by gene » 27 Feb 2014, 15:09
Here I am again, my next attempt; don’t know where my reply disappeared to! As I said I’m new to all this!
Hi Bob Thank you for replying to my post. I typed out a long reply earlier but it then said webpage had expired and I seem to have lost the lot! I had clicked on save at the bottom but can’t find where it’s saved on the Forum! Oh this modern technology! So I’m now trying to remember what I wrote the first time round.
You’ve lived in the street for 22 years, are you local or did you move there from further afield? Wonder if you’re the only one on here that lives in Rosefield Street. Would be interesting to hear what you have found doing your research into no. 10.
Your neighbours at no. 9 all those years ago were Mrs Demarco senior and her son and his wife. They had an Italian ice cream shop in the High street, lovely ice cream! They had four children two boys and two girls Tony, Margareta, Maria don’t remember the other son’s name.
Your neighbour at the other side then, at no. 11 was we think Miss Brydon. When she died the house was rented out to a couple who had a daughter. He was a Lay Preacher and unfortunately had a problem with alcohol. They didn’t live there long and don’t know what happened after that. We always thought that the property seemed to lean to one side don’t know if it was an illusion or not but I think the Figgate burn would be near the bottom of the garden so that may have been a factor.
At no. 12 lived Mr & Mrs Bibby who had two daughters Maureen and Elizabeth. Mr Bibby was a medical student from South Africa. He seemed to give up his studies and worked at Leith Docks. Mrs Bibby was a lovely pianist and it was lovely to listen to her piano playing.
That’s good to hear that Clark is still at no. 3. What we can remember back then was that Mr & Mr Clarke had we think four children two boys and two girls the names that spring to mind are Elliot, Ian, Evelyn, Anne one had Sheila who had a son.
Nice to hear that Robertson is still at no 8 think there were two children we think the girl was called Joyce.
At no. 14 we remember that Mrs Milligan senior lived there with her son Ken and his wife. They had two daughters, Ruth and Lucy. Perhaps Mrs Milligan has gone to live near her children and grandchildren now. Ken was an elder at St James. I was surprised to hear that they were the first to be married there. I think Ken would have been born early 1900’s and I would have thought the church would have been built long before then but I don’t know the history of St James. I remember the minister was Mr Bruce Thomson who lived with his wife in Duddingston with their black Labrador called Cora. Unfortunately Mr Thomson died in the early 1970’s.
At the back of the houses; no. 12 to no. 16 there was a lane and that was the way the coal was delivered to these houses. The lane went down to the Figgate burn which made its way to the Firth of Forth. Where the lovely golden sandy beach was and families had a lovely time. Portobello used to be very busy during the summer holidays I wonder if it still is.
There must be problems parking in the street now. No one had cars all those years ago. They just got the bus up to town and the train from Portobello station if going further afield. But of course the station was closed. I think Mr Clark was one of the first to have a car in the street.
Our family lived very happily at no. 16. The house was named Briarbank as they lived in that area of Edinburgh before moving to Portobello. All the houses had names which were on the glass panel above the main door. The front garden used to have a Privet hedge round it but it was taken away and our uncle made a metal fence which was painted black and erected on top of the wee wall. He built a greenhouse at the back wall of the house in the back garden. At the bottom of the back garden were three dessert apple trees and we had an ample supply of large juicy golden yellow apples! Also there was a wooden gate at the front garden which was replaced by a metal gate and that was painted black too. The front garden used to have grass in the middle of both sides but that was replaced with slabs as the grass was small and was difficult to cut. There were rose bushes all around the front garden which looked very neat and tidy with the array of colour and the scent of the roses. All the neighbours were very nice and no problem at all. They all kept themselves to themselves in those days and all worked very hard.
We would be very interested if we could find out who lived at no. 16 from the 1980’s onwards and who lives in the other houses too and how things are in the street now.
I’m sure no one will be interested in all this anyway but it was nice to reminisce! Sign of old age or what?! Oh!