Elephant in Paisley Museum

[janwbay]

Hi there

Does anyone remember an elephant which stood near the entrance in Paisley Museum in the High Street?

I used to go there in my lunch hour from school and am sure that I can remember it.  My sister says I am havering and am thinking of the Art Galleries.

Can anyone help?  A photo would be great.

Thanks
Janice

[scotmum]

Sir Roger, the stuffed elephant at Kelvingrove, perhaps?


see here for picture:

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0xxc/     


and  at 'havering'....haven't heard that great Scottish term in a while

[hanes teulu]

http://www.redstone-tech.com/gerry_bsb/paisley/jun23.htm

Somebody else "havering"??

[scotmum]

Perhaps an email to the Museum, with appropriate question, might get answer - maybe 'Sir Roger' was packed over to Paisley on holidays for a few years at some stage  :

http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/member/paisley-museum-and-art-galleries

or perhaps he had a rival.

According to their website, they did indeed have the lion that Rafferty recalled:

These include the much loved and famous  ‘Buddy’ the lion

[janwbay]

Thanks for your replies Scotmum, and Hanes tuelu

It definitely was not the elephant that is still at Kelvingrove.  That one is huge.  The one in Paisley was much smaller.

I've just looked at the article you gave me a link to, and Gerry Rafferty mentions a lion, and also a stuffed elephant in the museum, so maybe I'm not havering after all.

I will try the museum, but maybe the word of Gerry Rafferty should be enough. See next paragraph.

"We used to go to the ABC Minors every Saturday morning at the Regal cinema - the films they put on for us were great then. "I also remember coming here to the Museum and touching the big stuffed elephant and the lion." The elephant's long gone but the lion still stands proud inside the Greek-styled building on the High Street.


Thanks again
Janice

[fraser1]

Hi Janice,

You are right.  There did indeed used to be an elephant. He was removed some years ago as he was just too old to keep. I too often went to the museum as I went to school in Paisley - the JNI which was close by and he was very popular and we were allowed to touch him.  My husband came from Paisley and he too remembers the elephant.

I was there recently with my grandchildren and the lion is still there but I can't remember what he was called.  It has been there for years and does look slightly aged.

Sandra

[loobylooayr]

At least in Paisley you had a full lion.
Unless I'm havering I think the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock had half a lion in a glass display - the top half! Poor soul!
Maybe I should start another thread to see if my memory is correct! 
Looby

[janwbay]

Thanks Looby and Sandra. 

That's great that you remember it Sandra.  I can remember touching it and it had hairs sticking out here and there, like bristles.

Maybe my sister will believe me now.

I wonder why the Dick institute only had half of one.  You couldn't really display the other half somewhere else.  Probably it went wrong when they were preserving it.  Ugh !

best wishes
Janice

[scotmum]

Glasgow Museums Resource centre talks of two mounted elephants in the overall Glasgow area collections, Sir Roger and Kelvin:

http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/collections-research/online-collections-navigator/Pages/home.aspx

And here is another article, from 2010, also recalling an elephant at Paisley Museum:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/life-style/real-lives/a-scottish-christmas-1.1075573

the dead stare of the ancient stuffed elephant greeting us at the entrance to Paisley Museum

and gosh, that article also brought back memories of the Elephant smell that would catch you between the nostrils as you arrived at Kelvin Hall for the Christmas circus - you wouldn't have wanted to bottle that scent as a perfume  !

ps Fraser1, see earlier post...apparently the lion is named 'Buddy'