Steve Smith and I have been conversing these last few evenings. Steve told me, “I visited Blantyre many times to see my Aunt Mary , Uncle Willie and regularly went to Niaroo to visit my Uncle Hughie along with my Dad James Smith. Joe Smith, (the father of John, Hugh, Joe, William, James, Terence, Daniel, […]
One of the oldest Blantyre books I have is this one. “The Annals of Blantyre 1885” is a detailed account of Blantyre life in the 1880’s and refers back even then to recorded history of Blantyre. The book was written by the Rev Stewart Wright, a minister in the Parish at the time at […]
Excited! My prototype, book draft has arrived. Delivered today, “one of only 2 copies in all this world” of my latest book. It’s always fantastic to hold , feel and flick though a new book, and knowing this has been the product of many, many hundreds of hours of work, is great to finally see it. Now […]
I’m super excited to officially today launch my new book, “The History of Crossbasket Castle” which also features a brilliant additional section called “Tales of Crossbasket”. Written in Winter 2014, I had to stop editing the book in February due to problems with my eyesight. However, final proof reading has taken place by others and the book […]
You may have noticed, I’ve never previously published many posts about Crossbasket Castle history. This was deliberate, not through lack of information, but because I was saving ALL the history I had accumulated on this amazing building and its estate, putting it in one place. I’m super excited to tell you about my new book, […]
On 10th November 2014, I was contacted by Betty McLean of Oakville, USA who asked ,“I wonder if you know that there is a book called Collier’s Row written by a Blantyre lady called Jan Webster? I have the book Colliers Row but somewhere in a box I will try to look for it and […]
Thank you sincerely for the interest shown towards The Blantyre Project from MSP Tom Greatrex. I had the pleasure of meeting Tom recently where we discussed Blantyre Project at length and it’s impact on the community. We discussed how the Blantyre Project could quickly reach a wider audience throughout the town. A productive and worthwhile […]