Three Cambuslang youths would seriously regret some moments of madness when they broke into Blantyre Miner’s Welfare in Calder Street in December 1968.

They first broke into the centre on 2nd December 1968 and stole 3 bottles of whisky, one bottle of vodka, 400 cigarettes and £8. A successful haul, they decided to come back a fortnight later and entered again through a small window in the back of the premises, this time stealing 4 and a quarter bottles of whisky, 1 bottle of vodka and £11.

However, security had been improved upon and on 16th December 1968 as the men were leaving with their haul, the 3 men were immediately caught and detained by police.

At a Hamilton Sheriff Court on the first Monday in January 1969, the 3 men after admitting the two thefts, were each sentenced to 3 months in a detention centre, having already spent their first 3 weeks incarcerated through the Christmas and New Year holiday. Their representative told reporters, “they have already spent 3 weeks locked up and each has found the whole experience thoroughly unpleasant“.

I have deliberately not mentioned the names of the boys, who were each 19 years old, as this is a fairly “modern” story.