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Dear Grandchildren,
I was born in a hospital in Lanark. My mother and father had a small flat
in Stonehouse, which i lived in for a short time as a baby. I have no
recall of this. My sister was also conceived in this flat.
My mother wasn't long pregnant, when she separated from my father. You see
my mother and father were very young, when they married at the age of 16.
They were later divorced. My mother returned to her home town of Blantyre
with me in tow. We lived for a little time at my grans, then moved to a
horse shoe shape housing scheme. We lived in the middle of the scheme.
The flat had good size rooms. Two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom
and a very long hall. My bedroom was painted pink. The paper was woodchip.
There were two beds. One for me and one for my sister.
There was no heating in the rooms, so we had this strange looking wall
fire, which hung above the middle of the two beds. Our bedding was a pink
throw with blankets underneath. There were no quilts.
There were lots of other kids, who lived on the scheme. So you always had
someone to play with. I remember one of the games, we would play was kick
the can. It was a bit like hide and seek.
We lived there with my mother until, i was about 9 years old. During this
time my mother met another man. They later married. Our house got flooded
out, so we were put into another house, in another area of Blantyre. Which
was a very long street with houses on each side, when i say houses its
flats because some lived at the bottom and someone else at the top, their
were usually four families in a block. The Lizzy scot centre was very near
us, at this point in time 2008 is called the Terminal One. My sister and i
went on many trips with the Lizzy scot, as it had a summer play scheme.
At weekends my sister and i went to stay at my grans. We loved staying
there. We got all the toys out in the back garden in the summer. We would
make tents with old sheets pinning them from the washing line. There was
also a farm over the back of the house, which was called Russels farm. It
is on longer there. I think its the McClean houses now.
My gran worked on the farm and she bagged poatatoes. As a child i would go
up to see her working. It would be so cold and dark inside the big shed. I
don't know how anyone could have worked in these conditions, but many did.
My gran would have taken a flask of black sugared tea and i would have
some and then go and play on the old tractor outside.
One time at my grans i was playing on the farm land as i had done many
times, with my Sindy dolls in the long grass. Only this time i pick, what
i thought was pea pods, when actally it was some kind of flower and i ate
the seeds out of them. I was rushed to the clinic in an old push chair
type pram, even though i was too big for it! I was taken to hospital and
got my stomach pumped. Luckiy i was all right.
My name is Yvonne i'am 36 years old now and doing adult learning classes
at Blantyre libray. I hope this letter will be helpful in your futures.
Sincerely,
your Grandmother Yvonne. |
