The Pulley

It's strange how things that one hasn't thought of for decades take a little nudge from somewhere and something long forgotten bubbles up to the surface.

I was reading a copy of the 2 May 2014 edition of 'The Lady' (don't ask!) where I came across a query from a reader looking for a clothes rack that could be suspended from the ceiling. 'It's called a pulley' I shouted at the magazine-we had one at The Stair, as indeed did each of the eight families. And what a boon it must have been to all the mums-not stereotyping here-just the way it was back in the 1960s (see earlier Aye Working blog); in particular where the families were quite large including the Duffys; the Hanlons; and the Blades.

It was a rather clever idea. If one couldn't hang the washing out the back at the washing green because it was raining or snowing, then instead it could be hung up on the pulley indoors with a view to trying to dry the wet clothes inside. 

Whilst the theory was splendid, in practice it had some drawbacks. Between 1958 and 1972 there was no central heating in each flat-only the small coal fire in the living room. Large items such as sheets would have to be hung up around the fire, but a member of the family always had to stand guard, in case the sheet became singed.

The other items of clothing would be hung on the pulley which was located on the kitchen ceiling. It was sited in the kitchen because any drips would fall onto the linoleum floor. It was a very clever device because the flats were quite small and space was limited. 

The pulley was fixed to the ceiling and a rope lowered the frame down or pulled it back up. Whilst the clothes were loaded on, the rope would be tied to a wall hook. Thereafter, the rope was untied and the pulley hoisted back up to the ceiling.

Being able to haul the clothes up above meant it took up no floor space. However, the two drawbacks were that it must have taken days to dry. And perhaps more significantly any cooking smells would impregnate the clothes-a major drawback. 

Looking back I guess the bathroom may have been a slightly better option. However, being creatures of habit and devoid of lateral thinking, we at 6/2 Oxgangs Avenue never considered relocating it.

On The Cusp Of the Year

Today is Thursday, 15th August, 2013. It's the last day of the year since, on a whim, I first started the blog, The Stair, on Thursday 16 August, 2012. On the cusp of the year, both for the blog and when late summer is just turning to early autumn I thought I would display this lovely photograph of the season. 

The photograph has been taken up at Swanston Road with the T Woods in the background on the lower slopes of the Pentland Hills. A local farm worker is atop a cart and horse carrying hay; they are making gentle progress up the slope on a golden afternoon at the cusp as summer turns to autumn.

It was on such afternoons throughout the 1960s and on to 1972 that I along with the other twenty four children from The Stair contemplated our return to the classroom. Quite often the weather remained similarly fine and sunny which made it a struggle to return to stifling classrooms at Hunters Tryst, Firhill and Boroughmuir Schools. Those of us with an awareness of the English system would be envious that our peers across the border wouldn't return until September.

For most of the kids we didn't really want to go back-even if by the back end of the holidays being off school had perhaps lost a little of its sparkle. I've no doubt though that a few others like Gavin Swanson who were more studious actually looked forward to the start of the autumn term and the new school academic year. I don't think I ever did, but there was always a certain 'buzz' about going back. 

The boys had visited Ben Mackenzie for a haircut-Michael; Boo-Boo; Brian and Alan Hanlon will have had their number ones, whilst Iain Hoffmann and I had our hair plastered down with jungle juice. 

For those with new schoolbags (and that unforgettable smell of leather) or new school clothes and ties or perhaps those going up to secondary for the first time many will recall these days with a mixture of excitement and pleasure, but pain might be too extreme a word choice!

Many of us were keen to squeeze the last drops from the summer fruits and as the countdown began we managed to play amongst the hay in the fields at Swanston; have grass fights with the mown grass in the front garden of 6/2 Oxgangs Avenue; or late evening games of kick-the can or British Bulldog at The Field. Bike runs were still taking place-I note that in August 1972 Paul Forbes; Boo-Boo Hanlon; Iain Hoffmann and I cycled through Arthur's Seat to Portobello whilst young Colin Hanlon cycled so far. On another occasion Boo-Boo, Iain and I watched a world record at the Edinburgh Highland Games-little did I realise that a few years later I would take part myself. 

There was still a certain continuity in our lives as milk runs and paper runs were still being undertaken, because not many of us at The Stair went away on holiday other than Liz Blades to Stonehaven; Anne Hoffmann to our New Town cousins; or Alison and Fiona Blades; Iain; Paul and I camping at Stobo, Peebles. 

For a few summers we enjoyed our Mini-Olympics at the army's former running track at Redford Barracks which were great fun. We might even manage a final visit to go jumping the burn at Colinton Mains through to the Braid-Burn Valley, but by then the grass and wild flowers and weeds and nettles had perhaps become too overgrown. 

