Lived in more than one house in Baberton Mains

 

Mr Mc We came to this house is 1982 but we have been here since 1975 in a brand new house in Baberton Mains Park, round the corner, opposite the bus stop.  It was a brand new terraced house which was being built and it backed on to the green area.

HO What do you call that green area?  Did you ever have a name for it?

Mrs McB No.

Mr McB Wimpey had all their site materials and builder huts and used it as their base and at the end they just heaped up all the earth.   I had a dog at the time and I used to walk up past and I used to have a chat with the watchman when I had the dog out.

HO So what phase were you in 1975?

MrMcB We were phase 3 I think, there were 4 phases, the fourth one was at the bottom.  Cos after the Park we actually moved round to the Drive, opposite the Grove, as you come down the Grove facing you.  We were in the Park, then in the Drive and then we moved here. This was as one of the original show houses, the chalet types and at the corner of the Terrace.

Mrs McB That was the one that was open to the Wester Hailes Road and I used to walk down there to the shops – that was part of phase 1.

MrMcB I think phase 3 was just at the Crescent – some of the houses still have the original windows, that was the aluminium windows, the detached had toilets and the semis had toilets downstairs but the original ones stopped at the top of the Crescent.

JC I know I don’t have a toilet downstairs.

MrMcB So the Crescent down to here was all phase 3, down to the top of the Hill, because the Hill was – well you couldn’t get down the Hill then, it was a cul-de-sac.

Mrs McB Cos when we moved up here there was nothing down there.

HO That’s right cos we were at the very end of the Way, Plot 900 and something, in phase 4.

MrMcB And Jackie Ritchie was the salesman – was there not 1000 houses in Baberton?

HO Almost, just not quite the 1000.

Mrs McB Well I don’t think that was meant to be – nobody expected phase 4.

HO I just think Wimpey kept telling everyone who bought a house that this would be the last phase – they will have a lovely view.

Mrs McB That’s right I know.  We watched ours being built, we came up every Sunday and the roads weren’t in. No buses. We had to walk down to the Centre and up to the School, which was fine – we were a lot younger.

HO And what brought you here?  Was it the new housing?

Mrs McB Well,

MrMcB I was working in Broxburn and although I was from Edinburgh because I was working in Broxburn I had a house there and then I changed jobs and went to Telford House (Post Office) in Gorgie to work so we started looking for a house in this area.  And this was getting built at that time.

Mrs McB Cos you were coming back and forward to work and you said to me “They’re building houses at Baberton and this was the first house we’d ever bought.  Before that we had always rented, because we used to get a “keyworkers” house.  And he said I think we should maybe go and look – because we had the 2 girls then.  So we came and had a look and we thought the brand new houses were really brilliant, so that was it we took the plunge.

MrMcB Well Jackie Ritchie kind of talked you into it as well.

MrsMcB And that’s how we moved really and this is our 3rd house here.

Mrs McB It was great, especially for young families.  Not that there was a great deal here for them, but there were lots of them.  You all did things together.

MrMcB And there was the new school.

Mrs McB The one that was too small.

MrMcB I remember Mr Green (of Juniper Green)  - and Alf Bates

Mrs McB He ran the football team.  Our 2 went to the Brownies and the Guides at the church, but friends of ours had sons and there was nothing for the boys so they started up the Scout group and the Cubs which they did for a long time.  Ann and Bill have moved now.

HO We were just saying that a lot of socialising seemed to be done in the Cul-de-sacs, or in your own streets.

Mrs McB When we lived in the Park first that was where we had our first set of friends, we all had young kids.  And we’ve kept these friends more or less.  But then John’s a member of the Bowling Club so that’s where we do a lot of socialising.  Way back we socialised at home, had people round for meals.

MrMcB At one time the SNP did quite a lot of social events up in the Village Hall, cheese and wine parties and stuff like that, and that’s what started the Scouts, same sort of guys.  We went to the school for social things as well, there was nothing else in this area really.

Mrs McB Then you helped John Hood at the church, at the Youth club  - way back.  There were so many kids and there really wasn’t a lot, and we always said that that hill, they should have done something there like a play park.

Mr McB I think it was always a bone of contention that Wester Hailes had all these little play parks for the kids and we never had anything.

HO That’s true

Mrs McB We did have the park at Juniper and we used to take them up there, to play rounders and so on.  Well my friend Ann and I were like the Pied Piper, cos we’d take our kids and they’d all follow.

JC And now they have the play park in Juniper Green Park.

Mr McB We have grand-kids now and they stay in Currie but they come down to Juniper Park – it’s a good one.

JC It’s quite changed now in terms of the population, not so many children in Baberton.

MrMcB And yet the school seems full.

Mrs McB But they don’t all come from this area.

HO Yes, and on speaking to the head teacher yesterday she mentioned the school would soon be full at 400, but when our children went there were 650 at one time.  I have a 44 year old and a 39 year old.

Mrs McB Yes our Karen is 44 and she went to Firrhill but Michelle (who is 41) went to Currie.  So the first was when the kids went to the “old” school, then the new one was built and now we have yet another new one.

HO And the children went to Firrhill when Balerno was being built then when it opened the overflow which had been at Currie High School went to Balerno, leaving room for our children from Juniper Green.

JC Have you been round the new school?  It’s quite impressive.

MrMcB I saw it when I went to see the exhibition for the McCarthy and Stone flats.

