Some memories from Muriel MacKie (nee Bryce)
These notes were prepared in January 2007 in a written account for JG300 by Muriel and subsequently updated by Liz Beevers.
Muriel MacKie (nee Bryce) at the coffee morning at St Margaret's Court on January 4th 2007
Bryce's Haulage business
To me Juniper Green was a magic place. Granddad (Jim) and Granny Bryce (nee Tweedie) and their three sons: John (my dad), Jim and Tom ran the business which consisted of haulage, coal merchants, (Dad would get the coal from the railway at Colinton), garage, hiring cars, second hand furniture and many other things. I think the Bryces came from farming stock.
There was always something going on so we were never bored. We could play in the stables where, before the advent of the lorries, the horses, mainly Clydesdales, were housed. In the early days, there might have been sixteen pairs of horses working there.
This is a Forresters' get- together with my granddad Jim Bryce senior on the horse
There used to be a Forrester's Hall where the kindergarten in Woodhall Drive is today. It was like an insurance club, if you were off your work you got money.
Next to the stables was the joiner's shop where Mr Malcolm, a local man, did odd jobs and ruled with a rod of iron. We were not allowed anywhere near it. I remember Will Allan, Dod Smith, Harry Tauscher (he was a German prisoner and made great wooden toys) Mr Malcolm and then of course the three sons. My grandfather's brother (John or Boy Bryce) had the lorry park off Juniper Avenue. There was a piggery at the top of the rise and, later, Juniper Place was built on it.
My grandfather's sister Lilias had the ice cream and dairy shop (also on Juniper Avenue) but she was the same age as my dad. The boys from Merchiston Castle used to come out on their bikes to the dairy at the weekend. They would have ice cream and drinks there before cycling back to the school.
Mary Bryce
Another of Grandfather Jim's brothers had Whitelaw Farm. He was at the farm and we didn't see much of him. Could he be the one nicknamed Barrel? I remember the old man coming up in a milk cart but his daughter Mary would walk up from Whitelaw. We could see her coming up Muirwood Road in the morning from our window. You could set your watch by Mary. She taught Sunday school, ran the brownies and she would walk the donkey track day and night down through the Mair Wood. Latterly, she worked in Colinton at McVittie's and eventually had a house opposite the store. Edith, another daughter, married Douglas Galloway whose mother ran Baberton Golf Club.
My father John's generation
Jim senior built up the business, but my dad John was a bit of a playboy. He was a beautiful dancer. My father was the oldest of the brothers. He married Bunty Paul.
Here's my dad John Bryce on the far right and the lady who had Stewart's Ballroom at Abbey Mount in Edinburgh on the occasion when Scotland beat England at dancing
Dancing competitions would take him away for 3 days at a time! He would also demonstrate dancing; he would dance in Prince's Street Gardens. Mum wasn't into that.
Then, there was my uncle Jim who married Nell. Then, Uncle Tom married a girl from the town called Betty. Uncle Jim Bryce had a band: Jim played the banjo, John Martin played piano and Dod Lee played the drums. They played for dances at the village hall. Apparently, he was nicknamed Porky Bryce . He wasn't big so maybe it was to do with the pigs he kept!
Describing more images
Here's my Great Granny Tweedie. I remember her like that, I was terrified of her. That's my Uncle Tom Bryce with her. There were eleven years between Jim and Tom, my uncles.
I always looked forward to times when my granny's (Annie nee Tweedie) pals: Mrs Farish and Mrs McKenzie both of Belmont Road, would sit out at the front for a gossip. And, oh boy, did they give it big licks!
Muriel's brother Jim in the class photograph from the 1930s at Juniper Green school: James Bryce junior is top row first from the left
The teacher in the class photograph is not known by name. James Bryce junior would be at school in the 1930s, he's 80 now. Jim had Nell Fraser as one of his teachers as did I. He went to sea and when he was in New York Nell asked me to ask him to bring her a lipstick back.
Infirmary pageant
The big thing for Mr Malcolm was the Infirmary Pageant at which money was raised to help the hospitals before the NHS was introduced. The lorries were all decorated and drove from Juniper Green to Balerno collecting around the houses. One year Mr Malcolm made a massive wooden shoe and my aunt Nellie dressed as the old woman who lived in a shoe and all the kids dressed up as her children. It was a wonderful day and everyone was more than happy to take part.
Another year Nell dressed up with bare feet and she covered her whole self with boot polish and she took her teeth out. She took her hair down and had on an old dress and a shawl and had pegs and a doll. Nell went to our mother and she did not know who she was... then she said, all at once "That's oor Nell!"
Outings
James Bryce and Sons got a lot of their business from the mills. The lorries still went down to the mill in the early 1980s. Another outing we took part in was the mill trip. The charabanc used to collect them and take them up to the high ponds to spend the day. Another outing my dad loved was to take a flitting over to Fife with the horses. There was no drink and drive then so dad used to allow himself three days to get there.
An attempted hold-up
My hero was Dod Smith who had been a coalman with Bryce's for years. He lived in digs in Currie and seemed to spend all his time in the yard. He was so kind to me and sometimes at weekends he would take me to the pictures in the Blue halls. When the garage was modernised they had a small office on the forecourt. Dod would very often serve the petrol. One night two young guys with black hoods turned up and demanded money. Dod had been a boxer in the Army and he punched one of them on the nose and they ran off. Dod was over eighty at the time.
My gran would get out of bed to serve petrol at night if they were desperate. We used to call her Annie get your gun as she would go out in her goonie and shawl and carry a big old pistol which she kept on the mantelpiece, unloaded I take it.
When I pass the place now I don't see the Iceland shop, I still see the wee old white cottage next to Ernie Calder's pub and Bryce's yard, happy days.