And if it was wet, Iain, Paul and I would enjoy card games at The Blades with Fiona and the girls or play mischievously with their giant tape-recorder with Paul blowing great rasps onto the tape.

The cusp of the year was further illustrated and articulated through the school calendar.What was truly lovely about the summer was that it brought many of us at The Stair together whilst school would unfortunately divide us. At the start of the autumn term The Duffys returned to St Augustine's whilst The Hanlons; The Hoggs; Norman Stewart; The Swansons; and The Hoffmanns were divided up between Boroughmuir; Firhill; The Royal High; and of course Hunters Tryst. The cusp was thus metaphorical and literal.

And on this last day of the year of the blog whilst it should perhaps be a time for reflection I'm not inclined to go down that road, and for whatever reason I'm not inclined to quite bring down the curtain on it-and certainly not before I do a Where Are They Now blog-and even that of course is unlikely to be a final hurrah.

So, on the cusp of the year after a golden 2013 summer good luck in your adventures-and I look forward to meeting and hearing from old acquaintances and making new. And by way of update, one former member at The Stair, Fiona Blades has been accepted to undertake a PhD whilst I'm joining Iain Hoffmann on holiday to Portugal. Any updates from others would be welcome!

Figures On The Edge No 3-James Duffy and Esther Blades; Colin and Alan Hanlon; The Sibbalds; The Douglases; Rab Moir; The Ramages; The Robertsons; Reverend Orr; and Mr Russell

As I move toward winding up the blog I thought I must do a quick Cooke's Tour of some figures both from and also, for good or bad, closely associated with The Stair

James Duffy, Esther Blades, Colin and Alan Hanlon haven't featured significantly in the blog only flitting in and out occasionally. I'm not entirely sure why this is. If I were to have kept it going into next year for another six months I'm sure they would come more into prominence. It may also be because they were four of the youngest children at The Stair-James and Esther were the two youngest children.

There's no excuse for my lapse with regard to James. It's only because I was checking out some dates for the recent blogs on spring and summer and was skimming through some of the journals from over forty years ago that James' name cropped up. He was a very pleasant lad.

James Duffy

Esther should have cropped up far more often even though she was the youngest member of the forty one people who stayed at The Stair. I usually associate her with Ruth-they were the two youngest members of The Blades family and played together regularly. As previously mentioned I can recall taking the two of them on a few bus outings into town-they were both good fun. There are a few references to her in old diaries often just a group of us talking casually whilst hanging out at The Stair or through attendance at the church. Being the youngest at The Stair everyone liked Esther and we all looked out for her-she was a lovely and very pretty girl.

Esther Blades

Colin and Alan Hanlon should have cropped up more often, Colin in particular. He was ages with my sister Anne Hoffmann. He was a very friendly and pleasant lad. He was an enthusiastic footballer and part of the very good Hunters Tryst School football team that made the final of one of the city's premier primary school cup competitions-a group of us went down to watch them play in the final at Warriston Park. I liked Colin a lot-as he got older he occasionally used to stay with a group of us for the Friday Horror Night-more of further down. He was an integral part of all our football games. In later years I sometimes saw Colin out on the town on a Saturday evening!

Colin and Alan Hanlon

Alan meanwhile was one of the three youngest members at The Stair. Similar to Colin he was a nice lad and an enthusiastic football player. Again, I liked him too. However, after I had left The Stair and as people got older, some bonds grew closer and others lessened-I can recall Iain Hoffmann saying in latter years that Alan seemed to be a little more distant than in earlier years. My memory of him is from an earlier time and I always found him to be a charming and likeable lad-as I've said The Hanlons were a great family at The Stair. I may be wrong, but Alan may well have been the brightest of the four Hanlon brothers. I haven't seen or heard of Alan in forty years so have no idea what course his life took.

The first time that death impinged upon our lives at The Stair was at one of the neighbouring Stairs, 8/2 when Mr Jack Sibbald died. I think his death was unexpected. The Sibbalds were a lovely family-very much similar to The Douglas' at 8/3. At that time they had two children Gordon and Dawn. Gordon was a little older than me and was a bright lad with a lot of get up and go-an interesting character. Dawn was younger-she was blonde and had a certain class to her. I recall they were quite unusual in that they went an annual holiday to Milport each year-I think Mr Sibbald was originally from the west. His death came as a real shock-even to we children-I know it certainly stopped me in my tracks and made me reflect-nothing is for ever. The Sibbald family eventually moved to neighbouring Colinton Mains to a terraced house-we clearly still kept in touch with Gordon-indeed when we all went jumping the burn we often joined its route two hundred yards from their house and this section was always known to us all as Gordon's Burn-what a soubriquet! Mrs Sibbald was a handsome, strong and clearly very able woman-to support the family she became a receptionist at Dr Motley's surgery where she was very competent running a tight, but friendly ship. I think she remarried and also happily had another child. The other death that impinged on us a few years later was when Keith and Mark Robertson's father died. They stayed at 4/2 Oxgangs Avenue. His death came as a complete shock too-I recall Mr Robertson as a strong, robust, dark haired man. Similar to Mrs Sibbald, Mrs Robertson too was to be admired because she too went out to work and supported the family by driving a van which delivered small motor parts to a range of garages.

