In May 1977, Strathclyde Regional Council came up against a public outcry that roads in Blantyre were only being done up because a royal visit of the Queen Mother was due. After years of neglect, council workers were spotted nearly every day in April and May out in various Blantyre streets, prompting residents to complain […]
No wonder Bill Cunningham, warden of the Livingstone memorial looks confused in this great picture from February 1980! The book that arrived in the centre explaining the life story of David Livingstone was written entirely in Japanese. Bill explained, “we had a request from an author in Tokyo who wanted to bring Livingstone’s story to […]
The 24th May 1977, was a Royal Visit day for Blantyre when the Africa Pavilions opened at the David Livingstone Centre. As these pictures show, the Queen Mother opened the building, her first visit back to Blantyre since she opened the David Livingstone Museum in 1929. Here, she meets head gardener Mr Alistair McKeller […]
All through Winter 1977 and into early 1978, searches through Blantyre’s dusty attics, garden sheds and farm buildings helped make a dream come true. The dream was to collect relics from Blantyre’s past and put them on show in a new social history museum at David Livingstone Centre. So, an appeal went out in Autumn […]