april-13 - Lochwinnoch Online

for any volunteer to get involved in, anddoes not take up a lot of your time. It issimply putting donation envelopesthrough the doors in your street orsurrounding streets, whatever you feelcomfortable doing, then returning at theend of the week to collect them andreturn to the hospice.One of our current door to doorvolunteers Margaret from Elderslie said;“This is a great way for me to beinvolved and help the hospice, I covermy street and the couple of adjoiningstreets which takes no time at all. It alsogives me a chance to catch up with myneighbours and have a good chat.“It is a couple of hours out of my weekto help with some easy fundraising, andin my own way helping to make a realdifference to the patients and familiescared for, it’s a great feeling to be partof it.”Would you be able to help us inLochwinnoch Monday 29th April toSaturday 4th May? Be part of it! Tell uswhat you’d most like to do, on whichdate and at what time. Thank you foryour invaluable support.Ashley MoranTel: 01505 705635Email: ashley.moran@svh.co.ukCastle Semple MemoriesAlthough he was always good withdates, my Father could never rememberwhen he and his Mother moved toCastle Semple. It was after 1934 whenhis Grandfather died that they’d had toleave the Cottage at Blairland, nearDalry. As a 16 year old raised by a singleParent at a time when it was sociallyunacceptable (and financiallyprecarious) he was the sole breadwinnerand recalled my Gran’s Brother (myGreat Uncle Tommy) suggesting thatthey apply for the tenancy of aSmallholding called 2 Low Semple. Atthe time Uncle Tommy had the tenancyof the Shields (or Shiels, depending onhow you want to spell it) just up the hill.We always wondered why it got thisname but I recently read that in thenineteenth century a ‘Sheil’ was a stonehut used by Gillies on Highland Estatesso it’s possible that Great UncleTommy’s Smallholding was built on thesite of buildings once used by employeeswhen the Sempils owned the estate.The Smallholding at 2 Low Semplecomprised a wooden bungalow with twosmall fields attached to it. It was literallya few yards from the old Dalry/Kilbirnie/Lochwinnoch railway line(now long gone) and the only barrierbetween our garden and the railway wasa four wire fence on steel posts. I waswarned by my Mother that I wasn’t to goclose to the fence but could wave to theGuards on the trains that regularlypassed the house. The house wasreached by a road that ran past LowSemple house (then a ruin), pastanother Smallholding occupied by theWilson family then under the railwaybridge. The bungalow didn’t haveelectric light until after my parentsmarried in 1947. It certainly had aflush toilet but I think the sewagewould go into a septic tank. The accessroad carried on past the bungalow,past the Collegiate Church andtapered off at the entrance to what wecalled ‘The Glen’, but today appears onGoogle’s maps as ‘Courtshaw Wood’.My Father had a key to the Churchand would amaze and delight myMother’s cousins (who’d emigrated tothe USA after WW1) with its antiquitywhen they visited us.By the time I was born, my Father wasworking for the Department ofAgriculture who had a Depot justopposite the entrance to the Shields.It’s now a housing development calledSt Brydes Cottages, but then theGovernment used it as a base for allsorts of agricultural equipment thatwas hired out (with operators) to localfarmers to help in the post-war drivefor self-sufficiency. It was a hive ofactivity with tractors and implementscoming and going. One of my jobs wasto hose down the dungspreaders aftercoming off site!I had been born in ThornhillMaternity in Johnstone but my weesister was born at 2 Low Semple. I’mtold that Father took me for a walkdown the Glen during theproceedings.I started school at LochwinnochPrimary in 1954. I’d walk up to theShields each morning and meet mycousin Sandy and often have a cheeryword with Uncle Tommy (Sandy’sGrandfather) who’d be placing themilk churns on the platform ready forcollection by the lorry. We’d walkdown and meet up with DavidDingwall who lived further down thenwait for the school bus at the mainroad. The bus would pick up otherchildren on route including MaryUnwin, and Tommy Anderson atWarlock Gates.5Pre-Marketing AnnouncementLooking for a new house nearLochwinnoch?Luxury 5 Bedroom Farmhouse.Private with Gardens and Views overLoch.Mid Lochhead is currently beingprepared for sale.At the moment the garden (with thepotential for a paddock) is beingorganised.If you would like to chat to the seller,please call David on 07767 755 263He will be happy to chat about aprivate sale & shaping the garden tomeet a new owner’s needs.For me Lochwinnoch Primary was anidyllic place to start school. I don’t haveany bad memories about the place and itwas a shock to my system when myparents flitted on Christmas Eve 1955 toDalry and I had to transfer to DalryPrimary. It would be years later that I rejoinedsome of my Lochwinnochschoolmates such as Peter Dunlop,Norman McGinigle and TommyAnderson when we all went into 1st yearat Dalry High in 1961, but I never forgotmy happy days at Castle Semple. Anadded bonus was when Sandytransferred to Dalry High a few yearslater.A few years ago through work, I metProvost Sloan of South Ayrshire Councilwho told me she’d also been atLochwinnoch Primary (although manyyears after I was there) and she recalledthe same happy memories I had of theplace.I now live hundreds of miles from CastleSemple but the magic of Google allowsme to wander round the place wheneverI want, in and around the Shields whereanother Grandson of Great UncleTommy is now the Farmer.J F Crawford.Lytham St Annes, Lancashire