Ali Douglas has cropped up surprisingly regularly in the blog-if someone had said this to me before I started the blog then I would have raised a quizzical eyebrow. It was no surprise however that he was such a very nice lad, because his whole family were absolutely lovely. Ali's dad was an aircraft fitter out at the old Turnhouse Airport so was in employment in the one job throughout the whole period which meant the family will have enjoyed tremendous stability. They were a quiet family who achieved a delightful balance of being very good neighbours, charming to speak to with a ready smile and an innate gentleness. Our key interaction with them was primarily through Iain because he and Ali were best friends-it was always Ali that was invited to Iain's birthday teas and vice versa. From earlier diaries I can see I had some interactions with Ali too-mainly within groups and he has featured regularly in such adventures as .the chip shop; the City Hospital; and the spring Arthur's Seat outing.

Ali had much older sisters and a brother. Alec was the oldest and Jean the elder sister-they were around Douglas Blades and Liz Blades' age-similarly they were both at Boroughmuir Secondary School-they would have been bright teenagers who no doubt applied themselves too-I know that Alec joined the Civil Service, possibly rather than going on to university? If he had, then it's just occurred to me that he would have been the first of all the children in the four featured Stairs at 2, 4, 6 and 8 Oxgangs Avenue-instead that honour fell to Gavin Swanson who went to Edinburgh and then either Cambridge or Oxford. Alec had a ready smile, was handsome and absolutely charming-looking back he may well have the eldest of all the children at the four Stairs. Jean Douglas I recall as being very pleasant and a serious person. In between Jean and Ali was Elaine Douglas who must have been around ages with Fiona Blades. Like Ali, Elaine went to Firhill School-like the rest of the family Elaine had the same lovely, gentle manner, but what everyone will immediately recall about Elaine was that she was drop dead gorgeous! She was absolutely stunning-a beautiful girl with long dark straight hair and a lovely smile.

Front left to right Pamela, Bernie, baby George, Rosemary and Laurence. Dad Laurence and Mum Mary At back

I mentioned in a very early blog The Calder family who lived at 8/5 - there were four children all of whom were older than me - Bernard, Lawrence, Pamela and Rosemary plus baby George. I didn't have a great deal to do with them, but I recall liking Laurence - perhaps he was involved with Douglas Blades in such exploits as racing around the four blocks (four Stairs) pushing an old pram with one of us crouched in it hidden in a blanket? When I met Douglas Blades at the end of October he mentioned that he used to go up to play with the Calders and was envious that they had a top of the range Hornby Dublo train set with a displayed certificate on the wall whilst Douglas had to make do with a Tri-ang.

In the news column I made mention of how Bernard had worked all his life at our beloved Dominion Cinema before dying a few years ago.

The Dominion's chief projectionist Bernard Calder has passed away. The cinema said: "Over the last 44 years he had threaded the projector, prepped the lighting and lit the screens of the Dominion Cinema for tens of thousands of performances. His professionalism, dedication and love for the medium of film made him a pleasure to work with. We will miss him

A later arrival at 8/6 Oxgangs Avenue after the Calder family left Oxgangs in 1966 were the Moir family who took up residence at the flat. I was the first person to meet Rab Moir. Rab will be remembered for his large Alsation dog and love of motorbikes - he was a a few years older than me, but he was small and squarely built - I had a friendly relationship with him and perhaps because I was the first person to befriend him, felt he tended to look out for me. He didn't join in at football or much else, but clearly he had been a player, playing in the good St Patrick's Primary School team; the photograph is from the 1965/66 season taken at the Warriston Playing Fields - Rab is back row, extreme left.

At primary school  I was occasionally involved in fights with the likes of George Catterson-but not because I liked fighting; I'd walk out along the narrow exit from Hunters Tryst School with a heavy heart as I heard the shouts of Fight, Fight! and I espied the crowd vying for a ringside seat for Mark 4 or whatever it was against George or one of the other protagonists waiting for me-the school-bag would come off and the blazer and then the grappling would commence and the fists would fly-the fight would end with whoever got the first bleeding nose or cut lip-usually me!; there was the rare victory against George et al which made it seem worthwhile. My sister was usually my second in the corner proffering a handkerchief. Despite being on the receiving end, by refusing to kow-tow to whatever their demands were they tended to leave me alone after a while and instead pick on other easier more yielding targets. This happened much less so at secondary school although I can recall one bully awaiting me after games at Meggetland because I'd refused to give him one of the rugby balls to play with when we were warming up! Ce la vie!

