Summer holidays bring about thoughts of far off day trips, but with war still on 104 years ago, some Blantyre families stayed much closer to home.
The local children attending the Salvation Army’s Sabbath School held their annual excursion on the afternoon of Saturday, 1st July 1916. The children, along with a goodly number of their parents, assembled at the Hall at Forrest Street and were delighted when several lorries, kindly granted by the local contractors, arrived to convey them to a field at Blantyre Ferme.
The Salvation Army Band accompanied the excursion. The weather unfortunately was very unfavourable, and this necessitated the children being entertained in the barn, rather than the planned picnic outside. Altogether it was a short stay, mainly to listen to the band and receive refreshments, arranged and laid out inside. Thereafter, once the weather improved, the children proceeded home on foot.
This wonderful photo is actually a Blantyre family on one such similar summer outing, perhaps even on that very one! From the David Ritchie collection, the photo has been sharpened and enhanced by Scotland Colourised and illustrates this article well.
From Blantyre Explained (c) 2020 by Paul Veverka