This excellent poem was sent in anonymously to the newspaper by the rather amusing person “AuchenWarlock”, in January 1901. Titled, the Blantyre Ghost. A local poem, you may not have heard before, now 120 years old! I won’t pretend to understand all the “auld language”, but I definitely get the ‘jist’. I’ll add too, this […]
Thanks to Linda Marieskind in NZ who sent in this great poem this Easter Monday. Linda may be far away, but her heart and mind is most definitely here in Blantyre. Happy Easter everybody. Tae hae an easter egg we a’ waantit and waititwan frae grannie up the street? wan frae grannie doon the village? […]
Blantyre Project reader, Linda Marieskind has kindly shared this wonderful poem. She told me, “I decided to think about and write something in a similar vein to record my first day at Nessie’s skuil! I hope you like it, it’s just as it happened and I still see it in my mind’s eye as if […]
James Brown was the Headmaster of Auchinraith School, who sadly lost his life fighting in WW1. Captain of the 6th Scottish Rifles, much was written of his, especially after it became known he rallied on the rest of his Blantyre soldiers, onwards, just before being hit. In 1915, William Park, one of the Blantyre soldiers […]
Here’s a great poem by Helen Connor. Titled, “I remember the Blantir“, its likely modern and was shared here recently. A remember the Blantir, where a yist tae bide, Cloases wi stairs up, where weans used tae hide,Coal cellars oot the back, aw in a row, The midden at the end, where yer telt, no […]
David McIntosh recently handed in this poem to me. David was born in Rosendale at number 3 in 1942, so he could resonate with the contents of this poem. The poem is about Rosendale written in 2004 by former Blantyre resident, Brian Cummiskey. It was Brian’s first poem and this version below has auld Scots […]
When P McGurk and J Fraser, two Blantyre lads knew it was time to leave Lanarkshire and head off to Serbia in WW1, together they penned a beautiful poem for their families. It was later shared to the newspapers in 1916. This is the first time I’ve seen this, now transcribed as follows: “Farewell to […]