LEITH

The PORTHOLE

a Window on Leith.

THE Postbag receives a steady stream of letters, photographs and articles from those who are interested in Leith and it is not possible to publish any more than a small selection from time to time.

Mrs Georgina Jones from Whyalla, South Australia wrote a long letter with memories of her young days in the 'new' flats in Lochend Road which were built in 1909.
During the First World War, she remembered 'Julian the Tank' which was placed in front of Queen Victoria's statue at the top of the Kirkgate and the War Bonds which could be bought to help the war effort.
She had memories too of the Gretna Rail disaster and of the zeppelin raid on Edinburgh when a 'dud' bomb was dropped in the wood yard at the back of the flats where she lived and recalls the flames which could be seen when a bomb hit one of the bonds in Commercial Street.
She shopped once a week at St Cuthberts and remembers the turkey eggs which could be bought at Howdens in the Kirkgate and the baker's shop in Cable's Wynd where at Christmas you could take sugar and butter to have your shortbread made.
Every Sunday, a German band played right below her window at 123 Lochend Road and the players sold onions to her but she thought that they were probably spies!
In 1913, there was little or no traffic in Lochend Road and of course no houses on the other side and her school qualifying class was apparently held in the corner premises which later became one of Leith Provident's grocery shops.
Georgina is ninety vears old now but if anyone does remember her then please make contact.

Mr Rippington from Tyne and Wear was good enough to send me his photographs of Leith which were taken from the Signal Tower and remembers that the Captain of the St Sunniva was referred to as ' Bonnie Willie ' but can anyone remember why ?

Mr William Nicol, another ex Leither now sadly living in Edinburgh recalls the visit of Dr Walford Bodie to the Empire in Henderson Street and the time when he and his friend volunteered to assist him in his demonstration.
They shook hands with Dr Bodie and experienced slight electrical shocks as a result.
A space may be made in a future issue of The Porthole for Mr Nicol's poem called Persevere which he was good enough to send.

Nearer home, Mr Wilson Black sent me a copy of a ghost story about Leith which he had written and presented at a Boy's Brigade party. He skilfully entwines his story with the history of Leith and he ends by making reference to our two mounds on Leith Links.
Were they in fact used to mount canons during the Siege of L,eith or are they the resting place of the two unfortunate French children who feature in his story ? Perhaps after all, we will never know the truth.

John Wheelaghan from Leith asked if any reader of The Porthole has any information about a Mr McKean who was a photographer and had a studio where the Bridge Bar now stands at the foot of Ferry Road.
This is believed a to have been before the end of the century when McKean was known for some of his early photographs of Leith. Can anyone help ?

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