WALTER SMITH, GREENFIELD STREET SCHOOL, GOVAN

MY SCHOOL: I went to Greenfield School, from the age of five until I was 12 (I am third from the right, top row). I am 78 and although we have lived in Renfrew for 45 years, if anyone asks where I come from I will always say Govan.

The school had its own swimming pool – a godsend to those of us for whom the sink was our only means of getting washed.

School was not easy for me. Money was scarce. There were six of us – mum, dad, granny and three boys – but we still felt rich.

My dad, who was an electrician, worked at Babcock Renfrew but he was diagnosed with cancer and had to have treatment at the King Edward Sanatorium in England. He died when I was 15.

My mum had to leave early for work, around 7am, and she was not back until 8pm.

To make ends meet I started delivering milk when I was 11. I started at 6.30am and always managed to get back to the house to see my Mum off to work and to get my two brothers ready for school.

After school finished I delivered papers until 5pm, then rushed home to heat dinner. I also had a part time job on Saturday at the local Bendix laundry.

I was the eldest of three and we were lucky that the Govan Parish School Board supplied us with free school clothes and free school meals.

On Saturdays, I cleaned the windows and the stairs, because my mum worked. This may sound like a hard life but my parents were fantastic and they always managed to take us on holiday for two weeks to Saltcoats.

My mum was a great comfort.

We had plenty of other children in the school in the same boat.

SCHOOL DINNERS, PACKED LUNCH OR HOME? Our dinner hall was in St Gabriel’s Church on Greenfield Street, right next to the close we lived in.

We lived in a two-bedroomed tenement, with no fridge and only a black grate to cook on. It was on all the time, even during the summer.

Glasgow Times:

BEST FRIEND AT SCHOOL: I heard that one of the lads I went to school with, Billy Thompson, became high up in the Ministry for Sport in Canada. Alex Ferguson lived close by and went to Govan High at the same time as me.

FAVOURITE TEACHER: It was a great place, all the teachers were brilliant and spent time with pupils who needed a bit of extra attention, like myself. The teacher in the photograph is Mrs McQuigan, who was great – she treated everyone the same.

Glasgow Times:

IF I COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT MY SCHOOLDAYS… In those days, there were many people like us and we never felt any different from any one else.

These articles bring back good memories of my parents – I am unable to thank them now, but they did their best for us.