Forfar - The West Port with Garage, towards Glamis Road, 1920s
One of Graham's buses ( called locally 'grey' buses), stands at the West Port with the Post Office opposite.
About this time my maternal grandmother, Mary Macdonald, and her family of seven are living in one of the tenements at the end of Glamis Road. (No. 5. Move your cursor over the image to identify it - the block is now demolished.) Right on the corner before No. 5 is a milliner's shop run by two women which, during the time the Macdonalds are there, changes to a tobacconist's shop. The next door along is the house door for the shop. In No. 5 Glamis Road are living 4 families. Downstairs on the right are the Crichtons, on the left, the Dears. The Macdonalds are upstairs on the left, and old grannie Ferrier is on the right. The Macdonald family have 3 beds in the one room. The two laddies share a bed and my grandmother and the 5 lassies share the other two. There's no indoor sanitation, and 'the pail' is used regularly when the outdoor 'wattery' is in demand, or if it's freezing outside.
In 1929 the family are rehoused in a new property in Albert Street. Apparently my gran was on good terms with someone in the town offices who slipped her name in, even though most of the new council development was earmarked for the business people of the town (because it was thought that they wouldn't default on the rent). Brave New World for the Macdonaldies! Not just an indoor bathroom/toilet, but an indoor coal cellar as well - no more foraging around for coal on cold winter nights either.
Forfar - The West Port with Garage, towards Glamis Road, 1920s
One of Graham's buses ( called locally 'grey' buses), stands at the West Port with the Post Office opposite.
About this time my maternal grandmother, Mary Macdonald, and her family of seven are living in one of the tenements at the end of Glamis Road. (No. 5. Move your cursor over the image to identify it - the block is now demolished.) Right on the corner before No. 5 is a milliner's shop run by two women which, during the time the Macdonalds are there, changes to a tobacconist's shop. The next door along is the house door for the shop. In No. 5 Glamis Road are living 4 families. Downstairs on the right are the Crichtons, on the left, the Dears. The Macdonalds are upstairs on the left, and old grannie Ferrier is on the right. The Macdonald family have 3 beds in the one room. The two laddies share a bed and my grandmother and the 5 lassies share the other two. There's no indoor sanitation, and 'the pail' is used regularly when the outdoor 'wattery' is in demand, or if it's freezing outside.
In 1929 the family are rehoused in a new property in Albert Street. Apparently my gran was on good terms with someone in the town offices who slipped her name in, even though most of the new council development was earmarked for the business people of the town (because it was thought that they wouldn't default on the rent). Brave New World for the Macdonaldies! Not just an indoor bathroom/toilet, but an indoor coal cellar as well - no more foraging around for coal on cold winter nights either.