A rather improbable story next from 1897 which appeared in the Blantyre papers of the era. Please consider this next anecdote as tongue in cheek. The manager of a local theatre had a parrot, which he kept in a cage at the front of the theatre door. Often when people entered the narrow doorway, the […]
An amusing Blantyre story was retold in the local newspapers in October 1897. It took place on Wednesday 29th September 1897 (nearly 126 years ago). That afternoon, passengers at Blantyre Station awaiting the arrival of the Glasgow train were “tickled pink” on seeing a hare running along the track in front of the approaching train. […]
Continuing a little look at earliest motor cars in Blantyre. On Monday 25th October 1897, an immense amount of interest was generated in Hamilton in connection with the inauguration of a regular service of motor cars to travel from Hamilton to nearby villages, including Blantyre. At 8am, a large crowd assembled to witness the departure […]
With thanks to Rob Gordon for a great colour copy of the Blantyre Coat of Arms. Heraldry like this can explain a lot about intent or reputation. Blantyre’s Coat of Arms is rather complicated with a LOT going on and being far from simple. Prominently, overarching everything going on is the Latin motto ‘Sola Juvat […]
A wee bit off topic tonight, but when I saw this board of Walls Ice Cream options from the late 1970’s, I was immediately “transported back” to the Pitch n Putt green and white shop at Greenhall, High Blantyre. The shop had a great selection of Walls Ice cream, including many of these flavours, if […]
‘The Blantyre Explosion’ is the title of a song from 1951, by an unnamed singer. I was reminded of the words lately by my fellow history Colleague Ed Boyle, who runs the Cambuslang history website. Whilst the melody is haunting and the words sombre, I don’t want to point out too many inaccuracies in somebody […]
Just when I thought I’d found the earliest mention of motor cars in Blantyre, along comes an even earlier story. Evidence next of motor cars as far back in this area as 1898. With no photographs available, this article is suitably illustrated by AI exclusively for this story. This article also reflects how far motoring […]