Down Memory Lane

Jan 14 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

Down Memory Lane

MELTING snow and the accompanying rains of a stormy week saw the River Clyde burst its banks in several places throughout Lanarkshire. At Bothwell Bridge the haughs were picturesque, with the water covering several acres of fields.

JAIL for non-payment of rates was still competent, as two people were reminded on the request of the County Council of Lanarkshire. The two were not only persistent offenders but “adopted all kinds of tactics” to prevent sheriff officers from putting their powers of recovery into force.

A request was made to the sheriff for a warrant to imprison the offenders, which was granted, and the two taken to Glasgow Prison. The rates and expenses were paid in full the following day, and the two were released.

A SOMEWHAT predictable accident at Hamilton Cross was continued in court, where it was explained that it was down to the new ‘silence zone’ restriction. In the early hours of a morning two motorists, each obscured by buildings, approached the Cross from different directions.

In compliance with the regulation forbidding audible warning of approach from 11.30pm-7am, neither sounded their horn. The cars crashed and one was overturned.

AMONG women who figured in the first decorations bestowed by the young King Peter II of Yugoslavia was Dr Katherine Macphail, organiser of the Anglo-Yugoslav Children’s Hospital in Belgrade and daughter of the late Dr Macphail, Cadzow Lodge, Hamilton.

ELEVEN “shocked” tenants of houses in Hillhouse wrote to Hamilton Town Council condemning the decision to sell ground in Hillhouse Road to an Edinburgh brewery firm. They planned to organise a plebiscite on the issue. In their letter they wrote: “We respectfully request the Town Council to reconsider their published intention to sell ground for licensed premises in Hillhouse without finding the mind of the parish of Hillhouse. We submit that the council’s own action in conducting a referendum in 1955 morally binds them to the same course in 1960”.

AN inquiry into the Auchengeich Colliery disaster of September, 1969, in which 47 men lost their lives, was told that 80ft. of the belting which caught fire in a booster fan was sub-standard. It broke down through excessive stretching and jammed in a pulley.

A DECISION was still to be taken on who was to plan the proposed new town at Stonehouse. The Scottish Development Department wanted to discuss the County Council’s first-stage plans before allocating responsibility for the master blueprint. It had been reported that EK Development Corporation were preparing the master plan while the County Council were drawing up an initial development of some 2000 houses plus industry.

TWO JPs had just sentenced a man to two weeks’ imprisonment at Hamilton JP Court for breach of the peace when he asked: “Can I finish my holiday first?” He was referring to a one-week break in the middle of a three-year sentence he was serving at Nottingham Prison. The man was arrested after shouting and bawling in a fish restaurant at Halfway.

A LACK of money could have finally settled the long argument over the future of Hamilton’s Beckford Lodge Hospital. Fears that the building would be handed over to the social work department for non-medical use dissolved as it was revealed that the regional council department didn’t have the cash to go ahead with their plans. Hamilton’s Local Health Council hoped the defunct maternity unit would be converted into a day hospital for the town’s old folk.

STRIKING pickets tightening their stranglehold on Lanarkshire industry forced Wishaw firm John Williams Ltd to lay off 140 men. The firm was the only steel plate re-rollers in Scotland but closed their doors for the first time in 100 years as production ground to a halt. Pickets successfully turned away vital oil and propane gas supplies for steel re-rolling.

LANARKSHIRE’S ambulance dispute escalated with crews deciding to answer 999 calls only. Crews at Motherwell, Coatbridge and East Kilbride voted to step up their action after accusing doctors of abusing TUC guidelines. Action at the three stations officially took effect from midnight on Wednesday, January 17, but crews at Motherwell and Coatbridge decided to answer 999 calls only from midnight on Monday. For the first time in the 17-week dispute police ambulances were called onto the streets of Lanarkshire to cater for non-emergency cases.

ROBERT Houston, Colin Stewart and Lorna Calderwood from Hamilton and Sharon Jones from Wishaw entered their sled dog teams in the BETA Sled Dog Rally 2000 in Aviemore.

BIG-HEARTED Hamilton man Jim McLaughlin teamed up with friend John McFadzean to cycle the 1000 miles-plus John O’Groats to Lands End challenge for Glasgow’s Yorkhill Hospital and Imperial Cancer Research Fund. But the intrepid pair, who had climbed the 284 Munros, were to do so via the three highest points in Scotland, England and Wales – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – on their two-week trek.

Jim and John, from Kilwinning, Ayrshire, were given a helping hand from Hamilton’s Esporta complex, who were providing free training facilities and a qualified instructor.