Earliest memory of Glasgow? Playing kick the can on summer nights, raking the middens for ginger bottles…

Which street did you live on? I was born in 1949 in a Govanhill tenement, 38 Batson Street.

Describe your house: We lived in a third floor room and kitchen, all six of us. The landing had a room and kitchen on each side, with a single end in the middle, where Mr Waitman lived. He had exclusive use of the cludgie. We were lucky – we had a bathroom. My mum and dad often said they regretted moving to a ‘corpy’ house later on.

What school did you go to? I went to Victoria Primary, which was a big red sandstone building. The headteacher was a serious man, always in a three-piece suit. I remember after my 11-plus exam, he told my mother my writing was terrible. ‘His compositions are excellent, but the script is awful,’ he told us…

First job? My first job at 13 was delivering messages for the Polmadie Co-op, on Polmadie Street, after school. I had an oak, two-wheeled cart, just like the railway porters used. It had cast iron wheels and weighed a ton. I wheeled that thing all over Polmadie and the eastern side of Govanhill, and I got good tips. I would leave the barra at the close mouth and carry the boxes up the stairs and in two years I never had anybody steal anything from the cart.

Best thing about growing up in Glasgow? Tenement life was special,back then. Living in a tenement was like being in a small community. It was nice, until you did something wrong, like kick a football through a window, because there was no hiding place…

Happiest childhood memory: Our tenement house – the black lead range, wally sink in the window, coal bunker in the lobby press. This is how people lived and we were proud of it.

Share your Glasgow memories - email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk