YOUR MEMORIES! ‘ GOING TO SCHOOL IN GOVANHILL WAS SPECIAL’

Happy classroom tales from South Side of Glasgow

THE young pupils in Mr Paris’s woodwork class at Calder Street Secondary in the 50s and 60s probably wrote him off as a bit of a grump. Don McDonald certainly did. Times Past regular Don recalls: “Mr Paris was a grumpy old man – he taught us woodwork in the old prefab classrooms stuck on to Victoria Primary, where us Calder Street pupils would go for senior secondary shop classes.

“His car was an old high back Ford. It had been a car, but he needed a wagon, so he cut the back off and built on, by hand, a complete station wagon body – it was amazing.

“He was a grumpy old man, but what a craftsman.”

Don recalls Mr Paris running a music shop on Dumbarton Road, where he took in mainly string instruments for repair.

“He had a complete disdain for modern musicians and made this clear when he brought guitars in to our woodshop to make new parts for the violins,” smiles Don.

“One day, he came into class and threw something down on his bench, saying, ‘ well, why don’t you read this, but I never asked them to write it.’”

It was copy of the Glasgow Times’ sister newspaper, then called The Glasgow Herald, and the teacher had laid it open at an article all about himself. “Here was a story about Mr. Paris, the only man in Britain who could make a violin worth buying,” laughs Don. “I realised that day that here was a man who was obviously grumpy because he was not doing what he loved.

“He was a craftsman, teaching woodwork to a bunch of unappreciative kids. That could not have been very fulfilling. You never know who you are dealing with in Glasgow….” a

Many readers get in touch with schoolday memories. For Don, growing up in Govanhill on the south side of the city, it was a happy time.

“Growing up and going to school in Govanhill was special,” he agrees.

“I remember going to buy my first school bag, which was actually a haversack – a retired World War Two gas mask bag – from the Army and Navy store on Cathcart Road.

“This was where we also got our ‘ stylish trainers’, or sannies, as

Going to school in the 50s and 60s was special, says Don McDonald... do you agree?

we called them. I’m sure the kids nowadays would rather go barefoot than be seen wearing them, but they were cheap.

“It was so much fun walking home, throwing the bag in the air and letting it land on the ground, only to find the next day that your pencil was smashed and the lead would keep falling out….”

Don recalls his Victoria Primary school teacher Mr Bains, whose passion was making model boats.

“He collected old pine doors from derelict buildings, stripped the rails and stiles from them, glued the pieces together and made his boats, using saws, chisels and planes and all done at the six- foot woodworking bench he had at the front of the class, right beside his school desk,” marvels Don.

One not- so- happy memory of his concerns the “dreaded Eleven Plus” exam all primary pupils had to sit to establish whether they went to senior or junior secondary.

“I passed the exam, but failed the writing script part,” says Don. “I excelled on the English essay part – they asked for one foolscap page, I gave them two – but because my penmanship was not that great I had to go to Calder Street and not the senior secondary, Queen’s Park. It was so unfair.”

Times Past is looking for your schoolday memories. What was your favourite subject? Who was the best teacher? Send your stories and photos to ann. fotheringham@ glasgowtimes. co. uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, Glasgow East Investment Park, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.