Memories of Juniper Green
The Juniper Green Nightingale ...
My mother, Margaret Tweedale, was born on Hogmanay 1910. My sister and I often wonder if the sound of music and singing at the time of her birth influenced her destiny for she became one of the Bohemian Light Opera Company's leading singers in the 1940s and 1950s. The Kings Theatre, the Usher Hall, The John Kerr Church and St Cuthberts were all venues where she sang as a young adult.
Margaret grew up in Juniper Green where she lived with her grand parents above the shop at 565 Lanark Road. Educated at the local primary school, she was first noticed and trained by the Headmaster, Mr J J Malloch.
The head gardener at Windsor Castle near London introduced two nightingales into the Castle grounds in recognition of the firm friendship which had developed between Queen Victoria and Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War. The singing of the birds became a great tourist attraction. Not to be left out, Juniper Green also had its own beloved nightingale, Margaret Tweedale, who became known as the "Juniper Green Nightingale". Shortly after that, she went on to win the gold medal at the Edinburgh Music Festival of 1926. The adjudicator, the famously hard-to-please founder of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, Sir Hugh Robertson, referred to her winning performance as "outstanding".
After 68 years she is still our outstanding, beloved Mum.