My own father, Douglas Haig McCreath, started his working life as a counter assistant with the grocer, Andrew Cochrane and Sons, On being ‘called-up’ for war-time service, Dad was posted to the Cameronians. For a time, the his Battalion (the 7th) was stationed at Bridge of Allan – where he met my mother, Janet Rintoul Lawson Haggart; the clock tower on Henderson Street being their regular meeting place for dates. Action in the Netherlands and Germany followedIn due course, . Dad was commissioned at the end of hostilities as part of the British Army of the Rhine. He achieved the rank of Acting Captain.
On return to civilian life he joined a firm of spice merchants, Hendry and Anderson, as a ‘commercial traveller’. The benefit to us as a family was that we had access to cars long before most – including a ‘high-back’ Ford Prefect, Mark I and Mark II Ford Cortinas and Hillmans (Minx Saloon and Estate versions). The first black Ford (CTS 375) is emblazoned in family folk memory as ‘the car with the elastic sides’ – due to the numbers packed in for day trips to the Clyde Coast – especially Troon or Seamill. Dad’s boyhood cycling experiences with his brothers stood us in good stead. A paraffin ‘Primus’ stove with its methylated spirit primer was an essential accompaniment – to cook ‘beef link sausages’. Often we would wait ravenously, having emerged from the waters of the Firth while Dad used the ‘pickers’ to clear the jets before the cooking could begin. We were also fortunate in being able, on our summer holidays, to explore the north-west Highlands in the peace and tranquillity of the late 1950s. The disadvantage of Dad’s job was that part of his territory was the Dundee and Angus area – which required him to stay away from home every second week.
Following a combination of living with parents and in rented ‘digs’ in both Bridge of Allan and Glasgow, the first home which my parents could call their own was the top floor of a tenement (242 Bellrock Street) in Cranhill; one of Glasgow’ new. post-war ‘Housing Schemes’. This ‘verandah’ flat, comprising living room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms was great for the family of four, as it was at the time. With the arrival of two more children a larger house was required’, also in Cranhill. Dad’s away weeks were from Tuesday to Friday, allowing him to take charge of the Life Boys (the Junior section of the 150th Glasgow Company of the Boys’ Brigade) attached to Cranhill Parish Church.
As part of the ‘Glasgow Overspill Scheme’, a further move to Denny was made, though causing Dad to relinquish his rose garden. A final move to Dunblane allowed close contact to be sustained with the families of all three of my siblings who gradually gravitated there – Roderick McCreath, Glenn McCreath and Valerie McCreath. Dad died in Stirling Royal and his ashes are interred in Lecropt Churchyard; fittingly since this is where Mum and Dad were married and where I was christened.
Children of Douglas Haig McCreath and Janet Lawson Rintoul Haggart:
Douglas McCreath
Roderick McCreath
Glenn McCreath
Valerie McCreath