how the mailman knew where to deliver mail to is..each door had their own
nameplate. Some people really had lovely ones.
So on our door our nameplate said A. Newman..( my dad's name is Archie )
I wonder if they still have nameplates nowadays?
Living in Kelburn, we used to have some lovely bonfires on Guy Fawkes night.
We could also see the bonfires across the water..and the fireworks.
I also remember a friend called Shirley Jardine... wondered what happened to her.
We moved from Kelburn Terrace to
28 Pleasantside Avenue, still in Port Glasgow.
We were no longer in a tenement building, but actually I don't know what they are called.
Kind of like a duplex but with two houses upstairs, and two underneath.
I didn't really know my neighbours here...not like in Kelburn.
My friend Jean lived on the same street, just up a wee bit.
Can you see the River Clyde in the background?
We would go out skipping ropes, or playing elastics...the boys would
play football in the street.
I would go to my friend Jean's house and listen to music..we were
big Osmond fans
Here I am... :)
There were three bedrooms.. it was actually a nice wee hoose, but I did spend
a lot of time at Jean's.
I remember Jean's mum loved Jim Reeves.. can remember
singing them with her.. she was sure a lot of fun.
I wish I could remember Jean's house number, but it was also
on Pleasantside Avenue.
There were three Avenues there... Sunnyside, Pleasantside and Brightside Avenue
One above the other..I think Pleasantside was in the middle.
At the end of these avenues was the cemetery.
It never bothered me to be that close to the cemetery
Close by was a chippy...Mnnnnn
Fish and chips..and maybe a pickled onion with it,
all wrapped up in newspaper.
I had a great life
I love these memories
The Avenues were on a steep hill.. that I remember.
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