Water alert as taps turned off

Fears were expressed 100 years ago about Stirling’s water supply level. Never in at least a generation had the amount in the Touch reservoirs, which supplied the town, been so low, said the Observer . As a precautionary measure, Stirling Water Commissioners had decided supplies would be shut off from 9pm to 5.30am each night. The town had 48 days’ storage left although the figure rose to 63 if auxiliary supply from the Grangemouth main was factored in. Householders were also asked not to water their gardens or allotments , and heavy water users such as the railway companies, Ordnance Stores and Castle were asked to be“as sparing as possible”in their usage.

*** Noting that the call of the Army was “inexorable”, the Observer told how a pupil finishing his education at the High School of Stirling next day reported to Stirling Castle for military service. He was unable to get away to attend the school’s prize-giving on the day he joined up.

*** Rev Edward Roland Jones, parish minister, St NInians, who was serving as a private in the Machine Gun Corp, had been recovering in a Leicester hospital after being wounded by shrapnel. He had since left hospital and after a few weeks of convalescence was on his way back to the Western Front.“In a letter home he was quite cheery and ready to give the Germans another taste of his quality,”added the paper. *** It was, said the Observer, no surprise that the streets of Stirling were quiet as so many men had been called up. That was probably the reason why a hare, which paid a visit to the town,“escaped with his life”. The animal came down Melville Terrace with his tail up, bolted into Dumbarton Road , where it was soon lost to view, without man or dog trying to halt its progress.“It would not have got away so easily before the war but the few people who saw the hare careering past were so astonished by the sight that they simply stood and stared,”added the Observer.

*** Hay cutting was underway but the crop was thought not to be as good as the previous year. Harvesting the hay began a fortnight earlier . Up until June, there had been hopes of a good crop but the“dirty weather”since lowered expectations of the likely yield.