Down Memory Lane

Feb 25 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

JAMES Murray, formerly of Hamilton, had the honour of addressing the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the scientific work of the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition, which he had taken part in as a biologist.

THE drinking of ‘soor dook’, otherwise buttermilk, as a means of prolonging life, had rapidly increased in popularity in Lanarkshire, thanks to an investigation by Dr Charles Reinhardt.

It was reported that “the sour milk, being full of lactic acid producing bacilli, enabled these beneficial microbes to establish themselves as a colony in the human intestines, to live, grow and multiply there, and prevent diseases of the human body”.

Dr Reinhardt’s pamphlet provided directions and precautions to be observed in the preparation of sour milk.

A CORRESPONDENT told of a Hamilton family that had stopped arguing. Each time they rowed the wife bought her husband a new tie and he bought her something useful. The last tie he got was in Aberdeen’s colours and as she insisted on him wearing it to Accies games, he said he didn’t feel inclined to argue.

HAMILTON police reported that incidences of housebreaking and thefts had increased from 28 to 69.

However, they also said it was no coincidence that in the same time period police found premises insecure during the night on 586 occasions – an increase of 115 on the previous year.

THE headmaster of a school in Norfolk wrote to say that not only was the Hamilton Advertiser enjoyed in East Anglia, but photos of ‘Bonny Scotland’ were used to illustrate lessons.

DRINKING and driving was proving more of a problem and Lanarkshire’s MPs were urged to support a Private Member’s Bill which provided for much more stringent tests to establish the quantity of alcohol consumed by drivers picked up on traffic offences. It was felt that the current method of examination by a doctor was unsatisfactory.

A MOTHERWELL youth made an elementary mistake that led to his arrest after breaking into a shop in the town’s Windmillhill Street and stealing four radios and a torch.

Police simply followed his footprints in the snow and arrested the 18-year-old.

The trail led to a shelter near a branch railway line where four radios and a button were found, then on to his Meadow Road address.

FARMER Alex Fleming of Warrenhill, Thankerton, had so many motorists crashing through his fences that he simply gave up repairing them.

Since December 1969 there had been 10 crashes at an accident blackspot on the A73 Stirling-Carlisle road near Tinto tearooms – with Mr Fleming’s fencing taking the brunt.

Five hundred yards of fencing had been torn down and a dyke on the opposite side of the road was also damaged.

COMMUTERS were delighted at news that ‘blue’ train services were to be expanded in Lanarkshire when the rail link between Glasgow and Crewe went electric. Trains previously ran on diesel.

CHEEKY thieves carried out an unusual overnight theft from Rosebank’s Popinjay Hotel – a 19th century antique grandfather clock valued at about £1000, and which was six feet tall.

Manager L E Spence appealed for the thieves to get in contact so he could hand over the clock keys.

“They have got the clock so they may as well have the keys to keep it working,” he said.

HAMILTON councillor Nancy Cochrane likened a walk up the proposed new pedestrian precinct in Quarry Street to “following the yellow brick road”.

Councillor Cochrane was one of two councillors who opposed plans to have a snaking paved area for cars threading through Quarry Street.

FED-UP commuter Betty Winning phoned to complain about the non-appearance of her bus from Whitehill to Motherwell and was told the company had run out of fuel.

Betty left her house at 8am but was unable to make her 9am start at Motherwell Job Centre. She phoned the Traction House depot in Motherwell and was told that the nightly delivery of fuel hadn’t taken place because of a problem at the refinery in Grangemouth.

WISHAW police were investigating one of the more unusual thefts in their jurisdiction – a 40ft floodlight pylon from West Crindledyke Park, Newmains.

The aluminium pylon, complete with halogen lights and valued at £1300, was taken some time between 10am on Friday and 8.15am on the following Monday.

A MOTHERWELL bus driver who was stopped by police in the town’s Muirhouse area was sacked on the spot for failing a breathalyser test – before 9am.

The man had been ferrying passengers from Carluke to North Motherwell when his driving prompted police to stop him on Shields Road.

SOUTH Lanarkshire Council staff who parked their cars in spaces reserved for patients attending a nearby doctor’s surgery were branded “lazy”.

Practice manager Wilma Liddell said council workers had been clogging up spaces set aside for patients, although there were two huge, free car parks less than a quarter of a mile away.