Foreword I have just finished reading a book by the Rev. Jimmie ...

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Our instructors were Kenneth MacGregor a tall imposing official with G. C. Taylor the bag manufacturer in Alexander Street, Peter Marr from the 6th Lochee and a Mr. Gowans. The first half of the evening was chanter practise and then the other half was for pipes After you learn the scales you go on to your first tune, usually Highland Laddie then Ho' Ro My Nut Brown Maiden. By now my father was looking around for a set of bagpipes. At last he bought a set for £10. They were half silver mounted with a Black Watch tartan bag and tartan ribbons. The chanter had a unique feature in that the mouthpiece trap was usually made from the tongue leather of a shoe. Mine had a brass metal device. You had to learn the knack of pushing the slide up to stop the air exiting, otherwise the air came back up the mouthpiece. It was done by a sharp push of the elbows into the bag immediately after the blow in. For beginners it is not easy, but once you master the knack, but this took quite a time, you could keep the bag filled with small puffs from your cheeks and concentrate on playing the chanter part. Learning to tune the three drones also took time and your ear did the rest. Each drone in turn must be adjusted up or down, first the wee one then the middle and finally the big drone. Then all three must be in unison - you should try it sometime. Anyway I got my pipers badge after two years and played with the Battalion Band at Baxter Park Parades and was once in the band along with the guard of honour at Belmont for the visit of the Queen Mother. I kept on playing for years. When I reached the age of leaving the Boys Brigade, I was invited to become a Warrant Officer and one of my main assets for the job was to start a pipe band in the 18th BB. Company. Soon I had eight pipers, two side drummers and a big drummer. One of the lads who put his name down at the start of a session was „wee Syd. Eggo‟ who in the words of most officers, was a pain in the neck. Even the skipper, now Captain Laskie said “Harry you are wasting your time he never sticks at anything” and I still took him into the class. He was a fantastic pupil. He did his practises at home - he loved the instrument and was still playing when he became the age to leave the BB. He kept the bagpipes and I heard he was still playing in the Army. Well done Syd - I'm glad I had faith in you. FIRST AID I suppose I put my name down for this because I liked the badge. It was a metal shield with a red cross on it. That was after two years training then a blue felt backing for three years and a red felt back for the 4th year. In first year, the triangular bandage was in great use, for various slings either full out or folded into narrow or broad-fold. We learnt to use it for scalp wounds, broken shoulder blade or blades when we used two and tied at the back, broken ribs, which is not used today. Then the legs and last a broken femur using splints, the inner one up to the crutch and the outside one up to near the armpits using eight bandages. It was fun but every boy should learn this craft. Over the four years we learnt about the arteries and the veins, about poisons and their treatment. I never felt any of this was a waste of time, because in life I have on many occasions when knowing first aid saved a life. At 16 years old I was working in Cairds‟ Mill when I came across a mechanic, George Benton who had fallen down stairs, knocked himself out and was lying on his back, blood bubbling out of his 6
mouth. The girls round him just stood not knowing what to do. I quickly turned him on his side, put my fingers in his mouth, found he had broken his dentures and got them out (they had cut his mouth badly) He would have died of choking had I not been at these classes. I have rendered first aid at three car crashes and patched the occupant up before the police and ambulances arrived. The next one was a car crash just before the Muirdrum on the bend. A woman crashed and her baby was thrown through the windscreen into the burn on the right side. I drove along seconds later, saw the smash and somehow I was drawn to the burn and saw the babe face down in the water. I got it out just in time I reckon or it would have drowned. Also at the Bridge on a very bad double bend on the east side of Abernethy I came on a car which had taken the first bend too fast and crashed into the parapet of the Bridge. All four were unconscious and one had a piece the size of a tennis ball out of his arm. The rule is never mind broken bones, stop the blood at all costs, bones can be mended later, so stop the bleeding first. I used up all my first aid bandages and plasters. I also got word to the police because huge stones were knocked on to the rail line so I may have prevented a rail crash too. Years later I came on a crash at the Dundee-Kirkcaldy-Cupar-Abernethy crossroad . A runaway from the R.A.F. Leuchars, crashed into a farmer's wife's car. I found the lad and made him comfortable at the roadside but it took a few minutes to find the lady. She had been shot out of the car and exactly fitted a ditch at the other side of the road. I patched them up and saw them off to hospital. Yes, first aid is a must in my opinion, and you never know when it can come in handy. THE KING’S BADGE In my day this was the coveted badge to get in the Boys Brigade. There were very few awarded. To gain one you had to have gained six or more badges relating to class work. For mine I had my pipers, my 4th year first aid, my Fireman, Bible Class and P.T., my Campers and the Arts and Crafts. To get the Fireman‟s you had to attend classes at Dundee Central Fire Station in Bell Street. I may have been drawn to this as my Grandfather Ross was a fireman in the days of horse-drawn fire engines with the boiler and steam coming out like an oversized kettle. All firemen had to be a tradesman and grandfather was a plumber. He attended the biggest fire in Dundee's history. Under Captain Weir they raced to Watson's Bond in the Seagate, a Bonded Whisky warehouse holding thousands of gallons of whisky. It burnt for many days and whisky still alight went down the drain and out to sea still alight. Grandfather was missing for three days at one point - he got a lot of teasing over this. Of course, we did not have to put out fires, but we learnt about every type of fire extinguisher in use at that time, examined their contents and how they worked. The different ones to use when electricity was involved. As a treat we were allowed to slide down the „pole‟ the same way firemen do when they get a callout. This was interesting time as my mother, her two sisters and three brothers being brought up inside the fire station, as families lived in in those days and as kids they all played sliding up and down this very pole. We were given demonstrations on how to extinguish a chip pan fire by smothering it, how to use stirrup pumps (later much in evidence during W.W.II) simple hosepipes and even the use of sand buckets. We learnt to tie knots and the use of ropes, also the fireman‟s lift and how to do it without straining yourself 7
Page 1 and 2: Foreword I have just finished readi
Page 3 and 4: size of a pea with shiny particles
Page 5: I had been a member of Balgay Churc
Page 9 and 10: Cpt. Donald and Bill Laskie as they
Page 11 and 12: The slide show was old glass slides
Page 13 and 14: It was well judged for my call-up c
Page 15 and 16: the way back. This outing being spo
Page 17 and 18: My wife and I were invited to dinne
Page 19 and 20: her until the taxi we ordered came
Page 21 and 22: one nice thing about my new Company
Page 23 and 24: emptied into containers and these s
Page 25 and 26: was. At the first well known hymn h
Page 27 and 28: up and down starts to sway sideways
Page 29: ever think of a Company that tried

Foreword I have just finished reading a book by the Rev. Jimmie ...

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