From the other Stairs I clearly spent a lot of time with boys such as Keith Robertson, Colin McFarlane and Steve Westbrook as well as Jonathan and Willie Taylor from the Stair behind us at Oxgangs Street, but I can now see it was mainly playing football or jumping the burn or going for adventures to the Pentland Hills which facilitated these interactions-whereas I would say people like Michael Hanlon were more friends with these lads.

Les Ramage has flitted in and out of the blog regularly-he had a twin brother Derek-they were the same age as Iain Hoffmann and Ali Douglas-all in the same class at Hunters Tryst School and as mentioned the four lads who owned the original Raleigh Chopper bicycles. Les and Derek always struck me as getting on fine with each other, but their relationship must have been fractious at times because I think they had to be separated at school because they fought with one another-I may be wrong, but I think Derek was then put into a separate class. When we were young I had a bit of an up and down relationship with Derek, however when we were older I grew to like him much more-he's a nice bloke. He joined the RAF on the administrative side. Back in the early 1990s I was quite proactive in organising games of golf at sleepy Gifford and Vogrie-for a while Derek joined the likes of Les, Iain and me. I admired the way that Derek and his wife were committed to bringing up their children in as positive a manner as possible-they're son and daughter were lovely kids.

Les and Derek had an older sister, Carol, who was around eighteen months younger than me-she crops up regularly in diaries-mainly when groups of us hung about around the Stairs and played running games of singles. She also attended the influential Patricia Browne Dance and Ballet School which must have helped launch her career as a professional dancer-she settled in Portugal over thirty years ago. Iain and Les visited her a few times and I recall driving them through to Glasgow Airport to drop them off for the flights.

It's interesting reflecting about those days-whilst I've said how Iain Hoffmann and Ali Douglas were best friends, then equally I'm sure that Les Ramage and Boo-Boo Hanlon might also have said that Iain was also their best friend too-Iain clearly had an easy facility for getting on with people which meant they warmed to his likeability-he still attracts people thus today-my younger son Tom (d'Artagnan) reminds me of Iain in that respect-I think one of the qualities is that they're non-threatening individuals-they're not individuals who are prone to disagree or argue-they naturally look for common ground and for fun.

Les is the one lad from the Stairs that Iain and I kept friendly with in the decades after we had long left The Stair-Iain still occasionally meets up with Les-they've gone fishing together once or twice to the Pentland Hills to Flotterstone Resevoir. Indeed, he dropped by yesterday to wish him a Happy Christmas! Until I left Edinburgh in 1996 I used to organise a nine hole game of golf most weeks-these games were mainly a foursome of Les Ramage and Iain Hoffmann against Mr John Duncan (Mrs Anne Hoffmann's second husband) and me-we enjoyed this Saturday afternoon ritual for a good decade. Sometimes others from the days at The Stair joined us too-as mentioned Derek Ramage, but also Paul Forbes too. Before we got into this habit, in the early 1980s Les, Iain and I along with others regularly played games on the lovely Braid Hills, where if one wasn't hitting the ball well could instead enjoy the spectacular views over Edinburgh.

Les Ramage was a key and integral part of days and nights at The Stair and features in many of the adventures. For several years in the late 1960s and early 1970s we hosted sleepovers at 6/2-once Mr Ken Hoffmann had departed the scene there was a much more relaxed atmosphere at our home-our mother Mrs Anne Hoffmann was really excellent in this respect-our friends liked her-they felt very relaxed and at home in our household-it was a fun, easy going atmosphere and our pals clearly enjoyed hanging out with us-in these years there was rarely a Friday night that there wasn't children staying-for such a small flat-only two bedrooms-friends such as Les Ramage; Ali Douglas; Boo-Boo Hanlon; Paul Forbes; Colin Hanlon and others all stayed on occasion. We fostered these evenings around the Friday night horror film which was a staple for years and years-Dracula; Frankenstein; Edgar Allen Poe's Tales of the Rue Morgue-even in a group and despite our jocularity we were all shitting ourselves watching the films. These evenings would be fuelled with bottles of juice, bags of crisps and chips and sweets and chocolates. Because The Hoffmanns had paper runs or milk runs early the following Saturday morning a bonus was that often the kids staying overnight would accompany us rather than doing a solitary run-for a while we were all decked out in our Woolworths' gold crosses in case we stumbled across Count Dracula in the dark, creepy Morningside tenement flats!

