Down Memory Lane

PAST PURSUITS: Despite living in Edinburgh, Morag Orr has never forgotten her Elvanfoot family roots and even has a chum in Carnwath who sends her the Gazette every week so she can keep abreast of events from the rural area where her great-grandfather James Hope (second left) was something of a local legend. In the first of two photos we are publishing from a collection bequeathed to Morag by an aunt, James is pictured with what Morag thinks might be a shooting party in the 1930s when he would be acting as a beater for the local gentry, possibly the Linlithgows, major landowners in the era. James was what was known locally as an Orraman – which simply means that he did ‘orra’ jobs needing done in the community! This ranged from, as the picture shows, beating to being a shepherd. Despite his hardy – and hardworking – life, James lived to a ripe old age, being born in 1866 in the reign of Queen Victoria and dying in late 1951, just months before our current monarch, Queen Elizabeth, succeeded to the throne. If anyone can give more details on what the occasion pictured here was, please contact the Gazette on 01555 772226.

50 YEARS AGO

n Carluke Golf Club officials wanted the Third District Council to ban sheep grazing on the course as, they said, the animals were causing costly damage to the greens.

n Respective amounts raised in Poppy Day appeals were: Carluke £111.15.4d, Lanark £204.7.8d and Law £92.1.2d.

n Rev R Russell Brown asked: “What mean ye by these stones?” during the Remembrance Day Service at Lanark’s Old Parish Church.

n A male driver was treated for multiple cuts and bruises at Law Hospital, following a collision in Carluke between his car and a van on Kilncadzow Road at the entrance to Goremire Road.

n Doris Day and Howard Keel starred in Calamity Jane, which was being screened at Lanark’s Regal Cinema.

n A disappointing crowd watched Carluke Rovers beat Wishaw 3-0 in a Lanarkshire League match at Loch Park.

n Lanark United’s scheduled weekend match against Burnbank Athletic had been postponed due to the weather conditions.

n Lanark Rugby Club struck top form when winning 11-6 in a match at Dumfries.

100 YEARS AGO

n A labourer was fined 20s or 10 days’ imprisonment at Lanark Police Court, for committing a breach of the peace and maliciously breaking a pane of glass in a shop door in the Wellgate the previous day.

n Carluke’s Archibald Cochrane sustained bruising to his back and internal injuries after being hit by a fall from the roof of the Stravenhouse Colliery in Law. Cochrane, of Kirkton Street, had been knocked violently to the pavement.

n Alexander Kirkhope of Braidwood received a medical appointment at Penrith, England. He held a degree of MB Ch B at Glasgow University.

n The fire brigade attended a blaze at Drumclog House in Forth after the bedclothes had unaccountably become ignited. Considerable damage, valued at £65, was done to the house.

n Ladies’ warm winter underwear was advertised as being available to buy from Brownlee’s Drapery Warehouse in Carluke.

n Lanark Celtic were top of football’s South Lanark Juvenile League with four wins out of four.