West Calder Brass Band - Parkhead Gala Day 1967 (I was a band member but not in the photo)
We used to play down by the burn (stream) during the Summer, of
course the burn was never really deep, that was until some older boys built a
dam out of branches and anything else they could find that would stop the water
getting through. Those that could swim splashed about in the water, I was still
at primary school then and couldn’t swim.
I was standing on the bank probably wearing shorts when a larger boy
pushed me into the water, I remember hitting the brownish coloured water and it
went over my head, I must have flailed about madly under the water. No one would have been able to see as it was
as I said a dirty brown colour, I really thought I was going to drown as I
couldn’t get to the surface. Another
salutary lesson, for some strange reason I think I put my feet on the bottom
and stood up and, miracle of miracles, I could stand with my head above the
water. Of course, I was spluttering and
howling as I struggled up the bank to dry land and as I look back, I don’t know
who was more upset me or the boy who pushed me in as he thought I could
swim. I am sure if I hadn’t put my feet
down on the bottom of the burn I would have continued to struggle and probably
drowned in water which as it turned out I could stand up in.
I was a boy who loved his food which on one occasion
led me to become ill, it began at school lunch.
Because I was in primary seven, I was able to sit at the top of the
table and wield the ladle if it was soup on the menu. One lunch time we were served fried eggs on a
metal dish from which I was to distribute them to my fellow pupils at the
table. No one wanted them and so me
being me and remembering the sayings passed on by most parents, waste not, want
not, (I never had to be really told that because I usually ate everything and
everyone else’s leftovers at home), I ate the lot. That night I started to feel ill, I was sick,
had diarrhoea and ended up of school for a few days and never ate fried eggs again
for years. I remember my Mum had to pop
out briefly, I was lying in bed recuperating, PJs on, reading a book when a
knock came to the door. The door then
opened, “Is anybody in?” was shouted and I got such a fright it was on my lips
to shout Noooooooo! When common sense prevailed and I recognised the voice, it
was an old friend of the family who we knew as Papa MacNab.
I was in fourth year when my stubborn streak came out
again, I was bullied at school and hated it, there was one person who no one
ever really argued with him as he was big and muscular, definitely not to be
messed with. He would occasionally make
his presence felt, one day there was some messing about (not involving me) when
something of his fell out of a window, “Gibson,” he said, “go and get my…!”
whatever it was. I refused, he came and
twisted my arm up my back telling me to go and do as I was told. I refused, saying to myself my arm might
break but I wasn’t going to do anything.
He eventually let me go and I never had any trouble with him again.
Many years later when I was a young working man but
still living at home. My Mum was going
to her work as I came home, she gave me instructions, I’ve made a pot of mince
she said, heat it up before you eat it.
I followed her instructions and consumed every last spot of mince. Then my sister Helen and my Dad got home
looking for their tea which I of course had consumed with great relish thinking
that all the mince was for me.
When I was in Primary school, I joined West Calder
Brass Band. My family roots are Pipers
and Drummers but there was no Pipe Band near by. There was 30 plus all joined the
Brass Band on the same night following an announcement around the schools, I
was in Primary 5 or 6. Within two weeks
the numbers reduced drastically until there was only 2 or 3 of us left. Our conductor Jacky Omand, I can still see
yet, with baton in hand rapping us across the fingers if we were not paying
attention, he must have had the patience of a saint. After we had been in the band a little while,
Jacky showed us his dexterity and reflexes by hitting down where his fingers
were with a hammer, his eyes were closed I think and he always escaped crushing
his fingers. None of us tried it because
like me my fellow trainee bandsman would not have had fingers to play their
instruments. The band hall was in West
Calder next to an old cemetery and ruined church, it had a big stove which we
used to huddle around in the winter before we started practice. The first thing we got to practice on was a
mouthpiece and we got to take that home with us. Well, everyone in my close in Chapelton Drive
new I had the mouthpiece because I let them know by managing noises through it
as I climbed the communal stairs. After
getting my cornet to take home (our dog Gyp used to howl when I practiced
although I chose to believe he was singing along with me in his own way) I got
my Band Uniform. The band had been a
great band in it’s day, supported by the miners as the Calders and surrounding
areas were all mining communities or had been.
