LifeStory

In this episode we revisit  James Yorkston and his memories of growing up in the Portobello area in the 1940s and 50s Sadly James is no longer with us but what comes across is just how much he enjoyed life when he was here. He makes it all sound like great fun hearing the air sirens and watching the lights from his window as the planes tried to bomb the Forth Bridge and the Power Station. He had t...

Margaret McGuire had an interest in antiques from an early age. She started  doing antique fairs at the Assembly rooms George Street with her husband.  Working from one table she sold silver, china and jewellery. Whilst doing this she made several contacts with other people in the trade and ended up opening a shop in Causewayside with a colleague who sold furniture .This was an unsuccessful ventur...

John Thomson (a volunteer in the wee Museum of Memory) takes us back in time to when he was 16 years old He was working and with money in his pocket he liked to go out and have fun. His favourite place was the Murrayfield Ice Rink where he went three nights a week. John was a mod and we find out what he wore, where he bought his clothes and where he got his hair cut. When John was 18 he and his gr...

John Thomson was born in 1947 and grew up in the Royston Mains area of Edinburgh He says his childhood was like many others but he had an illegal Bookie for a Grandfather ,a Granny who took him cinder collecting on the railway tracks and Uncles who took him on deliveries on their horse and carts .Once he left Ainslie Park School at the age of 15 his varied working life began. It was a time when jo...

Tommy Carson was brought up in the Grassmarket in the 1920s and he paints a very colourful picture of life at that time. It was a time of great poverty poor housing and living conditions no work or apprenticeships .He had an unemployed Father who spent his time in the pub and a hardworking Mother who had four or five cleaning jobs to keep the family together leaving Tommy and his sister to fend fo...

The 23rd edition of The Living Memory Association's 'Lifestory' podcast is a journey through life and football with Chelsea legend Pat Nevin.  Pat takes us from growing up in Easterhouse and Barlanark in Glasgow to playing for Clyde whilst still at University, his transfer to the big smoke and quick promotion to the Chelsea first team and his dedication to the craft of being excellent at the beaut...

Born in Orkney on 30th March 1961 Merv spent his childhood on Sanday, a small outer island. We hear tales of his childhood, schooldays and his many jobs as a boy, including fishing for lobster, crab, white fish and spoots!  There's the culture shock of moving to Edinburgh to study as a vet and then running a vet practice in Aberdeenshire for over 30 years, specialising in horses. Great stories fro...

Neta Percy(80) and Bill Garden (86) are regular visitors to The Wee Museum of Memory and this chat with them was recorded in 2019. We hear about the Coop at Northfield, the shops at Meadowbank, including the Italian ice cream shop and shopping in Marchmont. We move on to knitting and a hated Fairisle hat that just wouldn't go away. There's tales of getting a row for wearing wellies to school, dail...

Frederick talks about his father, Walter Jamieson who spent most of his working life at sea- the Merchant Navy, fisheries protection and on whaling ships with Salvesen. We hear tales of his Leith granny, his own childhood and working life. From training as a cooper to working as a lorry driver. Also the heady days of being a young man in the late 1950s and early 60s. Driving a black Ford Zephyr an...

Keith Jeffery grew up in Portobello in the 1960s and 70s. On leaving school he trained as a butcher and worked for MacSweens. In the late 1970s he was bitten by the CB (Citizen Band) radio bug. He saved up for a set and aerial, bought from a CB radio supplier at Fountainbridge. He tells about the technology of the time, the terms used talking with fellow CB enthusiast and joining a CB convoy trave...

The final part of John's memories of playing in pop and rock bands in Edinburgh in the 1960s. This time round its a mammoth five hour gig at The Assembly Rooms in George Street. Playing with The Saracens at The Top Storey club. The joys of hauling all that equipment about. Seeing The Small Faces and The Troggs at McGoo's. There's also Alan Price's unusual back stage warm up routine. Great stories...

Part two of John's behind the scenes adventures in Edinburgh's live music scene in the 1960s. We hear about the joys and pitfalls of being on stage and travelling to gigs. Watching fights break out in the audience. More about the venues, The Gamp, The Top Storey and The Gonk. Seeing the up and coming bands of the day such as The Mersey Beats and Johnny Kidd and the pirates. Another evocative glimp...