Two important figureheads in the community when we were young were the minister and the dentist. The Reverend Jack Orr was a truly remarkable, charismatic and kind man. Although I never really attended his church, there was always an enlightened friendly light touch to it. For a period I was part of a group of teenagers there who put on a play in the St John's Church Hall at one of the church festivals-it may have been part of the annual Pentland Festival. Our main dealings with him were his weekly visit to Hunters Tryst School to take the weekly service as well as those special staging posts in the year-Harvest Festival; Christmas; and Easter. He did great pastoral work in the community-I don't think he was someone who rammed religion down one's throat-it was more akin to living in imitation of Christ-I guess leading by example-the good life which one could aspire to,too. He was highly regarded in the Church of Scotland hierarchy and at least one of the future church leaders worked as a young apprentice under him. His wife, Mrs Orr taught at the school. I think my sister was in her class. What a contribution they must have made to the community of Oxgangs over the decades.There were children too, one of whom, Calum went on to become a Scottish International athlete.

Rev Jack Orr

Mr Russell was the local dentist for decades. His surgery was located next door to Dr Motley-a very handy arrangement. For all of us at The Stair to have these services located a minute or so walk away was very handy and convenient. I had a relationship with Mr Russell, not a transaction.

I can recall sending postcards to the surgery during the 1970s from such locations as Montreal, Prague and Edmonton when major championships were being held. Part of the conditions of being part of these teams was that we had to have full medicals which were duly signed off for me by Dr Motley and Mr Russell. Ironically my largest memory of the dentist was as a young boy coming round from having received gas looking out at the lovely blooms on the trees and foliage out the large window of his surgery room-it was like awaking in paradise, before I recovered my senses!

Christmas Eve

When Anne Hoffmann, Iain Hoffmann and I were young, whatever our circumstances - whether our father was in work or not - Santa Claus always did us proud.

Christmas was always the best and most exciting time of the year.

When I say that Santa (aka Mother, Mrs Anne Hoffmann) - sometimes with support from Father (Ken Hoffmann) did us proud I don't mean that we were spoiled or received any expensive presents - no, instead we always got a stocking which was filled full of imaginative small presents which were an absolute delight to wake up to.

Like most kids it was the one evening of the year when we were keen to go to bed early of our own accord.  And of course it was the one morning in the year that we were keen to get up early too!

I'm not too sure how it worked in all the other households in The Stair.

In terms of quality high spend presents Norman Stewart (6/3 Oxgangs Avenue) did better than any of the other children.

One feature which I didn't enjoy at school was that on our return in January the teacher always asked us all individually, in front of the class, what we had received.

I can recall telling a fib saying that I had been given a graphic designer's set - of course I didn't have a scooby what that was but I was determined not to be out-gunned by Norman - he of course was the one pupil in the class who knew perfectly well that I had not received any such thing!

In my memory Christmas Eve was a very quiet evening in The Stair. 

I can recall my father regularly going out to the Christmas Eve Watchnight church service, presumably at Colinton Mains Parish Church, the same church which the Swansons attended - I don't think he went to the remarkable Reverend Jack Orr's St John's Church service.

Colinton Mains Parish Church

St John's Churdh of Scotland, Oxgangs Road North

Rev Jack Orr

The Hanlons (6/7) always seemed to receive some quite nice presents and they might be seen out playing with them, but not until several days after Christmas Day.

Over the years Mother and our next door neighbour Mrs Molly Swanson (6/1) had an arrangement whereby Mum gave Gavin and Heather a wee tin of Woolworths' toffees and we all received something from Molly - as mentioned I once got a book from her, but when it was opened it instead contained seven tubes of sweets inside arranged horizontally inside.

The Hoggs up above (6/4) always received girly pressies and I can recall my sister Anne spending time with Christina, Maureen and Eileen. I'm much vaguer on the Blades (6/6), other than one year when Alison, Ruth and Esther got their Spacehoppers.

.
Presumably before Anne was born our grandfather gave Iain and me a bobble Santa each which were full of wrapped toffees - the figure is a delight and has been carefully looked after over the past fifty years - each year we bring the two Santas out. The Swansons got a similar Santa figure, but they had less jolly faces.

I may be wrong but I seem to recall that the Hanlons and the Blades were quite big on such decorations as the linked rings which went from corner to corner across the ceiling.

I used to regret that we were more conservative with individual Woolworths' decorations which were very attractive and aesthetically pleasing. There wasn't such a crowded effect which as a boy I would have liked. I suspect Woolworths did Mrs Anne Hoffmann and many other parents proud over the decades.

On Christmas Eve each of the three of would leave one of our mother's nylon stockings at the foot of our beds.

I was always the first of us to awake.

I would crawl down the bed and reach out to see if Santa had arrived yet and then the excitement of feeling the bulkiness of the mis-shapen stocking full of surprises was the most wonderful sensation in the world It's Christmas! I would bellow out It's Christmas! as I jumped down from the bunk bed to switch on the light and awaken the others.

