My Clydebank Photos

[Currie]

That a very interesting site Owen. I’ve just been rummaging around in there and I don’t have the slightest connection to Clydebank. I particularly enjoyed the videos.

Yours is the sort of site that deserves to be still around in some form or other long after all of us are gone. The Internet Archive has been archiving web sites for a number of years. I don’t know whether your particular format would work properly there but perhaps it’s worth considering. See the FAQ’s http://www.archive.org/

That’s the most bullet proof looking background image I’ve seen for quite a while.

All the best and keep up the good work,
Alan

[Owen]

Hello Alan,
Thank you for your comments and I am glad you find it interesting even if you don't have a connection with Clydebank. It has been developing over the last year and the maps are a good addition for any Bankies or ex-bankies to remember how Clydebank used to be. The National Library of Scotland were very helpful finding the right maps for me. Tam Burke was great and would phone me to discuss the maps.
Your comment about archiving the site is very interesting as I would like to think the site would continue after I have gone and was hoping my family would keep it going. I will look into the archive site you mention.
The background image is good, I like to change them now and then but I like this one. It reminds me of the old shipbuilding we used to have in Clydebank. My late father worked in the shipyards. He drove the fire engine and ambulance for John Brown's. As a wee boy, my dad would take me in at the weekend and give me a complete tour of the yard. Happy memories.
Thank you for taking an interest.

Owen

[Owen]

Hello Everybody. Today 13th march 2011, is the 70th Anniversary of the Clydebank Blitz. At that time, my mother and three sisters were living in Ayr because of the war but decided to come back that day to their home in Langholm Street, Yoker not knowing that Clydebank would be bombed that night. My two oldest sisters, Mary and Nancy told me their memories of the Blitz and the war. I have put it on my website if you would like to read it.
You will find their story at http://www.myclydebankphotos.co.uk/page39.htm
We should never forget...

[Ina]

Owen,

I enjoyed your sisters memories of the Clydebank bombings. You are fortunate to have someone tell their story of those scary times.

I survived the Greenock bombings, but was just a baby and don't remember anything except what my mother told me.

Ina

[Owen]

Hello Ina,
Thank you for visiting my website. It must have been a terrible time for everyone. I watched a documentary on BBC last night about the Clydebank Blitz and it brought home to me how much devastation was caused in Clydebank and surrounding areas. I was at the Act of Remembrance Service at the Communal Grave in Old Dalnottar Cemetery on Saturday. We will never forget.
Thanks again for taking the time to write. You take care.

Owen

[Alan SHARP]

Hello Everybody. Today 13th march 2011, is the 70th Anniversary of the Clydebank Blitz. At that time, my mother and three sisters were living in Ayr because of the war but decided to come back that day to their home in Langholm Street, Yoker not knowing that Clydebank would be bombed that night. My two oldest sisters, Mary and Nancy told me their memories of the Blitz and the war. I have put it on my website if you would like to read it.
You will find their story at http://www.myclydebankphotos.co.uk/page39.htm
We should never forget...

Greetings Owen, from New Zealand.

The subject of one of my research projects, makes a brief diary note about the Clydebank Blitz, as seen from the air, when night flying out of Elgin that night.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=14999&p=119595&hil ... et#p119595

Edited extract:- ....................

14th March 1941 14-30
Since I’ve been back from leave we’ve had very good weather & the flying hours have gone up at a great rate. Last night Ev. myself, Hitching & Mr Webb all did four and a half hours night flying, making us all night operational in one bang. I didn’t get to bed until 2-30. One of the exercises was a height climb to twenty five thou. or more. Twenty eight thou. Was quite cold enough for me & unofficially I went down to within about forty miles of Glasgy. Jerry was giving that place a good beating up & I was sorely tempted to go in & risk Archie & try a crack at him. It was a beautiful moonlight night & possibilities were very high..............................

...........................................................................................end of extract..

Regards,

Alan SHARP.

