Family Pilgrimage

By Carol Brooks

We visited several of the places that played a role in my family’s life. Without Mum to give us the details, we relied on my memory of having visited when I was 15 and what Rosemary had told me. Our plans to visit the Isle of Mull and at least take photos of the isle of Ulva, where Gran Mckee’s family was from, were superseded by bad weather. We did do some Internet searches and learned that the McQuarries owned the island until the 1700s and that Lachlan McQuarrie was the Governor of New South Wales and quite a local celebrity.

Since we were already in Glasgow at the Kelvin Grove hotel, our first stop was 39 Glen Crescent which is where Mum and I lived just before we came to the U.S. We had been told that the area had deteriorated but found the Crescent in good shape with well attended gardens and homes. I told the girls how the original house had been destroyed in the war and you could tell by comparing it to the others that it was a newer construction. The little bridge across the railroad tracks was as I remembered as was a small manufacturing plant that made bottle tops when we lived there. Funny how things look so much smaller than when you were a child. I remember walking down to Dumbarton Road with Mum with the rationing stamps to the green grocers and buying the bruised fruit because we got so much more for the money!

We were successful in finding the “monkey house” or Formakin Estate and, although it is now private residences, we did walk around the grounds and I told the girls about coming out here on picnics with their Gran when I was a little girl and about the time we got a ride with a man on a motor bike and I got to ride in the side carriage. Most of the monkeys are gone but you can still see a few frolicking on the rooftops! One of the ladies who lives in the mill house told us that Barachon Row was still there and we were delighted to drive around the corner and see where Mum and my Aunt Madge were born. The cottages are still all occupied and have been well cared for – Mum would have been delighted!!

Next we drove on to Bridge Of Weir where Gran and Granpa McKee were married and, later my Aunt Rosemary was born. It is still a lovely village and we had lunch in a wee pub on the High Street. According to Dennis and Katie, this has become a very upscale place to live for those commuting into Glasgow. Again, it was largely unspoiled and lovely. One more stop on the way was Lochwinnoch where the family lived after the house on Glen Crescent was bombed and where my Mum and Dad were married.I took a picture of what I hope was the chapel but will not be sure until I look again at the slides we took back in 1959.

As the sun fell, we made our way to visit David Ritson and his wife Jan in Uplawmoor; David was the exporter of Scottish food that I had met when I was working with Marc and Colleen Leffman. We spent an hour or so with them and had tea and biscuits and then jumped on the M8 towards our next cottage in the Borders – Bairnkine – with a stop in Lauder at another very comfortable pub for dinner.

It was a lovely day full of memories…and some tears…