The stockings were just great - they were filled with torches; little games; Yogi Bear or Huckleberry Hound picture books; perhaps a young person's novel; colouring books and pens; a selection box; some gold coins; an orange and an apple and a half crown; The Broons or Oor Wullie annual in later years.

Photograph courtesy Heather Lawrence

Anne would get some girly stuff - I particularly recall a delightful peach smelling cream; whilst Iain might get a toy car, perhaps a Corgi or some Matchbox cars; on one occasion when quite young I got a leather football and football boots. Iain was very into his cars whilst I was uninterested in cars, although ironically I have had more sports cars over the years than one could throw a stick at, much to my wife's dismay.

When we were very young, in our innocence we'd then rush through to awaken our parents to show them what Santa had brought us.

These Christmas mornings were simple little affairs, but wonderful - our mother ensured that these were magical occasions every year from being very small children and into our teens; happy times and very, very sweet memories, which I've never forgotten.

Much like Sundays, on Christmas Day we saw very little of what went on in The Stair because our grandfather would collect us at mid-morning and take us down to Portobello for the day, not returning till late at night - but for that you'll all have to be patient children and wait until Christmas Day to hear that story!

Not Swimming, But Learning!

One possible divide in The Stair was the children who regularly went to Warrender Swimming Baths and those who didn't. There may have been a cost dimension for some of the children, but generally many of the children managed to get the bus fares and entrance money, if not money for secondary spend.

I cannot ever recall seeing Heather or Gavin Swanson ever going to the baths. Even if they had the inclination to go they never seemed to have the freedom that all the other children enjoyed once they got to a certain age-the interesting dynamic of control was clearly a factor there which as a parent I can now understand. Looking back, for many of us, being able to go swimming without parental supervision was a right of passage. It was another example of the inordinate freedom to roam, that certainly The Hoffmanns were able to enjoy. Because our father would have done the same at the Glenogle Baths at Stockbridge as a boy in the late 1920s/early 1930s, it probably wasn't considered a health & safety issue in our house.

I don't remember seeing The Hogg girls Christina, Maureen or Eileen going along; similarly The Blades and The Duffys. Generally speaking there seemed to be a gender split, because the children who attended regularly were boys-The Hanlons-Michael; Boo-Boo; Colin; and Alan; and Iain and Peter Hoffmann, as well as Ali Douglas (8/3); Les and Derek Ramage (4/3) and many others.

Iain and Boo-Boo were great pals and for several years they used to go along together weekly It was the one activity that Ken Hoffmann used to very occasionally come along with us. He was an excellent swimmer, with an effortless, smooth and powerful front crawl; but it was his diving which attracted great attention. Because the deep end was only six feet deep, unfortunately, all that Warrender Baths had back in the 1960s was a small spring-board-but even from this he performed lovely swallow dives. I enjoyed watching him perform these. What I didn't enjoy was when he might swim under water and suddenly take my legs from me and pull me under the water. I couldn't swim at that stage so it was always a scary experience.

The bold Ken Hoffmann diving off the bridge of a ship

One distinctive memory for me about how life might have been, was when he had the loan of a black Riley car. It must have been during the autumn school holidays-the tattie holidays. It was a wet, overcast Friday. Over lunch he announced that the three of us-Anne, Iain and I would go swimming at Warrender Baths. It was a great feeling to be driven in luxury, rather than queueing for buses and then walking to and from Bruntsfield Place to Thirlestane Road in the rain. We were driven straight to the door! Even the route he took seemed to be magical-through the Braids, Cluny, Blackford and then Marchmont. And the luxury of a chilly bite and then chauffeur driven home!

We usually always treated ourselves to a chilly bite after our swim-it was a hot chocolate drink from a machine which cost sixpence. We really did shiver after our swims so it was welcoming initially, but I usually found it a bit sickly toward the bottom of the plastic carton. There was a rather classy shop with a a lime green painted façade (probably Farrow and Ball paint!) called Elizabeth's at the top of Thirlestane Road from which I'm ashamed to say we used to nick sweets from-perhaps because she was used to a better class of clientèle it was as easy as stealing sweets from a baby.

Edinburgh Corporation were very go ahead with their swim lessons programme which were usually held during the school holidays. For this one would usually be issued with a swim pass on the last day of term dated for say the two weeks of the Easter Holidays which gave one free access to the baths. It was on one of these occasions at Bruntsfield Primary School (Sean Connery's old school) where they had a pool in the basement, that I first learned to swim-what a feeling! The instructor obviously realised I'd mastered the stroke, but didn't have the confidence. He gave me water wings to put on for confidence-what I hadn't realised was there was no air in the wings-bright or what?

