Missing Men

Education, Education, Education…Georgina Marshall in conversation with Anne Balfour

It would be hard to find anyone who has a longer association with education in Strathblane than “Mrs Marshall”, as she is known to generations of pupils. As butcher’s daughter Georgina Campbell, she started at Strathblane School aged four and a half in June 1949 and...

Our Class Photos from the Old School

Here are some wonderful class photographs sent to us for the website, with the contributor's comments below each. We won't be posting full lists of the pupils with each each picture, but some comments identify the contributor's family members in the older photos. Do...

Our Memories of the Old School

In July 2023 we posted on the local Strathblanefield FACEBOOK group asking people to share their memories of the old school. Here are some of the responses: It’s so nice to create a bit of history about the old school. I was only there my first two years of school...

Strathblane 1870-1970 A Century of Change by Alison Dryden (Ed. Mary Brailey & Murray O’Donnell)

A book by local historian Alison Dryden, who died in 2009. Published posthumously by Strathblane Heritage Society in November 2012. Paperback, 218 pages. (Available from Strathblane Heritage, £8.50) From the mid 1800s, the rural parish of Strathblane was undergoing an...

Growing up in Strathblane in the 1950s & 60s by Donald Macintyre

Early Days I was not born in the village but in Salisbury House, Campsie Glen. My dad was a native of Strathblane, being born in Milndavie House. My mum was born at Little Gala near Biggar but came to Ballagan Farm when her father took over the tenancy there in about...

Ladies Scottish Climbing Club

The Ladies Scottish Climbing Club was founded in 1908, by these three women, at a boulder near the Lix Toll in Perthshire. https://www.ladiesscottishclimbingclub.org/history/ At our vintage film night in January 2023 we showed a film made in 1958 to commemorate the...

This Is Our Parish 1957 -1958 by Harry & Helen Arnold

This Is Our Parish 1957 -1958 is based on footage taken by Harry and Helen Arnold during this period. It is three parts. The first is a comprehensive view of life in the Parish focussing on all aspects, from the road sweepers to the trades people and the doctor, the...

Summer Knickers – A Scottish Wartime Childhood by Sarah Paton Wiseman (edited extracts), with an addendum by Margie Mitchell

Introduction Sarah Paton Wiseman was born in 1938 to Helen Noel Paton and William Boyd Mitchell, who was the managing director of Dougal’s brickworks in Bonnybridge. The couple had married in Edinburgh in 1936 and rented Revoan, a villa on Old Mugdock Road in...

The Campsies and the Land of Lennox by Iain C Lees

Extracts from The Campsies and the Land of Lennox by Iain C Lees, describing walks around Strathblane. (Blackie & Sons, Glasgow, 1933) Secrets of the Campsie Fells The rich valley of the Blane, which can be traced to its junction with Strathendrick, is the finest...

Women of their Time: The Blane Valley in the 1930s by Helen Lillie

Extract from A New Kind of Life by Helen Lillie (Argyll Publishing, 1999) The older people living in the Blane Valley between the wars usually had unmarried daughters at home. And these middle class, middle-aged women spent their days taking care of their mothers'...

Strathblane Between the Wars by Helen Lillie

Extract from A New Kind of Life by Helen Lillie (Argyll Publishing, 1999) When they were first married, my parents lived on Cecil Street in the West End of Glasgow which I know my mother hated. I remember nothing of that period because as soon as she could, she...

Local Hero: Private James Norval Paul MM & Bar

On 2 May 1919 the people of Strathblane gathered to honour a local hero. They presented an inscribed gold watch to local gamekeeper James Norval Paul “in recognition of his gallantry”. Around 115,000 non-commissioned men who fought in the First World War were...

A Village Remembers: Strathblane First World War Project

Families of some of the men on the memorial A Village Remembers (pdf)Download Contents Foreword by the Wright family Introduction by Anne Balfour (nee Johnstone) Jack Barr, inventor’s son Robert Blair, gardener James Cartwright, joiner William Cartwright, storeman...

The Strathblane Notebooks: Life in a Stirlingshire Village before the First World War by Alex Urquhart (Ed. Anne Balfour)

The Strathblane Notebooks Life in a Stirlingshire Village before the First World WarBy Alex Urquhart edited by Anne Balfour Quotation from the headstone of Alex Urquhart's parents in Strathblane Cemetery Alex Urquhart (1894-1978) Strathblane Heritage Society...

Some Impressions of Village Life in the Parish of Strathblane during the First Decade of the Twentieth Century by John K Campbell

In response to suggestions from several friends I have sought to give a picture of life in the village during the period 1900-1910, during the whole of which time I was resident in it. It is not intended to be what is generally known as a "history." I wish to...

Rambles Round Glasgow by Hugh MacDonald (1854)

Hugh MacDonald was a Scottish journalist, poet and author from Glasgow. He wrote for the newspaper the Glasgow Citizen for many years under the pen name 'Caleb'. He is best known for his book Rambles Round Glasgow, published in 1854 by Thomas Murray and Son....

The Life & Remains of the Late Rev William Hamilton, Minister of Strathblane

The Reverend Dr William Hamilton was the minister of Strathblane from 1809 until his death in 1835. In 1836 a memoir of his life and work was published by his son, Rev James Hamilton. (The Life and Remains of the Late Rev. William Hamilton, Minister of Strathblane:...

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