On the afternoon of Saturday 22nd June 1895, the annual summer outing of the Livingstone Memorial Church took place. The children of the Sabbath school and their parents were heading to Coltness in Wishaw.
The day was all that could be desired, including the weather and the turnout was very large. With almost 400 people leaving from the Church on Glasgow Road, the local brass band was engaged and the splendid music livened the proceedings.
Leaving the church at 1.30pm, the whole large processions walked down Glasgow Road, turning left at Station Road and onward to the station, where a special train put on for them conveyed the passengers to Wishaw, by way of Newton.
On arrival at the field, no delay was wasted in supplying everybody with bags of food and milk. The purveyor was Mr John Todd. An enjoyable afternoon was had by young and old with the usual children’s races run for prizes. Races for the Sabbath School teachers were a lot of fun, as was a race just for the band members.
The field was well fitted for all the requirements of an outing of this kind and other nearby conveniences were well used too. Before leaving, the company headed towards the nearby Mansion house and gave Mr Houldsworth a hearty cheer in granting the use of his field. Leaving Wishaw at 8pm, Blantyre was reached by 9pm and everybody was back at the church for 9.30pm with memories of a pleasant day.
Coltness House is pictured and you can see why an outing to this location would have been popular. I can imagine all the Blantyre children standing on the front lawn of the house cheering the owner!
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