Roundabouts, Police-Pillars and Government Cutbacks

During the summer holidays in the mid 1960s there was no roundabout at Colinton Mains Park but there was one at Mornigside Drive so Fiona Blades (6/6 Oxgangs Avenue) and I used to walk from from the west end of the Avenue to the play-park at Morningside Drive.

Fiona Blades

It was a long walk, particularly on hot summer days, because we had to walk the length of Oxgangs Avenue and then work our way through the sweeping avenues and bungalows of Greenbank not to mention all the way back home.

We must have been keen and devoid of alternatives after all there must have been only so many times we could take a spin on the roundabout!

More recently I asked Fiona if she recalled us making rogue phone calls to the emergency services from the Pillar-Police speaker-phone which was located along Greenbank Road.

Fiona couldn't even recall the pillar, never mind the calls.

Anyway, we would open the small door which formed the torso of the police pillar, pick up the speaker-phone and once we heard the operator on the other end we usually panicked and hung up; possibly on a few occasions we had the chutzpah to go further and report a kitchen fire or some such emergency. After doing this we took to our heels and ran like the clappers and absolutely flew along the road for fear of the 'bobbies' appearing; we didn't feel safe until we reached Oxgangs.

One reason I recall the police pillar was that I always looked forward to seeing it as I found the design aesthetically pleasing. Of course I wasn't thinking in such conceptual terms at that age; all I knew was that I liked the shape including the blue colour (I've discovered some were red too) and another aspect of the appeal was that it represented something from a bygone era.

The design is clearly based on the human body. If I could get hold of one now I'd have it as a garden sculpture.

I seem to recall there was one at the cross-roads halfway down Durham Road, Portobello across from my grandmother's house but outwith that I don't recall seeing others. However, after doing a wee bit research, Edinburgh was a significant area for them with over 500 miles of lines laid throughout the city.

They were designed by the Ericsson company and were introduced around 1931. I may be wrong but I think this was the design of the one at Greenbank. A mark 2 version appeared around 1938 and then further designs in the 1950s which are less appealing.

The idea behind them must have been to give households access to a phone to contact the emergency services - fire, ambulance or police. Those were the days when very few homes had their own telephone; also pre-police radios it was a way of peripatetic police officers out on patrol being able to contact police stations.

It was also promoted as a way of saving money and allowing the city to close twenty five police stations - yes even back in the day the public sector was looking at cutbacks!

Saturday 15th July 1972 Stobo Peebleshire

I got £7.30 for my pay which gave me plenty of money to buy in provisions for our camping trip.

St Cuthbert's Co-op Photograph SPL

Paul Forbes and I went down to the Store (Oxgangs St Cuthbert's Co-op) and bought in lots of food plus he persuaded me to buy two large flagons of cider!

We set off for Stobo at 7pm. There was five of us - Alison and Fiona Blades (6/6 Oxgangs Avenue); Paul Forbes; Iain Hoffmann and me.We got a lift down there from Douglas Blades in his red Austin pick-up. 

Douglas's van can only seat two passengers in the cabin so Alison and Fiona sat inside with Paul, Iain and me in the back with all the camping gear and luggage. We were completely open and exposed to the elements but the weather was great. It was a good feeling sitting in the back of the pick-up with the rushing breeze blowing our hair back.

We felt cool, metaphorically and then literally, wynding through the open roads of the Borders. After we travelled through Penicuik we passed Leadburn Junction and made our way to Eddlestone where we turned right for the drive over the gentle Meldon Hills and then on through old Lyne Station, Stobo Castle, Stobo Kirk and the tiny hamlet of Stobo.

To keep sheltered from the wind we had to snuggle up together and kept as low down in the vehicle as possible. Fortunately we didn't come across any policemen en-route, as they might well have stopped us if they'd seen us sitting in the back of an open vehicle.

Stobo Kirk James McIntosh Patrick

Stobo is a bonny spot in Peebleshire set amongst the beautiful Borders landscape. The farmer gave us the go ahead to camp in his field. After setting up the tent with a hand from Douglas we thereafter managed a swim in the River Tweed followed by a good supper washed down with cider which was a deadly combination! We were tipsy.

Paul had drunk too much and was sick. During the night he swore he’d seen a shooting star.

Portobello Open-Air Pool

      

          Poster based on a painting by Tom Curr.

We might only manage it on a couple of occasions over the school summer holidays, but one highlight was spending the day out at Portobello Pool. On one occasion I can recall being there with a very glamorous group of Oxgangs girls, mainly from the Patricia Browne dance group including the lovely Audrey Smith (6/8 Oxgangs Street) and the McKenna sisters (Oxgangs Farm Drive). 

Mrs McKenna and two of her daughters Winnie and Caroline

When I was quite young even going off a low board or to contemplate a swim out to the raft was probably beyond me. Before I could swim properly I somehow thought if only I had a pair of swim-goggles then I'd be fine and that when the raft was quiet and free from the older boisterous lads I might be able to make my way out there one day such was my lofty ambition.

The pool seemed to have seen endless summers and we never considered that one day it would be torn down. After all even my father who was 30 years older than me had dived off the top when he was but a lad in the 1930s.

Ken Hoffmann

It was a great place too for meeting girls, early romances or cementing existing ones. Because we had travelled so far and we only had a small amount of money you wanted to stay there for a good chunk of the day; but even on the sunniest of days your ardour might be slightly cooled as often at some point during the day you felt cold and huddled under your towel hopefully cuddling up to the opposite sex whilst sharing some chips which always seemed to be heavily salted with vinegar. And then when the wave-machine came back on we were all immediately drawn back into the water once again.

I recall Liz and Fiona Blades (6/6 Oxgangs Avenue) and me crossing the whole of Edinburgh by busses the seven miles from the hills to the sea, Oxgangs to Portobello to the beautiful Art Deco Portobello Open Air Pool nowsadly demolished - just imagine having such a cultural asset as a lido today

Photo by Danny Callaghan.

After enjoying playing in the pool, balancing on the raft and the high dives and then spending our bus fares at the fun-fair we made our weary way a mile distant to 45 Durham Road to be refreshed, watered and fed turning up unannounced at my grandparents' doorstep starving.

Nana and Gaga as they were affectionately known by we three grandchildren were never daunted when I arrived with a group of pals. A grand tea and spread was always rattled up from nothing,usually a small plate (on the famous local Buchan Pottery) of bacon, egg and fried potatoes followed by scones and home made strawberry jam and a plate of buns.

The table at 45 Durham Road, an atypical spread; photograph Heather Robertson

Whilst Liz and Fiona behaved immaculately in my grandparents' presence there was a streak of mischief to them too. I recall while visiting the loo and mid-flow casually glancing up to the upper window to see them balancing precariously on the windowsill, laughing and giggling away, whilst looking in at me having a pee - God, I almost wet myself!

To top off the day we were then chauffeur driven home in my grandfather's big grey Ford Zephyr; once back home we'd sleep well before the Big Ben repeater alarm bells at 6/2 and 6/6 Oxgangs Avenue rang out early the following morning, the bells calling us to papers rather than to church; aye we had to pay for such innocent pleasures.