Figures On The Edge No 2-Michael Hanlon

Michael was one of the predominant figures at The Stair. He was around nine months or so younger than me. Like me he was in the upper median age group of children at The Stair and was a boy who liked to be outside so was a key figure over the period. As a young lad at primary school he was a gentle and likeable lad, who once he got older and went to Firhill Secondary School came more into his own. He was a very sociable boy and enjoyed playing with most of the boys around. In particular he was friendly with the likes of Jonathan Taylor and Colin McFarlane from local Stairs and also Willie Taylor, Jonathan's brother.

Over the years I must have played hundreds of games of football with Michael and also have gone jumping the burn with him in large groups of boys and girls. Michael and a group of boys were quite into Japs and Commandos types of games which didn't appeal to me, so I tended not to be quite so close to that group of lads as he was.

Michael Hanlon (Willie Taylor in background)

Willie Taylor; Michael Hanlon; Keith Robertson; Steve Westbrook
Front Row: Boo-Boo Hanlon; John Duffy; Mark Robertson; and Iain Hoffmann

Once at secondary school Michael was very proactive in organising more formal football matches than we had previously been involved in-he organised matches in which we (Red Star) had take ons again other local street teams-in my diaries I come across references of Michael wants me to play against Joe Rendall's; Kenny Taylor's; Martin Davidson's teams. I won't bore you with the details of the results, but they were close affairs. Apart from myself all these lads were at Firhill. Michael had to alert me to the games asking if I would turn out. I wasn't playing much football by then as I was playing rugby for Boroughmuir Secondary School.

Whilst I enjoyed these matches and ninety minutes of hard effort I sense a growing frustration in some of my diary entries-I was playing in midfield, but covering a lot of the ground, both forward and back and felt that several of my team-mates weren't pulling their weight-I wasn't specifically critical of anyone, but was saying that I had run myself into the ground. Knowing myself that was probably more a reflection of how competitive I was-I was a fair player, most of the time thinly disguising a very steely will to win whereby I would give my all in these games. Others were much more balanced and probably just enjoyed the matches for what they were, giving a certain amount of effort. Michael as the owner of the team was probably the captain which was just as well-he was a far nicer lad than me and I would have been too hard a task-master, unfortunately probably more in the Roy Kean mould!

On one occasion in the autumn there was a period of very heavy rain where the Braid Burn had completely flooded its banks-at Firhill Crescent at the old multi-storeyed fifteen floor villages in the sky playground the water was very deep. A group of us had ventured out in our Wellington boots. I can recall Michael bending over fascinated by the depth of the burn-it must have been eight feet-well I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't resist giving him a nudge with a gentle knee to his backside-well blow me down he toppled straight over and into the water-we all laughed like drains, made worse when he emerged like a drowned rat exclaiming It's nae funny Peter what will ma faither say! I do recall we dried Mike's clothes in front of our fire before he went up The Stair but probably not before he had given me a bloody nose!

Out-with Douglas Blades and Liz Blades, I think Michael was the first member of The Stair to leave school when he went off to join the Royal Navy-in later years I think Michael had spells with the Fire Brigade and the Army too-a life devoted to public service for which he would have been very well suited.

Good Time?

Good time?

In the summer of 1971 that was a question often on the lips of the younger residents of The Stair, as well as kids from numbers 2,4 and 8 Oxgangs Avenue and also for others from Oxgangs Street. 

In June, 1971, Paul Forbes, Iain Hoffmann and I visited a pawnbroker in the Grassmarket with the express purpose of buying a stopwatch. It cost me a fiver (£5). I had decided that my latest wheeze for the summer would be to organise athletics over the school holidays. Little did I know that it would attract over thirty kids as active participants. Today the relatively useless Active Schools Coordinators scheme pay officers £30k a year for doing less work with less success! Supplementing the stopwatch, was a measuring tape that I had managed to borrow from Bill Walker at Meadowbank Sports Centre and a little notebook and pen.

Paul Forbes and Peter Hoffmann at Meadowbank Sports Centre asking Bill  Walker for a wee loan of the measuring tape!

Within the notebook there was a section for each participant recording their best times and their best jumps. As Ruth Blades (Kaye) mentioned in a previous comment the events consisted of: Fence (Hoffmann garden) to Lampost (outside No 8 Oxgangs Avenue)-a pure short sprint: Bus Stop (outside No 2 Oxgangs Avenue) to Lampost (outside No 8 Oxgangs Avenue)-the classic sprint distance; Once Round The Two Blocks-a lap (or loop) of Nos 6 and 8 Oxgangs Avenue-three short bursts and two longer bursts with four left (right angles) turns; and finally the classic distance of Once Round The Four Blocks-The Stair's equivalent of one lap of an athletics track. We were quite happy to accommodate other requests too e.g. twice or three times Round The Four Blocks.

Some of the Oxgangs Mini Olympics competitors.
Esther Blades; Iain Hoffmann; Ali Douglas; Ruth Blades
Alison Blades; Boo-Boo Hanlon; and Eileen Hogg

Paul Forbes; Peter Hoffmann; and Iain Hoffmann 'jumping for joy!'

We also used to put on long jump and triple jump competitions too, which were held across from The Stair on the other side of Oxgangs Avenue on a grass strip beside the bus stop. These events could easily last for over an hour and more; they must have been quite entertaining for those queuing for a bus!

Triple Jump Venue Oxgangs Avenue

To help make everyone feel involved a relatively short distance would be marked out. I knew everyone could make the distance-even those as young as say Esther Blades. Each participant would have three attempts at each set distance to be able to advance to the next round and distance. The distances would be incrementally increased, but only gradually-this meant that everyone was involved for a good length of time, because each person had to complete the challenge. For those who were younger it would take a big effort to progress; if you were older or quite athletic one might show off or fool around in the early rounds and it served as a good warm-up.

As the distance became more challenging everyone was very supportive encouraging their pals to make a big effort to try to reach the distance and progress to the next round-if a younger child made it, a big cheer went up-if one didn't make the mark, there was commiseration that you'd make it next time!

Willie Taylor; Derek Ramage; Mark Robertson; John Duffy; and Stephen Westbrook

Because everyone was so involved from the start, even once you were eliminated, everyone tended to stay on to see how the event progressed; to see who would eventually jump the furthest; and how far each person actually leaped. Also if you were knocked out you might become a judge or set the marker distances. And, although it was a competition, ultimately everyone, both won and lost-this was because you would usually get a personal best, but eventually we all failed at some stage to reach the marker.

Similarly, by running and timing each of the set distances, these were mainly done individually, so one was competing against one's self trying to improve one's personal best; if you were competitive, you could compare your times against your peers.

I kept the notebook for decades-I think it was stored in my grandmother's attic, until she died, when it became lost. It may still be amongst my own papers, but I don't think so. I was always tempted to take Will and Tom out to Oxgangs Avenue to see how they might compare to our generation's times. They would certainly have been game.

Will Leading Tom, National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
(Peter Hoffmann, 2009)

Until relatively recently when we visited the National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, I always had to time them on a lap of  the Charles Jencks Garden. Will started to outpace 'the old man' two years ago (but only up to 200 metres!)-it's taken Tom (16) until this year-I think!

Will (1st) (Second right, black T shirt) age 16 finally beats  The Old Man (3rd)
Final Open 100 Yards Strathconon Highland Games 2010