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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Dunbartonshire => Topic started by: pettsy on Tuesday 16 May 06 12:36 BST (UK)
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Does anyone know where I can get some photos of the Singer Manufacturing company in Clydebank?
My g grandfather worked in the cabinet rooms there before he went to war (WW1)
It is no longer there, was pulled down years ago :'(
Thank you.
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Have alook at
http://www.theclydebankstory.com/index.php just enter singer in the image search box and several will come up .... plenty of info about Clydebank too.
Added: Link no longer active.
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If you contact the Archives at Clydebank Public Library then they have mountains of pics of Singers.If you are visiting Clydebank again well worth a visit as they have walls of photos of Singers on display.
It's amazing but almost every Bankie will have had an ancestor who worked in Singers it was the biggest employers for over a hundred years.
My Great-Grandfather was the first to work there.He was from Crieff & had dreams of being a Doctor unfortunately there was no money for this type of education in the family & he had to leave Perthshire & move South.
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Falkyrn thank's for the link I had a look, very interesting. There was a lot of damage in the Blitz.
Joette, I will have to come back up. I have so many more things I want to do.
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Yes Clydebank was in fact the worst Blitz damaged city in UK almost every house in the Burgh was damaged in some way.
The Council are in the process of demolishing the last of the worst affected including the tenement my Dad was born in in 1929.I off course have never taken a photo thinking it would always be there.
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Oh Joette, is it too late to take a photo now ???
Yes the area got hit very hard in the Blitz, it was terrible (not that I was there ;))
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Ohhh which street was your dad born in?
Pete was born in a tenement in French Street and he went down a couple of weeks ago and took some piccies just as the bulldozers moved in.
Let me know.
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My Dad was born at 5 Kitchener St & it is from there he almost drowned.
He was a bit of a "slow" child he wouldn't walk or talk(made up for it when he started).
Anyway he had a little sit on dog & as he didn't walk my Granny left him playing in the back court.He was about two.
After a while Granny heard a commotion & there was my Father & the family dog(an Airdale) in the midst of a crowd.Both were soaking wet.
He had rode his little dog to the Canal which as you know is just behind the tenements.The dog had been pushed or fallen in & Dad had tried to retrieve it.He off course fell in.Luckily the family dog had followed also & seeing Dad in the water had dived in & pulled him to the banks where a passer-by spotted them.
Granny had hated that dog but he got a good chunk of meat that day!
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Oh wow what a story - clever doggie and lucky dad!!
Do you know Kitchener Street was actually renamed Castle Street, way back in the 70's (I think it was)?
The area didn't have the best of reputations and when the houses were renovated it was decided to start a fresh page and rename the street.
I lived at 13 Castle Street - for a very short time right after I spread my wings and left home as a youngster - a couple of years ago ::) ;)
I think Petes piccies are on the other lappie, which is away at the putter docs right now, but I'll check for you.
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Thanks for that & I always thought that Castle Square was around there & never heard of Castle St despite all my years in Dalmuir.
I guess you know of the Rooks the family who were decimated by the Blitz in Castle Square almost four generations wiped out including babies & serviceman/men home on leave so sad!
If you have photos I would love some.Are you still in Clydebank? What school did you go to? I went to Dalmuir Primary followed by a sentence at Clydebank High which I absolutely loathed ! Schooldays happiest of your life-I hated them!!! Primary was ok but High School -bah humbug!
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Small world!!
I went to Dalmuir primary too ('69 - '76) - it's away now, shame it was a lovely wee school. There's a nursing home there now.
Followed by Clydebank High as well ('76 - '80). I was in Davaar, which house were in?
I'm 41 (nearly 42) by the way - wonder if we knew each other?
I loved CHS - it was pretty wild right enough but I had some good friend there. CHS and Braidfield are amalgamating this year - can you imagine??!!
The plan is for one of those new 'super schools' - hmmmm!!
I still stay in Dalmuir just over looking the swingpark at the top end of the park in Overtoun Rd. We're really lucky it's nice and quiet here.
I have heard of that family - the Rooks - tradgic story.
I'll see what photos Pete had on the camera - we still haven't got the other lappie back yet ::)
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I was in Eriskay I think but went there until 1972 but my younger sister & brothers went there too.
You might have known my brother Jim who started 1968.He was in that horrible Miss McDonald's class-do you remember her?
Miss Duncan was Head of Infants & Mr Paul was the Headie!.
Overtoun Rd is lovely & my elder sister almost bought a house there.My younger sister & I are the only ones not living in Dalmuir.
All my nephews,niece are at Loretto's. So the super school is not an issue as they did away with St.Andrews so not sure where they will go but not for a while.
I am a bit sad about the High School as my Aunt & Uncles went there too as did my Grandpa & Great Aunts/Uncles but that was when it was in Miller ST I think.
Funnily enough some of the teachers who taught my Aunt/Uncles were still there when I went.Then they are all 15,14 & 13 years younger than me.
I just hated it it was all so big & boring.
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There were 2 Miss McDonalds when I was at Dalmuir Primary - 1 was quite young (waaayyy back then) she had a right Highlands accent. The other one was a right old dragon. I had the misfortune to get her in primary 7, the year before she retired apparently. She was known as Fishface - Fishy to her friends. She hated children with a passion and was always telling us we were MD - mentally deficient!!!
Mr McGregor was the head when I was there. I still see him locally.
Ahh the good ol' days 8)
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Hello
Clydebank has many websites including the Welcome to Singer site which shows some photos from the Clydebank Factory
www.singer1980.zoomshare.com
regards
dfbowling
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Thanks for the links, dfbowling, they look really intersting (and welcome to Rootschat too - you've made a terrific start, that's for sure!)
Several members of my family worked at Singers over the years, and my uncle Tommy even met his wife there about 50 years ago. Sadly, he's no longer with us, but my aunt still lives in Dalmuir, as do some of my cousins and their children. I don't know the area very well, but it's where I stay when I visit friends and family in the Glasgow area.
A big change for the better was when they built the Erskine Bridge - I also have family across the river in Johnstone and Paisley, and it used to take forever to get between the two before it went up!
Mean_genie
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My cousin sent me these for my family tree. My uncle was a fireman in Singers before moving to Canada. Thats him standing underneath the clock
joe
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here's couple more
joe
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Wonderful pictures especially Singers Clock- it was a handy reference to how late you were for school.I seemed to spend many times running through Dalmuir Park looking at the clock & thinking "It's detention for me today".
Thanks for those folks
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This is all fascinating. My great grandfather Lewis Henry Smith came over from Detroit, USA, WITH Singer Sewing machines, when the factory was opened. He and his wife and five daughters lived in Helensburgh.
I was born in Helensburgh in 1934 - I can remember air raids, although H'burgh was not greatly affected by dropped bombs - only one fell off the pier - but the noise was horrendous, all the time, and we could see Clydebank, Greenock, all the shipyards, burning.
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You can google the singers factory pictures and also, in Clydebank next to the canal it has photo's of singers factory/machinists outside and a few stories :-).
(Irrelevant information - but there is a store in Glasgow called ALL SAINTS, i think and its shop windows are full of old singer sewing machines. My Grandmother worked there, all I know is that in 1959 she was aged 29 and she worked there at the time as it was on her wedding certificate.)