ON A chilly autumn morning in 1947, Cardonald got its first library – and Ina McKeown was there to see it.

“I remember standing outside at the official opening, when I just a wee girl,” she recalls. “And I’ve been coming here once a week since then…”

The library, which moved location to its current building in 1970 and last year enjoyed a fantastic refurbishment, inspired a lifelong love of books in Ina and her family.

Her daughter Mary Gillespie, niece Margaret Tweedle and great-niece Heather Tweedle, who came along to our recent Thanks for the Memories event, are all avid readers.

“I was sent to the library with my mum’s shopping trolley, taking back the books for my gran, grandpa and my mother,” says Mary. “It was always three each for them, and three for me. I can still recall the day my mum said it was okay for me to get a book that wasn’t from the children’s section.”

She laughs: “I was 13 and it was a Stephen King horror – it terrified me completely and kept me awake that night, but I still love his books and read them to this day.”

Heather has transformed her spare room into a mini-library.

“I love books, and that library is inspired by Ina and my gran and grandpa,” she smiles. “I remember when I was little, sitting on the scratchy carpet in the kids’ corner and choosing my own books. I love coming here.”

Ina moved to Cardonald from the east end, the third youngest in a family of nine children.

“I had never seen so much green,” she marvels. “We told everyone we were moving to the countryside. It was a wonderful place to live. I remember the old picture halls – no-one had a TV in those days, so you went to the cinema for your entertainment.

“You could get into the Westway for a penny ha’penny, there was the Aldwych, and the Mosspark, which was a fleapit.

“When we did get a telly, just in time for the Queen’s coronation, everyone in the street came in to watch it.”

Ina’s memories of old Cardonald delighted the fantastic group of residents who came along to the library to share their stories of the area.

“In the 50s, I actually left Cardonald for California,” she explains. “We’d had a big family argument about my dog getting put down, so I stormed off and went to America..Most teenagers go to their room and slam the door – I left the country.”

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“My friend was out there already, so it seemed like a good time to go,” explains Ina. “I loved it. I worked as a typist for an insurance company in LA.

“When I went in for my interview, they gave me a typewriter to use, but it was electric – I had only ever worked on manual ones before, and as soon as I touched it, it whooshed away from me. I got the job and started the next day.”

Ina laughs: “We stayed there for three years, moving around the country, and if we got fed up of the American boys chatting us up, we’d just talk really broad Glaswegian and they wouldn’t have a clue what we were saying.”

We would love to hear more of your Glasgow memories – where did you grow up? Where did you work? What are your favourite memories of your old neighbourhood? Can you remember the old theatres, dance halls and shops? Which ones stick in your mind?

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Through our regular library drop-in events, which have now taken place all over the city, and our letters page and email banks, we are compiling a fantastic archive of stories and pictures, all dedicated to the city we love.

Please write to Ann Fotheringham, Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB or email ann.fotheringham@heraldandtimes.co.uk with your stories and photos. Don’t forget to include a contact email address or telephone number.