WHEN he was a wee boy, growing up in Townhead, Bill Henderson loved a visit to Lewis’s department store.

Our recent feature on the legendary Argyle Street shop sparked many memories for the pensioner, who now lives in Craigend.

“I was a frequent visitor with my mum and dad and I used to delight in going up their “moving staircase” as I called it - the first escalator in Glasgow, I believe,” smiles Bill.

“I am now in my 70s, but I still have very clear, and very fond, memories of being taken as a wee boy to see Santa Claus at Lewis’s.

“I particularly remember queuing on that massive six-storey black and white staircase, waiting my turn to see the man in red.”

Bill recalls going back to the store several years after Lewis’s had closed its doors and Debenhams had taken over the space.

“I decided to use the stairs instead of the escalator or lift and I was amazed and very pleasantly surprised to discover that, despite the architectural alterations to the building, the original staircase is still intact and in use,” he says.

“I felt as if I had been transported back in time and memories immediately came flooding back of these happy childhood Christmasses.”

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Bill adds: “I suppose I must just be a nostalgic old pensioner, because I go back once in a while, especially close to Christmas, just to walk these stairs and wallow in my memories of Christmasses long ago.”

To mark the 80th anniversary of food rationing being introduced during the Second World War, we asked Glasgow Times readers to share their memories of it.

Davie Graham, who now lives in Canada, told us: “I was five when the war started. My mother worked in munitions out at Inchinnan, turning out twenty five pounder brass shell casings for the Army.

“Come Fridays, after school, I had to get in line at the grocer’s on Cumberland Street, the centre of the known Universe.”

He explains: “When my mother arrived after work, she took my place in that queue, while I moved on to the butcher’s and joined their queue until she joined me laden down with groceries, which I took from her and then joined the queue at the greengrocer’s, and the process was repeated until we eventually lurched home with all our string bags full.

“She would then suggest I should ‘run roon tae yer granny’s, in case she needs any messages picked up…’ I hated Fridays….”

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Ellen Moodie read our feature on Hollywood star Marlene Dietrich, who visited Glasgow in 1966 to perform her one-woman show at the Alhambra Theatre.

“I was there that night and it must have been a birthday treat from my then husband -to-be (we are still married),” says Ellen, who is originally from Springburn.

“We were not fans, especially, I think his parents might have suggested it to him, and we felt quite young amongst the rest of the audience.”

She adds: “We were in our twenties and I have a memory of everyone around us being middle-aged, well-off men. But I also remember we were overawed by her sheer stage presence. We had never seen such a star before.”

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What are your memories of old Glasgow? Email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 200 Renfield Street G2 3QB.