THE MYSTERY OF GILLESPIE GARDENS

In carrying out some background research connected with last week’s post about the 1997 Community Map, we uncovered a bit of a puzzle. An article in the March 1998 issue of the Sentinel announced the sale of the last house in “Gillespie Gardens”. The scheme was described as being located in Clovenstone, constructed by Miller Homes and “the first new homes-for-sale development to be built in the area with grant aid from Scottish Homes“.

But the only housing which could possibly fit this description is at Alcorn Square and the photograph below which accompanied the 1998 article confirms this. So, where did the moniker “Gillespie Gardens” come from? Nobody we’ve spoken to locally can recall it. Maybe it was the original advertising name under which the developer marketed the new housing. However, in that case, it seems curious that Alcorn Square and not Gillespie Gardens  is the name given in the 1997 Map six months before the last house was actually sold.

Anyone out there able to shed  any light on this? One of the original residents of Alcorn Square perhaps?

 

Wester Hailes Voice

We’re trying out a bit of sound today as another way for people to share their memories.  We were fortunate enough to have been given permission to use two extracts from an interview conducted with Jean Munro who has lived in Clovenstone since the early days of Wester Hailes. 

In the first extract Jean is talking about the campaign carried out by local parents when it became apparent that Clovenstone School was too small for the number of pupils in its catchment area.  The proposal was to bus children to other schools.  Just click on the orange arrow to hear what happened.

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The second extract recalls Jean’s involvement with the Clovenstone majorettes and the first playscheme that she helped organise in the area. 

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You can read more about the Clovenstone majorettes in these two stories from 1981:  July and September.

We’re hoping to bring more audio memories to the blog and our Facebook page at a future date. And with a little more technical know-how, we think we’ll be able to collect audio files directly through the blog so that a range of memories will be shared.