Mrs McB Big changes up there though.

HO I think the people in the Wynd will find it quite a difference.

Mrs McB And of course now there are far more cars in Baberton.  When we moved here the kids could run up and down the street and played there.  They couldn’t do that now.  In fact you are frightened to let them out.  And then when the buses came round – which is great – but

HO Do you remember the buses coming?

Mrs McB Oh aye, there was great protests about it.

HO Do you remember photographs?

MrMcB Oh aye, but we don’t have any.  I remember the little sprinter SMT buses – they were the C5s they went quite fast.

HO You could just hail them, there were no stops.

Mrs McB But there was just the C5s and the single deckers at first, the 33s came later.  John used to get the 70 to work because he’d moved to the West Port to work.  And I had learned to drive by then so I wanted the car.  Before that I just walked up and down to Juniper, carrying bags, and it didn’t seem like any distance.  Of course you were younger.  Now to walk up that hill is quite something.  It’s so handy the bus, let’s face it.  It was people in the main Drive that were protesting.

MrMcB We’re always surprised about the folk who park their cars in the Drive rather than in their own drives which is a hazard.

Mrs McB As I say there wasn’t as many cars when we moved up.  Now families have 2,3, and 4 cars at the one house.

HO Any other socialising for the kids?

Mrs McB They went to the dancing in the Village Hall.  It was Captain Bain who took it.  They also went to the church things.  They started the Brownies off in the school.  And there was the Sunday School.  And Karen was in the choir for a while – until they get to about 16 or 17, then it’s not cool.  We always had the house full of kids and their pals but now you don’t see it, you just don’t see kids about.

JC It’s a shame you don’t see more young people.

Mrs McB But people aren’t moving.

HO Why do you think people aren’t moving and if they do it tends to be in the estate.

Mr McB Possibly just more affordable houses for people.

Mrs McB Now this house is a bit big for us, but where would we go?  Would we go back to the original house we had?  But we’ve got used to being in a detached.

JC So it’s a nice place to be established in.  

Mrs McB I know lots of people in Baberton- I was a hairdresser and I used to go “mobile” round Baberton.  I think I’ve done almost everybody’s hair in Baberton.  Honestly I said I think I should write a book – because things that people tell their hairdresser.

HO Are there any repeatable stories?

Mrs McB Not really.

Mrs McB And now there is no chat with anybody – When I drive out this cul-de-sac I don’t speak to anybody.

HO Do you think people chat when they are doing their garden?

Mr McB Not so much now, lots of folk are retired and not out as much.

HO At the end of this cul-de-sac, is that the drive down to Baberton House?

Mr McB Yes, but it’s all overgrown now, I don’t know who is responsible for it, it might be the Golf Course.  At one time people with houses that backed on to the drive would cut a gate in their fences and either use it to walk the dog or maybe a quick way up to Juniper.

Mrs McB But then the Golf course blocked up the gates, they said there was a lack of security for the Golf Course.

Mr McB The Golf Course have lately become more neighbour friendly because they wanted the new clubhouse built and they are going to have to lop some of the trees they are such a height.  In fact one of the trees at the end of the cul-de-sac fell down on top of a car 2 or 3 years ago.  They’ve only taken them down in the last year or two.  There were preservation orders on some of these trees but they weren’t safe.

Going back to the old days I had a cousin who used to run a mobile shop up to Baberton – “Spam Valley” they called it, because just shortly after we moved here interest rates were up to 15%

Mrs McB And that’s part of the reason I went “mobile”, I could work to suit myself and work around the kids.

JC There’s quite a few hairdressers in Juniper Green.  I don’t know how they all survive.

HO Did you used to shop in Juniper Green?

Mrs McB Yes, but I used to go to the shops in Wester Hailes too.  In Juniper, Ruby’s Fruit and Veg, what was her name?  Ruby Bush I think.  And her husband was a driving instructor.  There was the sweetie shop the Dolce owned by the Italian family who eventually got it all and it was redeveloped to what it is now.

MrMcB One of the girls had her first job, a Saturday job, at the Candy Box – where the chemist is now.  And there was the Post Office, always busy which did the newspapers. And there was Peter Smith with the mini-market and I’ve always used the Bank up there too.

Mrs McB There’s more eating places in Juniper now, it’s quite the social hub.

Mr McB And we used to get paraffin up there too, we had a paraffin heater.  Just up past Scott’s there was some garage doors, it was just like an ordinary house.  The original terraced houses in Baberton didn’t have gas, so we had the paraffin heater.  But it had a lot of condensation.

Mrs McB Later the “Tuesday” crowd met in Wester Hailes, and shopped in Presto.

Mrs McB I don’t know where we’d go if we moved.  I feel there is a good sense of community here because we know a lot of people and we all look out for each other. We don’t seem to have the Neighbourhood Watch now – although it now kind of unofficial.

HO So where do you go to the doctor from here?

Mrs McB Colinton, which has changed a lot, lots of doctors have retired.  And some of our other friends go to Whinpark.

JC I used to get the C5 bus round to the Sighthill practice.

Mrs McB My girls had to move when they went out to Currie.

HO So who is the gardener in the family?

Mr Mc B We used to grow veg but now it’s just low maintenance.

The interview ended with some reminiscence of people the McBains and Jeanette knew.

 

Helen Ogg

Jan 2014