Comments on Dr Motley and Oxgangs Crescent and Broadway Shops From PsyGeo

Comments From PsyGeo 'Thanks for remembering Dr Motley - he did his best to help my mum - that trip to the cottage was a regular one with me in tow. We lived at 34 Oxgangs Avenue in the mid-70s/early 80s - so far away now, and a mostly unhappy time but made me who I am. Contact me if you'd like to see some pics.' 

Oxgangs Crescent/Broadway Shopping Precincts - 'Happy memories of Airfix kits bought at the newsagents and a huge crush on the butcher's (T. Combe) wife! We only trudged up to the Broadway to buy paraffin for our two ancient heaters - I still have vivid memories of the sign which was on the first/second shop coming from the east entrance stairs. 1976 (I think) was a really harsh winter: -17 degrees - and the metal window frames/windows in the flat were thick with ice. That blue flame from those (what are now outrageously dangerous heaters) was our only way of keeping warm.'

Response Many thanks for your comments-it would be interesting to see photographs from Oxgangs at that time-the following e mail addresses would reach me: 6oxgangsavenue@gmail.com or peter.hoffmann@btinternet.com 

VignetteTaken From Edinburgh Photos Website Courtesy Peter Stubbs-Motivated By Series On Edinburgh Prefabs

Peter Hoffmann

Highlands, Scotland


Thank you to Douglas Blades for allowing me to reproduce the photo below, and also to Peter Hoffmann who wrote:


1960s

Grandfather's Car

"During the 1960s, the Hoffmanns had a general Sunday pattern for many years which revolved around being collected at 'The Stair' by our grandfather any time after 11am to be taken down to Portobello for the day.

We didn't have a telephone and of course mobiles weren't even dreamed of back then. Anne, Iain and I used to stand at our parents' front bedroom window to look out for our grandfather's car (Ford Zephyr Mk6) coming down the hill at Greenbank.

It's uncanny to think we could see that far from the far end of Oxgangs Avenue, but this was when the prefabs were still there and before the new blocks of flats were built which replaced them. We couldn't be entirely certain that it was his car, but there were relatively few cars on the road back then on a Sunday.

A cry would go up: 'That's Gaga!' - and we'd all rush to get ready. Sometimes of course it wasn't and we'd go back to our waiting stations."

Oxgangs Avenue

Photo taken from the balcony of 6/6 Oxgangs Avenue

Prefabs in the foreground, Oxgangs development in the background.



© Douglas Blades (one of 41 members of Peter Hoffmann's 'Stair 6, Oxgangs' blog site.
Thank you, also, to Peter Hoffmann for sending a copy of this photo to me.