[joette]

My Mother & her family were living in Mountblow-Laurel Avenue at the time of the Blitz.My Grandpa was a Section Leader in the ARP & he took his duties very seriously so as the bombs were dropping he was outside checking on the houses in his area-ably assisted by my Mum's eldest brother Tommy Waddell. An incendiary bomb fell through the ceiling in one house landing on a bed Grandpa & Tommy got it outside inside a bucket of sand.They put out numerous others too.
Mum was nine at the time & had briefly with her two brothers been evacuated to Dunoon but Granny was missing them so much that she decided to bring them home.
So on that Friday night inside the shelter was Granny & briefly Grandpa & Uncle Tommy,my Mum Betty,Uncle Jim & the six week old Jennifer.Mum said that she was never ever afraid such was the confidence she had in her parents abilities to keep them safe.Granny was recovering from a very difficult confinement-Auntie Jennifer had arrived weeks ahead of when she was expected although she wasn't premature.Various neighbours were there the second night as Granny & grandpa had swapped shelters -it was much bigger neighbours daughter who was visiting her absent parents home.With her was her husband home on leave & their baby older than my Aunt.My Granny was giving this young couple the chance of some privacy for the husband's short leave.
Several bombs dropped blasting the doors of the shelters,the doors windows & ceilings of the houses -this is only a few hundred yards from the Admirality Fuel Depot in O.K.-which is next to the house which I grew up in & where Mum still lives.The next day all emerged & it was then that it was discovered that the sleeping neighbours baby was in fact dead-the blast had literally taken her breath away.
Granny off course was guilty thinking that perhaps if they had been in their own shelter that it would have been my Aunt that died & not the baby.
On the Monday King George V & Queen Elizabeth arrived for a secret visit.My Mum was one of the lucky girls who had the chance to meet & speak to them & the Queen Mum gave her a lace trimmed hankie.She said that the Queen Mum was very kind & spoke to them at length about the raids etc.
As their house was so damaged & there was no running water or electricity my Grandpa went out to arrange for the family's evacuation.Everything that was still intact & moveable was either loaded onto Jennifer's pram or carried.My Mum said she could see the damage & was aware of that there had been deaths-her brother had been out on a scout unbeknowns to my Grandparents & came back telling his little sister about body parts & dead bodies lying in the street but never saw anything nasty.
They ended up in Blantyre where 18 months later my Uncle Gordon was born.Grandpa travelling back & forth to his job in Renfrew as a Boilermaker at Babcock & Wilcox.
I grew up in Clydebank & was aware of the Blitz all my days.
My Dad & his parents lived in Burns St.My Grandpa a Boer War & WW1 veteran would shake his stick at the bombers callling them cowards raining death down on women & bairns & that they should come down & fight like men.Dad thought it was exciting & was an avid scavenger of shrapnel & other mementoes.He was across the road from Castle Square & Jellicoe St which bore the brunt of the bombing & which claimed the lives of so many.
I plan to record Mum's account of her story this year.It used to be a popular tale when we were young
"Tell us about when you were evacuated & tell us about the Blitz"
We were too young to appreciate what a devastion & horror had been visited upon Clydebank.
Especially for the McDonalds friends of my Grandparents-his wife & children were killed in the shelter in their back court-he was blown free as he was standing at the door having a fag.Wee Brenda's aged 5 body was never found.RIP the Blitz dead.

[Owen]

Hello Alan and Joette, Thank you for your comments. I find it all very interesting, and moving. Joette, You should write down your families memories so future generations will be able to read about it. Thank you all for leaving messages.

[Owen]

Hello everybody,
I finally got round to doing another update to the website. I have added more photos the the Clydebank in Colour album http://myclydebankphotos.co.uk/page2.htm. I have also added some more photos to the Out And About 2 album http://myclydebankphotos.co.uk/page7.htmthat I took in St Andrews in 1978 and photos I took in Summerston to the My Glasgow Photos album http://myclydebankphotos.co.uk/page4.htm. I hope you enjoy them.

[Currie]

Hello Owen,

That’s a great site, highly recommended for anyone to have a good look through. There’s something really appealing about old black and white photography, even new black and white photography come to think of it.

I watched a fascinating video there, in the YouTube section, of a Monster Machine devouring Goldenhill School. Great stuff Owen.

All the best,
Alan