John Robertson was born in in 1945 and taught himself to play the guitar as a boy. He caught the bug for Rock and Roll when on a family holiday in Shetland in 1957- they were playing Little Richard in a local fair ground. Back in Edinburgh, at the age 17, he joined the band, The Saracens, he later went on to join The Moonrakers. Here he talks about the Edinburgh music venues, the local bands; The...

Another Excursion to the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh in the 1920s and 30s. Once again our guide is Tommy Carson. Tommy was born in 1922 and lived in the Grassmarket until he joined the army in 1939. He retains an amazing recall of his childhood and early years. Here he gives us a more detailed memories of the shops and businesses and pubs around the Grassmarket. We hear about the buskers, singer...

Andrew Grant is back in the studio. Previously he has done two episodes of Leith in World War One on our Leith Lives channel This time its a more personal story. One of the great long distance walks in Europe is the Camino De Santiago pilgrimage path. Andrew relates his journey along the route with his wife, from St. Jean-Pied-De-Port to Santiago. Done in two parts we learn of the trials and tribu...

Part two of memories from Jean Duncan and we take up the story with Jean, aged 14, leaving school to start work in the book binders. A job so boring she starts reading the books. Then its catering college and learning to cook for four people and the realities of working in a school kitchen and frying 3000 spam fritters in a morning. Plenty of laughs and stories of life in the 1960s and 70s.

Jean recalls growing up in the 1950s and 60s in Glasgow. One of a family of nine life was not always easy. We hear about eking out the weekly meals with bread, going for the daily 'messages' and shopping at the Barras and Paddy's market. Playing on the street, in a graveyard but rarely in the back green.  Her father singing in a big band and her mother being a tailoress. Then there is living in Go...

The 12th edition of Lifestory sees us joined by impressario and entrepreneur Henry   Spurway , a man with a mountain of stories to tell having managed Billy Connolly on his first tour of Scotland as well as working with Chic Murray and Dusty Springfield and being heavily involved in the development of the gambling industry in the UK.   Henry takes us from his early days in Nunraw, East Lothian to...

The 11th Edition of The Living Memory Association Lifestory podcast sees us joined by Derek and Iain, who have been best friends for over 65 years.   Bonded together by a shared love of Elvis, rugby and laughter, the two pals take us through their early years in Abbeyhill and the South Side of Edinburgh, then on to growing up in Portobello during the 50s and 60s.  From going to school at Towerbank...

The 11th edition of 'Lifestory' is centred around the wonderful Jackie Dennis, Scotland's first ever pop star, who rocketed to fame in 1958 at the tender age of 15.  Known as 'The Lilt With the Kilt' and 'The Golden Kid', Jackie signed a huge £50000 deal, hitting the charts with 'La Dee Dah' and 'The Purple People Eater' and rubbing shoulders with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior, Buddy Holly, Du...

In the concluding part of our journey through Mickey's life we discuss the end of his time at Luton Town, a return to his beloved Hibees, training with John Collins and Steve Archibald, struggling with debilitating back injuries and the famous League  Cup win over Dunfermline in 1991. We cover his time at Millwall, emotional relegation battles at Motherwell, coaching the youth teams at Fir Park, e...

In the 9th and 10th editions of Lifestory we are joined by Easter Road hero Mickey Weir, who was part of the triumphant Hibs League Cup winning team of 1991. This first episode takes us through Mickey growing up in Granton, West Pilton and Clermiston and up to his first spell at Hibernian.  We hear tales of of meeting up with his Dad and Grandad in the Do'Cot pub before going to watch the Hibees (...

Tommy Carson was born in 1922 and raised in the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh. Tommy is a real force of nature and is still very active in the community. His memory is detailed and his stories vividly recalled. He talks about childhood, school days, playing on the streets around the Grassmarket and Scots- Irish Day. We hear about the businesses in area, the lodging house for the homeless and the P...

James Yorkston was born in November 1934 and was brought up at 19 Mitchell Buildings. Long gone - the site is now occupied by Aldi supermarket. We hear tales of Portobello's magnificent outdoor pool, the town being mobbed during the Glasgow fortnight and renting out the family flat to a Glasgow family during those two weeks for extra money. Police on the beat, helping out with the beach ponies, ma...

Jean Bell was interviewed in 2011 about some of her experiences of being a dresser and 'call boy' in the Kings and Playhouse Theatres in Edinburgh in the 1950s and 1980s. Its a wonderful glimpse of a world most of us know nothing about. From helping Hercules the Bear up the stairs at the Playhouse, dealing with a well endowed female dancer, giving theatre calls in French to borrowing elegant white...