Betty Weaver at Victoria Street

1948 Betty Weaver at Victoria Street

A photo from 1948, and little Betty Weaver (who has kindly shared this photo) stands in her back garden in Victoria Street. Betty told me, “This is just me, Betty Weaver as a baby on the path at the side of 104 Victoria St. In those days the garden was much bigger – I see that a huge corner has been cut off to create a green space before the new houses. Our house was right next to the (railway) bridge, and behind our garden was “The Plots” – a large area which was just one big field in my day, but which presumably had been allotments at one time? The railway bridge is in the background of this pic – at that time, coal wagons still went along every day. I was amazed to see that the original low fencing is still in place at some gardens in Victoria St…that was council fencing put up when the houses were built.“

Speaking of the Railway Bridge at the back of the picture, this was the railway bridge spanning over Victoria Street, running in line with where Burnbrae road is today. Betty said, “the bridge was next to our house – and just through the bridge was Welsh Drive etc. When my mother lived in our house as a wee girl, her big brothers used to get the train to school (St John’s Grammar in Hamilton) and it was a great game to throw their school bags through the window as they got near that bridge, to see if they could get them to land in their own garden! They would have had to get the train all the way to High Blantyre so it saved them carrying their bags back.“