After that one was able to make progress through their swim development programme-a lovely certificate for swimming a length-thereafter it got progressively more difficult, but because the certificates were so classy, one wanted to get better to obtain them-back to my collector tendencies! Anyway, I managed to get certificates 1, 2 and 3, but never sat no 4 which included life-saving at a higher standard than level 3. Part of some of the tests included diving for the heavy rubber brick.

Aye, if we weren't swimming we were learning and if we weren't learning we were swimming!

Aye Working

If two words could describe the women in The Stair the words would be Aye working.

Never mind Stephen Covey's management books of the past twenty years-the women in The Stair could have shown him a trick or two; they had to deploy wonderful management skills, ingenuity, stamina, resilience and character in raising their families; running their households; making ends meet with very little money; getting value for money at The Store (St Cuthbert's Co-op) and armed with few time saving aids.

There wouldn't have been a great deal of variation in their work throughout the course of the year, but the winter was probably the busiest of the four seasons and the summer, perhaps the easiest. Breakfast might have to be made for their husbands before they headed off to work-certainly Dougal Swanson was provided with a cooked breakfast of bacon and egg each morning. The younger children would have to be raised from bed and dressed for school.

In the dark months of December, January and February the day might begin with the fire ashes being cleared out although to keep costs down, the fire might not be lit until much later in the day. At 6/2 three children, Anne, Iain and I would need to be given breakfast-if it was toast and tea it was something which we were soon taking responsibility for. And from the age of seven or eight we were encouraged to do a fry up of sorts on a Sunday morning.If two words could describe most of the women in The Stair the words would be aye working.

Washings were time consuming without a washing machine-doing a washing by hand followed by putting clothes through the wringer was killer work, even before being hung up to dry on the washing green in the warmer months. In the winter, clothes needed to be dried inside-no mean feat in a small flat without central heating. Whilst back in the 1960s we had far fewer clothes and there was perhaps a lot less washing done, imagine what life was like for each household which averaged five in size, never mind the large Blades family-talk about Sysiphus!  It must have been like a Chinese Laundry-washing and drying on an industrial scale!

An overcast day, so no washing hung out today!

Some families used the washing green, others didn't. Mrs Hanlon, Mrs Swanson and Mrs Hoffmann regularly hung their washing out to dry-no doubt some interesting conversations took place there. I believe there was a rota for each Stair but because some families didn't use the washing green, there was an arrangement which allowed the regulars all week access to The Stair's allocated section. Helen Blades didn't use the washing green-when Fiona Blades, Anne Duncan (Hoffmann) and I met up recently we concluded the reason for this might have been that it would have been so time consuming having to go down three floors with great piles of washing and then back up-not to mention dashing in and out if the weather changed.

Thereafter, housework needed to be undertaken and lunch made for those at home during the week. Messages of course had to be bought-without fridges this often meant visits to the shops on a daily basis. And come the evening, tea or dinner needed to be prepared. Not to mention taking one's share to clean The Stair. It was only into the evening that women might be able to put their feet up and relax in front of the box.

As we got older Anne, Iain and I shared some of the burden, particularly after Mrs Anne Hoffmann went out to work in the Civil Service after my parents divorced. Between the three of us we tidied the house, made the fire, did the messages and washed, dried and put away the dishes-we took a certain pride in having the place looking ship-shape for our mother arriving back home at tea-time. Iain has always taken a particular pride in being house-pwoud-even today if you call in to see him he's likely to be wearing his pinny which of course is kept spotless! In some ways, these were happy days for us at 6/2 with a good and much more relaxed atmosphere at home as the three of us were getting older too.

Peter, Anne and Iain Hoffmann circa summer 1970

One observation or reflection on the 1960s was the amount of stereotyping-whilst men had to be seen to go out to do economic work, women did all of the repetitive household chores-most men would rather be seen dead than be seen hanging out the washing-as one might guess this was another example of Ken Hoffmann being different-he was happy to be seen on the washing green-he didn't need to prove his macho-ism! I seemed to recall Mr Bowman 4/6 also hung up the washing too-he was a very fit bloke who used to play football for an amateur team and would even be seen going out running-unheard of for the time-whereas today whether I arrive in Edinburgh early in the morning or very late at night the streets are dotted with joggers, the majority of whom are women-such a radical cultural change from the 1960s-perhaps the housework burden is at last being shared? Or not!

Entrepreneurs At The Stair No 1 Jumble Sales

There was an distinct divide in The Stair between those children who had part time jobs whilst attending school and those who didn't. Many of The Blades; and The Hoggs; and the The Hoffmanns all had paper runs; or milk runs; or served petrol at the National Garage; or sold potatoes from a van, To my knowledge The Hanlons; The Duffys; The Swansons; and Norman Stewart never had jobs for much of the decade of the 1960s, although now that I think about it I think Boo-Boo Hanlon joined Iain Hoffmann selling potatoes from the Tattie Van on Sundays.

