Thomas Alasdair Blair 1949-2023
Alasdair Blair was born in Craigard Maternity Hospital, Campbeltown, on November 5, 1949, the second of two children to Margaret and Sandy, having an older sister Nancie.
The family lived in Meadows Avenue until he was a teenager and they then moved to Glen Scotia House where his dad worked at the distillery.
Alasdair left Campbeltown Grammar School just before his 16th birthday to start an apprenticeship in the County Garage as a motor mechanic.
Cars and engines were his great passion; Alasdair could repair any part of any engine with whatever bits and pieces were lying around at the time.
He was also a member of the Air Training Corps when he was a teenager and went with them to Germany where he flew in a two-seater plane. When he was 60, much to his delight, he was given a gift of some flying lessons which he thoroughly enjoyed.
He met Janet in 1970 when four girls came to stay with his mum for a weekend. They met at “the Vic” – the Victoria Hall – at a dance and the rest, as they say, is history, as they married in October 1970 in the United Free Church.
Kenneth was born in 1971 and the family moved to a County Garage flat in Limecraigs.
Alasdair heard there was a job on the “Glenbarr road job” and went to see the boss. He was asked if he could drive a JCB and he replied: “If it’s got four wheels and an engine, I can drive it,” but he did ask someone for a shot of one before he started working there.
Another move, this time to Crosshill Avenue, and second son David was born in 1974. By this time, Alasdair was working at Campbeltown Shipyard as a plater/welder.
He then worked for John Carmichael marine engineers, working on the engines of a ship whilst en route to America, and on oil rigs in the North Sea.
This was followed by a job with another company working on oil rigs until 1978, when Alasdair bought McMurchy’s motor hire company and came back home to Campbeltown to work.
He hired out a limousine and hearse to a local undertaker until they gave that part of their business up and Alasdair decided to expand the business and become a funeral director.
Alasdair always strived to offer the best service he could, adding a very personal touch, and helping so many families when they were at their lowest.
The family moved to Ardlussa in Dell Road in 1983, to a house bought from Glen Scotia Distillery.
Alasdair built the business and passed on a good work ethic to his family – and was encouraged by Kenneth and grandchildren Rhys, David and Kelly continuing the family business.
Alasdair was a very social person and liked nothing more than to relax with a pint and good yarn. He was always full of funny stories and had an unfortunately good memory – often dragging up facts from long ago that you would prefer to forget!
He was a great man for a “bargain” whether he needed it or not. Alasdair would never let a travelling salesman leave Campbeltown without having bought something, whether it was rolls of carpet, tins of paint, industrial quantities of toilet rolls or bleach or even mops and brushes, especially if it was cheap.
He was very down to earth but with all the human failings which he was first to admit he possessed.
Sometimes he had a kind of innocence – James McLean was closing his butcher’s shop a number of years ago and mentioned he had a sausage machine which he couldn’t sell because it used three phase power.
Alasdair declared that his garage had three phase and he could make sausages there for folk; he couldn’t quite grasp why people wouldn’t take sausages from an undertaker!
When the family went to Florida on holiday, Alasdair spoke to someone in a bar and ended up buying a Ford Thunderbird and having it shipped to Southampton where he picked it up and drove it back to Campbeltown.
He owned various cars over the years, including a Triumph Stag, a Volkswagen Beetle, Sunbeam Alpines, one red and one white, a Dodge and a green Volkswagen campervan.
On holiday, he was a thrill seeker, enjoying jet skiing, paragliding, jumping off a mountain strapped to a pilot, microlights, speed boats, white water rafting, roller coasters, bungee jumping; he had no fear whatsoever.
He served as a councillor from 1999-2003 but didn’t stand for a second term as he felt he couldn’t devote enough time to it.
Alasdair was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 50 and, in recent years, was required to inject insulin twice a day.
He had a blood clot pressing on his brain in 2017. The blood clot was removed but his health was failing and he was looked after faithfully by Janet.
He diagnosed with dementia in 2020, and was admitted to Baillieston Care Home in November 2022 where he settled quite quickly. His last few days were in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary where he passed away on February 20.