Whiteinch: My Glasgow Tenement Childhood Before the Clearances

Step back to the 1950s and 60s, to the last days of Glasgow’s Victorian tenements before the wrecking ball arrived. This is the true story of life at 51 Curle Street, Whiteinch, a two-room flat with no hot water, no inside toilet, and only two electrical sockets, yet filled with warmth, community, and childhood adventure. From the gas-mantle glow of the close to the weekly ritual at the steamie, from paddle boats in Victoria Park to exploring abandoned flats and the construction site of the Clyde Tunnel, this is a vivid portrait of a working-class childhood on the Clyde’s north bank. We’ll take you to Croy Hill and its miners’ cottages, compare the hovels many families left behind to the “luxury” of late-19th-century tenements, and follow the march of progress, slum clearances, high-rise mistakes, and the loss of close-knit communities. You’ll hear about: • Gas geysers and galvanised bath nights by the coal fire • The steamie, copper boilers, drying drawers, and the smell of soap and steam • Clyde shipyards, Barclay Curle, and the busy rail lines behind Curle Street • The demolition of Balshagray Avenue and changes to Victoria Park • Childhood ingenuity: homemade skateboards thundering through the new tunnel • Daring adventures on the Clyde ferries, in shipyard dumps, and even with unexploded wartime relics It’s a world long gone, yet still vivid in memory, a time when poverty was shared, outdoor play was unlimited, and the city was both a playground and a teacher. Whether you grew up in Glasgow, lived in a tenement, or simply want to understand the grit and warmth of working-class life, this story captures the heart of a community on the edge of great change.