Hunters Tryst v Craiglockhart, 1968

Many thanks to my friend, Steve O'Sullivan for this photie from the mists of time, half a century ago.

I similarly recall playing close matches against Craiglockhart, either on the pitches we had in the wonderful school grounds which Hunters Tryst enjoyed or down at Meggetland. The photograph features the school's 'Wee Team' including the goalie, Keith Robertson (4/2 Oxgangs Avenue) from 'The Stair' next to ours.

Below shows another photie of Keith 'The Cat' Robertson in action! :-)

Cameo from Carol

I remember very well Mr. Leslie (4/1 Oxgangs Avenue)-he was a lovely man. I also have keen memories of his younger daughter, Catriona who I was pals with and her big sister Janice; we used to play her records when she wasn't around. I distinctly remember listening to Frank Sinatra singing ‘Blue Moon’, and lots of other very dreamy music, around about 1965. We also used to dress up in her clothes and high heeled shoes, until she caught us and screamed 'blue murder' for touching her stuff-fun days and lots of laughs...I think Janice was at least eight years older than Catriona. 

Carol Ramage (4/3 Oxgangs Avenue)

Colinton Mains Comment From Annie Burns, USA

Colinton Mains Development (Photograph courtesy Mr J. Dickson)

How absolutely lovely to see this photo. We lived at 159 Colinton Mains Rd with my granny and she used to send us down to RS McColls to buy Callard and Bowsers toffees for her. She was quite old and we used to sneak the toffees on the way home, hoping that she'd never notice because of her eyesight. I'll bet she did, but just let us have them. 

Colinton Mains (Photograph courtesy David McLean, 'Lost Edinburgh')

We used to buy cinnamon potatoes and Parma violets at Andrettis and my mum always bought her bacon and sausages at Neil's. I have many wonderful memories of growing up there. My nana and grampa Bo lived at 246 Colinton Mains Rd and my auntie Ruby still lives there. We moved to the States in 1974 and I've been back only twice. Last time was '97 and most of the ships had been taken over by new owners. My sister Karen and I will be back in November for the first time together as adults since we left. I'm very much looking forward to visiting all of our old play haunts and to seeing our school, Oxgangs. We were so very lucky to grow up there. Thank you oh so much for this blog. It's brought back many wonderful memories. :) 

Downes' Green-Grocers, Colinton Village

I’ve always rather liked the traditional green-grocers shops selling fruit 'n vegetables which used to be so common on our high streets.

Like many small shops they’ve been decimated by large supermarkets.

There’s still one in Dingwall High Street.

Throughout the 1950s to the 1970s there was also one located at Oxgangs Broadway serving the community.

So, it’s rather wonderful that adjacent to Oxgangs at Colinton Village Patsy's wee shop is still going strong, since her grandfather (T.H. Downes) first opened the business in 1908.

Every few years I drop by convinced the shop will no longer exist, yet I’m always delighted to be proven wrong.

When we spent seven happy years living at West Mill between 1989 and 1996 we used to shop there.

Similar to Patsy's, these shops were always quite basic, with a distinct smell and feel to them and always painted with traditional green paint, usually fading, which all added to their appeal.

Entry for T.H. Downes from the Edinburgh & Leith Postal Directory from over a century ago

I don't think I'd linked the shop with the equally charming T.H. Downes' Nursery Garden and Greenhouses on the other side of the bridge, which we could see from our old West Mill Road kitchen window on the other side of the Water of Leith.

Today I looked in to buy some bananas for tomorrow’s Dundee Duel - note the old worldly till - a treasure - pre-decimalisation!

As ever Patsy was sitting on her stool, with the big old clock ticking, with a paperback to hand - a James Paterson - goodness knows how many books she’s read there over the decades.

I spoke to her and she was saying she’s going for a knee operation shortly, but although a little infirm she’s hardly changed in appearance since I first frequented the shop 30 years ago.

She told me she will be the last member of the family to run the business. 

'The White Lady' Anonymous Comment

'When I was around the age of 10 in the early 70s I used to go up to Bonaly, Oxgangs and the Pentlands Hills with my friend during the school holidays. One occasion we got such a scare that we didn't stop running until we reached home; we were both walking down a dirt footpath near an old rubber mill and for some reason we both turned around and witnessed a woman with a white dress hovering off the ground and you could see the grass underneath her feet. It spooked us and I have never run so fast in my life. On getting home I explained this to my mum who said, 'Oh that will be the White Lady'. As the days passed we just got on with our lives and tonight for some reason it popped into my head again so I did some checking on line and came across this Blog