John Crawford sent me an interesting email about the former ‘Buggy Buildings’ on Auchinraith Road. He told me, “if you look at old photos of buggy you will see on front of no 61 on the right you will find the front bottom is blocked off when it was built. There were 12 in each close. The builders decided to make one of them a shop so it had to have a number hence there is no residential 63. I never recall the shop being open but it was a social club at one time. The woman would gather for tea and then would play cards. Whist and solo were favourite games. It was known as the old club. I was born in 1941 and left the buggy in 1954, moving to a new house, regards. John”
I was able to reply with:
The Semple family built and owned all these buildings, William Semple certainly was the owner for a great deal of the 20th Century, but the adjacent buildings were owned by Gavin Semple. William lived in Cambuslang and would have rented out all the houses and the shop at 63. The shop became empty in WW2 and as you said, I dont think it ever reopened instead becoming a meeting place for organisations.
When you were born, the tenants in number 61 were James Lasavage, Daniel McInally, George McDougall, Mrs Lennox, Duncan Kippen, Joseph Hanlon, John Goodwin, Thomas Crawford (who I’m presuming was your father), Catherine Jackson (a widow), James Wood and Helen Smith another widow. In 1940 your father was paying £13 a year in rent to William Semple. Hope this is all interesting…..
I’ve attached a photo of the buildings around the time your family moved.”