Do you have any memories of Tillicoultry which you would
like to share with others?
please e mail
stories and / or pictures and we will include them on the memory board
Do you remember Robert (Nelson) Taylor - RNT
My name is Ewen John Taylor and I am currently tracing
my
Grandfathers family in Scotland, I would be most interested to hear
from anyone in the Clackmannan area who might have known or be related
to any of the people mentioned below.
My Grandfather Robert ( Nelson ) Taylor - RNT
RNT was born in 8/7/1886 as the illigitimate son of George Taylor (
weaver ) and Mary Neilson ( power loom weaver), the place of birth was
19, Stirling Street, Tillicoultry. It would seem that RNT parents never
married as his father emmigrated to the USA in 1888, this left RNT
living with his grandmother Jane Nelson at 19, Stirling Street,
Tillicoultry (the house of his birth). His grandmother had
three children of her own, according to the 1891 census the household
was listed as follows.
Jane Nelson DOB 1841
Jane Nelson ( Daughter ) DOB 1863
Mary Nelson ( Daughter ) DOB 1865 could this be RNT's mother ?
William Nelson ( Son ) DOB 1873
Robert ( Nelson ) Taylor ( Grandson ) DOB 1886
As far as I'm aware RNT never had any brothers or sisters
My Great Grandfather George Taylor - GT
GT was born in 1865 at Alva to Robert & Caroline
Taylor, in the 1881 census the household at 4, Stirling Street Alva
was listed as follows
Robert Taylor DOB 1840 in Alva Shuttle maker
Caroline Taylor DOB 1839 Wife
John Taylor DOB 1863 Son
George Taylor DOB 1865 Son GT
Robert Taylor DOB 1867 Son
William Taylor DOB 1870 Son
Elizabeth Taylor DOB 1872 Daughter
Agnes Taylor DOB 1875 Daughter
Caroline Taylor DOB 1878 Daughter
Isabella Taylor DOB 1881 Daughter
GT worked as a Factory worker woollen, and at the time
of RNT birth in 1886 GT was living at 4 East Stirling Street Alva. In
1888 he emmigrated to America got married to an American woman and had
3 children.
If any of the above information means anything to anybody
in the area of Alva or Tillicoultry I would be very pleased to hear
from them. Many thanks.
Contact
Ewen Taylor with any information
Do you remember the day the Queen visited Tillicoultry
?
View photos of the Royal visit
A Royal Luncheon was held in Alloa Academy on Friday
28th June 1963 after the Queen had been in Tillicoultry
My memories of Tillicoultry are
pretty vague. I was evacuated there during World War 2. I guess
I was around three or four years old at the time. I can't recall
how long I was there. It could have been weeks perhaps months.
I was taken in by a Mrs Walsh. Pleasant memories of fishing for
minnows in the Devon. Unpleasant memory of hitting my head on
a cast iron rocking horse still bear the scar above my eyebrow.
Tom in San Francisco |
I remember when I first went to the cinema in the town hall
to watch matinees and the manager was as strict as any Sgt.
major in the forces.no messing around when he patrolled around.
I went to the local school and played football there. I am now
living in North Wales but still miss the old place.I came across
your site by accident so I will continue to keep in touch Keep
up the good work.
William Drysdale
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Working
in Devonvale
During the 2nd World War I left my job in the Harlands
in Alloa to look for a new position in my home town of Tillicoultry.
I placed an advert in the Tillicoultry paper, The Tribune saying
:
"Comptometer Operator wishes part time work
- available now"
The article appeared on the Monday evening and I
got a telegram that night saying "See me Tuesday 9am. Platfoot"
Mr Platfoot was never a man to waste words!
I went for an interview and was offerred the job,
starting the following day. The main office was upstairs but I had
an office to myself downstairs. The accounts were kept in large ledgers
and I had to transfer details from invoices and receipts into these
ledgers using the comptometer
Submitted by A.F.
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A comptometer was a sort of adding
machine
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An early advert for a comptometer
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Hill Street in 2005
Church Grove 2005
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My husband was serving in the forces during World
War 2 and we rented a small privately owned flat in Hill Street.
Our name was on the council housing list but we waited in vain
to be offerred a house.
The flat was in need of renovation and repair.
The linoleum had cracks in it and there were holes in the skirting
boards as well which encouraged creepy crawlies and dampness
into the rooms.
One morning I wakened and went to make myself
a cup of tea only to find a huge black slug in the teacup. I
was so disgusted that I went straight down to Devonvale Mill
and into the office of Mr Platfoot who was Provost at that time
and demanded that he do something about the poor living accomodation.
I explained that we had been on the council housing list for
years but not been offerred anything. He said he would look into
the matter.
On the Monday night the list went up outside
the Council offices with the names of those allocated the new
council houses in Church Grove. We were given one !
Submitted by A.F.
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Working
in the Co-op Offices
My Saturday job around 1970 was working in the
Co-op offices from 9am - 1pm for the princely sum of 10 shillings.
I worked the switchboard and transferred calls to the various
departments and made outside calls for the different shops. However
one of the main jobs was to sort out all the checks - everyone
had a co-op number and shop assistants had to write out a check
in duplicate of all transactions stating the co-op number and
the amount spent. One check went to the customer and the duplicate
eventually went to the office where it was torn out of the book
and separated into piles so that each customer's spending could
be recorded in a ledger from which the dividend was calculated.
This was a time consuming task and done with the use of boards
with 10 rows of 10 sections so the mixed up checks could first
of all be divided into piles of 1- 100, 101 - 200 etc. then later
into individual numbers.
I also went round the various departments at approx.
12 noon each Saturday to collect the days takings (the shops
all closed at lunchtime) - no variation in route or time. Despite
this and the fact that I carried a considerable amount of money
in a shopping bag there was never a problem and no money was
ever stolen.
The present day co-op grocery store is on the site
of what was then the Central Grocery. There was a road up the
side of the grocery and the offices were up here on the left
hand side up a steep stairway. Then came the building housing
the gents dept, the drapery and the ladies dept upstairs, along
further was the butchers with the Co-op Hall above. These buildings
stretched almost to the foot of Stirling Street. The chemist
and fish shop were separated by the post office, the shoe shop
was at one time at the far end of what is now the Premier grocery
and the milk shop, bakers, 151 High Street (the bottom grocery)
and ironmongers were at the foot of the High Street next to the
Baptist Church. Over the years these shops have disappeared,
sometimes temporarily relocated elsewhere e.g.the ironmongery
was moved up beside the drapery with the road between the central
grocery and drapery being built over to form a new shop. I also
vaguely remember there being a hairdressers at the back of the
grocery.
Nowadays there is a new grocery store and a chemist
- the rest of the co-op shops have disappeared forever.
submitted by WM
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The new co-operative grocery on the site of what used to be
the central grocery.
My mother's co-op number was 261.
I bet there are thousands of people out there who have never
forgotten their's !
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