The reasons why they didn't work varied from household to household. Norman Stewart perhaps didn't need the money or have the inclination; The Swansons didn't appear to have the freedom to come out to play when they wanted to, so there was little chance their parents would have countenanced them venturing out to work on dark winter mornings-I suspect Molly and Dougal would have been more cautious too in terms of health & safety as well as ensuring nothing got in the way of Heather or Gavin achieving their academic potential.

The Hanlons were interesting-Hilda and Charlie Hanlon ran a tight ship-a considerable achievement with four energetic boys separated by not much more than a hand-full of years. All the boys behaved well despite playing with all their peers, but were called in at an earlier time than the rest of us-the loss of four players could spoil a good going game of football! Whilst they might complain in a minor way, they would always go home when told.

Out-with receiving their Friday Treat from their father one wouldn't see them spending money on sweets, ice cream or comics-so they're needs seemed to be small. They seemed to be a halfway house between The Swansons and the rest of the children, although none of the boys were academic. Because of having less freedom and autonomy, it would have been surprising if they had been allowed out early in the morning to work.

There is a difference between working and being entrepreneurial. The best example at The Stair was Douglas Blades' milk run business which he developed at Wester Hailes. Two of mine featured a summer holiday chip shop and also promoting jumble sales.

My jumble sales were unlike Norrie Stewart's scatters. First of all there was a small entry fee of a penny to be paid at the gate entrance to the back garden. My primary money spinner was placing a shilling in the centre of a bucket filled with water. Participants had to drop-more usually slide a penny in to the water. If the shilling was covered by the penny, then the shilling was won-a very rare happening-I must have worked out the odds! If the shilling was slightly over-lain by the penny then the customer got their penny back. As well as being a guaranteed money spinner it generated some excitement as a spectacle, which of course was good for business-keep an orderly line now!

Few and Far Between and Ken Hoffmann Being Different No 4!

Family outings, few and far between?

The Duffys at 6/8 certainly did things together, because I would see them all go off to St Marks Church as a family on Sundays. I don't recall The Hanlons doing family outings. With nine members in the family it would have been near impossible for The Blades, but again, if there was a large number of them seen together, it was usually for purposes of church attendance. When there were fewer Blades family members I recall going as a very wee boy when Helen Blades pushed her father in a wheelchair up to the army's polo fields on family walks. With The Hoggs, it would be the four females-I don't recall George out with them very much. Similarly, with The Stewarts it would be more Mrs Stewart and Norman-perhaps that was to do with Mr Stewart's shifts as a policeman? The Swansons were the exception-the one family unit in The Stair who did everything together as a family-if it were out-with the working day, then one always saw them together as a group-whether it was visiting the granny, going to church or in to town. The Hoffmanns were broadly similar to the rest of The Stair, however for intermittent periods of time we all went to my grandparents' house each Sunday-because my father objected to this he often wouldn't come along (ironically and rather sadly this suited us!)-also when he was away at sea he simply wouldn't be there.

The Hoffmanns Family Photograph 1961
(Photograph by another of The Pedlars, Hawkers and Salesmen who visited The Stair) 

These patterns may well have been quite common for many of the families who lived in Oxgangs during the 1960s. The lack of money is arguably a factor. Cars are related to this and are an interesting factor; they very much served as a literal and metaphorical vehicle for bringing families together throughout the UK during the decade, but were few and far between in Oxgangs. Their absence can be seen clearly in some of the photographs which I have shown on the blog. During the 1960s, no family in The Stair had a car.

Sunday and Local Public Holiday Picnics to Fife circa 1968/69
(Photographs Heather Robertson)

Whereas, because my grandfather did have a car, we regularly went out for Sunday runs or picnics to Peebles, West Linton, Fife and East Lothian. Looking back these were lovely times and reflect really well on our grandparents' sense of family.

The one brief exception to car ownership at The Stair during the 1960s was that for a very short period of time-was it a few weeks, we had the use of a black Riley car-I don't think we owned it-it may have been my grandfather's car? I recall there was a problem with the exhaust and Ken Hoffmann had the crazy idea that it could be held on with chewing gum; so he bought packets and packets of gum for the kids to chew on and then tried to affix it to the exhaust! Ken Hoffmann was completely 'handless' when it came to do it yourself! I wait to hear from Mrs Anne Hoffmann (Duncan), but was this the same car which went up in flames?

When my grandparents went to Dublin on holiday Ken Hoffmann had the use of their car. Unfortunately it wasn't insured for fire. Even more unfortunately it went up in flames outside The Stair and was a complete write off!

Does anyone know if chewing gum is combustible?!

ps More on family outings in a future blog.