When I joined it was down to about 8 adult members and they couldn’t
muster a large enough band to play at Gala Days or competitions. The Uniforms appeared to me to be antiques
but it felt great. We had to try on
uniforms that had been lying in a cupboard for a long time and they were all
adult sizes. My trousers came halfway up
my chest and I could have fitted the big drum in there too and still had
slack. The Band started to pick up more
members and some came from Stoneyburn as their band had stopped, John Kelly
came with them and he really dedicated himself for many selfless years to the
band as its Secretary. We started
practicing marching and when we were ready we played in public, heady days. We
had our first competition at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh and we were all really
nervous but I think we did okay. I received
an opportunity to go for a week to St Andrews when I was 14 to practice and
possibly play for the Youth Brass Band of Scotland, I had never really
travelled anywhere before on my own, never mind travelling by 3 trains to get
to St Andrews. It was West Calder to Edinburgh, then to Leuchars where I
changed for St Andrews then I had to find the College where we were staying and
practicing, I don’t mind telling you my heart was in my mouth. I didn’t know a soul and of course we, the
boys that is, shared a dormitory. I was
auditioned for there was the main Band and the second or backup band. I got my
trusty West Calder cornet out thinking that at that moment constipation might
have been a blessing, I gave it my best and ended up in the second band. I had received strict instructions from my
Mum to phone and let them know I was okay; the problem was we didn’t have a
phone like most people around us. Mr and
Mrs Clifford at the end of the street a few doors away did, so my Mum suggested
phoning them which I did, probably nearly causing them and my Mother heart
failure in the process as I decided in my wisdom to reverse the charges. I think Mrs Clifford had a good laugh though
as she had a good sense of humour. What a great week it was and great fun too
meeting young people from all over Scotland. I went back the following year and
when it came to the audition I already had it in my mind that I would be in the
second Band. Mr Marchant was the organiser
and also one of the auditioners stopped me as I was about to play. He said that it was my instrument that let me
down last year and he arranged for me to audition with another coronet and that
was me in the main band! That was a salutary lesson, for sometimes, not always,
the performance or job or whatever it is cannot be improved upon if it is due
to circumstances out with our control. I played the Carnegie Hall (sounds good)
in Dunfermline at the end of session Concert, Bryden Thomson was our very famous
conductor. Two things happened at that time, I had never
had a date, or a girlfriend and I had met this girl Gwen from Dunfermline who
was a couple of years younger than me, and she liked me. At the end of our week, we exchanged
addresses as she wanted to keep in touch.
As I was getting the train back, I got cold shivers through my body,
here was this really nice girl going to write to me, liked me, wanted to keep
in touch. I could see it all, marriage
family, not in the future, it felt that it was going to be tomorrow. We did exchange a few letters; I must have
disappointed her terribly being so useless at communicating with the opposite
sex. The other thing that happened
started before I went to the Youth Brass Band week, my mum had said it wasn’t
likely that we would be going to Dunoon for our annual holiday as we couldn’t
afford it, needless to say we were all disappointed. I did say with the innocence of youth that
things always sorted themselves out.
When I got back my Mum had won 25 pounds with a premium bond which was a
lot for us in these days. So, it was
like a little miracle and we had our holiday in Dunoon.
When I was about 20 and thought of myself as a man who
knew a few things, I found much to my discomfort that it is very easy to get
words mixed up. The words may sound similar but the difference in meaning can
be vast. My sister Helen and her friend Lynn were in our kitchen, the favourite
talking place because it was always so light and bright. Lynn was chatting and telling us that she had
trouble with bleeding gums, I sympathised as I had been to the Dentist with the
same problem and I told her with absolute misplaced certainty that she had Gonorrhoea, of course I realised
later that what I had meant to say was Pyarea.
