On 5th June 1907, thirteen year old Patrick McArdle of 4 Millhouses, Blantyre Works was playing at the riverside in front of his home. The general scene would be where the modern picture is on the banks of the River Clyde at the Village.
When his ball fell into the water, the plucky youngster waded into the Clyde to fetch it, but was suddenly swept off his feet by the fast flowing current at the bend in the river. He was carried underwater and downstream and sadly drowned.
It would take a full two weeks of dredging for rescue teams to eventually recover his body and I can only imagine his father Peter McArdle a gardener and the rest of his family, knowing that the worst had probably happened. Eventually the body was found, very much downstream at Glasgow Harbour at Custom House Quay. The story, yet another reminder of the dangers of this part of the water at Blantyre.