(Continued from Part Three)

Off the pitch, and academically I was competent enough to win several class prizes and still have all the books that were the winners lot. By the time I was eleven I would probably have preferred a year’s subscription to Dell Comics, (Batman was a particular favourite) or a couple of packets of Senior Service but bright scholars were only to receive edifying and improving matter, and I obliged by asking for things like Ivanhoe and Martin Chuzzlewit. I shared the last Dux medal before the school closed with my deadly academic rival, Catherine Sutherland.
The ‘Qualy Dance’ was an exciting party for all the pupils leaving to start secondary school. I couldn’t believe my luck when the girl I yearned for agreed to be my partner. Her name was Moira, and I had admired her from afar for what seemed like years then. I felt ten feet tall that night, but It was a short-lived euphoria as she dumped me the following week.
This is not intended to be an exhaustive account of life in Sighthill in the 1950’s. Just a few random recollections that might ring some bells for other erstwhile denizens.
David McMillan 2021