Duke Street, Glasgow The Secret History of Our Streets


Duke Street, Glasgow

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The streets we live in reveal the

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secret past beneath the skin of the present.

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Here is our kitchen, which was the operating theatre of the hospital.

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There were families that didn't have toilets.

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There was many a visit to the drains in the middle of the night.

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Our memories are rendered in the bricks and mortar that surround us.

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Just behind you there, there's where we all danced.

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Our streets chart momentous social change, and

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the ebb and flow between enormous wealth and terrible poverty.

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Pretty grim, isn't it? Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.

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They reveal the changes that have shaped all our lives

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and make the story of our streets the story of us all.

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It's a nice view, isn't it?

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Duke Street, Glasgow, the longest street in Britain.

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Running from the city centre to the tenement blocks of the East End.

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But just 40 years ago many of the buildings that lined this

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street were under threat.

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-What are you going to do about it?

-Knock them down.

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This is the story of how a group of neighbours took on the might

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of the Glasgow Corporation in a battle to save their homes.

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We're East Enders.

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Forget your London East Enders, we're the East Enders

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and we will fight to the death for what we believe in.

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Glasgow at the dawn of the 20th century.

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The heyday for the second city of the British Empire.

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Its shipyards, textile mills and heavy industry have made it

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the power-house of the Victorian and Edwardian age.

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Thousands are flocking to the city in search of work.

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Here on Duke Street the road is lined with stone buildings

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filled with small flats.

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Tenements, Glasgow's solution

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for housing its Victorian workers close to their place of work.

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In 1968, Harriet Stomboli moved in to her tenement that

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runs to the south of Duke Street.

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And this is where I used to live, 47 Bathgate Street, three up,

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right at the top.

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BUZZER RINGS

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I felt I had to get away from all the gossip that was

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going on at the time,

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'because at that time it was not very common for'

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women to leave their husbands and separate from their husbands, you

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know? So it was a kind of... I was in a very bad position at the time.

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This brings back lots and lots of memories,

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when I used to have this twin pram.

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But when you were bringing the children up you left

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the pram on the stair, you brought one up, put him in his cot, run back

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down, got the other one and brought her up and put her in her cot.

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Then you went down and you bumped the pram all the way up

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the three flights of stairs.

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So it wasn't easy when you had, especially a twin pram to do

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this with, because at the best of times the stairs were always

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quite heavy to climb.

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It's even worse now.

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I find that it wasn't so bad when I was younger.

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But this is where I had to bump the pram right up to.

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This was my door here.

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But then there was two doors, there was

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one there and one over at the side.

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The conditions for most people around here was over-crowding.

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That was the biggest problem I think in the area, was over-crowding.

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Harriet's family of six were squeezed in to a single room

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and kitchen, common at the time.

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Such scenes as this are typical of the unsatisfactory

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conditions of thousands of people in Glasgow today.

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So this is the little house I used to stay in with the children.

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This is the hall and this was a toilet.

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We didn't have a bathroom, it was just all toilet.

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And in here was our sitting room.

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And we used the sitting room as a bedroom, as well.

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This couple came to my house one night, my sister's friends who were

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living in big houses in England, nice big houses. The first thing

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they asked when they'd seen the house, "Where are your bedrooms?"

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And I said "Well, I don't have any bedrooms."

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And they kind of stopped talking and looked at each other and went,

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"No bedrooms, how can you have a house without bedrooms?

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"Where do you sleep?"

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So I showed them we sleep on this couch,

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it pulls down in to a bed in the sitting room.

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In here was a kitchen...

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and this was exactly the size of the kitchen.

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An alcove here, this wasn't a door or there was no facing on it,

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it was just a big alcove.

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And in here was two bunk beds

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and a single pull-down bed that my oldest son slept in.

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They kept talking about it, even when they went back home,

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they sent me a letter and said how sorry they were for me

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that I didn't have a house with bedrooms.

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But, I mean, that didn't bother me, but it really upset this

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couple that I didn't have any bedrooms in this house, you know?

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You were sleeping, you were eating

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and you were cooking all in the one room.

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So it wasn't an easy task,

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but we did it very well, as best we could anyway.

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It was a very small house.

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Harriet's room and kitchen was just one of 1500 flats in an area

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now called Reidvale.

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The map from 1884 reveals row upon row of newly built tenement blocks.

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They extend across nine streets running south of Duke Street.

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It was a respectable working-class neighbourhood

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and the people of the tenements made this street the bustling

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and thriving heart of the East End.

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Duke Street was always busy then

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because that's where everybody done their shopping,

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so everybody on a Saturday afternoon was in Duke Street.

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I mean, it was always busy, bustling, you know,

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having to walk sideways to get by people.

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Duke Street had everything you really wanted,

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from hat shops to children's shops.

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You know, they had men's shops, they had Gold's, the wool shop.

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There was Massey's, Curly's, Henry Healy's.

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They had bakers, they had butchers.

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Little Folk, it was more for the people with money,

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and you went in there if you had a lot of money.

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I shopped in Bobby's for my children's clothes

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because I couldn't have afforded to go anywhere else.

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This one's probably a good one,

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which kind of shows obviously the number 53 here, and that's

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myself, my twin brother, my Aunt June, my gran and my grandpa.

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Paul Cowan came to live on Bathgate Street when he was four years old.

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His grandfather, John Butterly, had raised his family of three

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daughters just along the street from Harriet Stomboli and her family.

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So how many of you lived here?

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In this one flat there would've been three, five, seven of us.

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My gran, my grandpa, my mum, my aunt and the three of us.

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That was my gran and grandpa's bedroom, from memory.

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They were the only two in there

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and everybody else was crammed in to the other room. So there was

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a bunk bed with myself and my twin brother and my older brother and

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then there was a double bed which had my mum and my Auntie June in it.

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John and his wife were home movie enthusiasts.

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It's a unique record of Duke Street's tenement life,

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capturing family and neighbours in the closes

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and backcourts in the late 1960s and 1970s.

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We would hang about in here in the summers and stuff with them,

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and it was just always a nice garden.

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I always helped my grandpa in the garden and stuff like that as well,

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and just kind of try and be around about him more than anything else.

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And Paul appears in the film with his brothers.

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He's here wearing a white top.

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I loved living here. I loved it, absolutely loved it.

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The people were brilliant, it was a community.

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You lived with other families up the close or across the street or,

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you know, there was maybe five or six families all with kids

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the same age and we all just ran about together.

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There was always children out playing

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and people standing talking at closes.

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And it was a community street, I would say.

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Everybody seemed to know each other.

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This is Prince and this is Vicky, these are my twins.

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-And it was a happy house.

-A very good house.

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A very happy house. Although it was over-crowded, aye.

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We didn't know any different at that time.

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-We were all kids and it was just like one big playground to us.

-That's right.

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I used to go at the window when they were out playing to call them

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up for dinner and things, and I used to shout at whoever it was that

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was out playing, I used to shout "Diane, come up, dinner's ready.

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"Vicky, come up, dinner's ready. Prince, come up, dinner's ready."

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So one of my friends used to think I had quite a lot of children

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and a dog.

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SHE LAUGHS

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In 1965, the Glasgow Herald reported that 40% of Glasgow's housing

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stock still had no plumbed bath or shower.

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20% had no inside toilet. 40% had no hot water supply.

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10 years later, this lack of the most basic amenities was

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still the norm on Duke Street.

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When they went to school at first, and they were tiny little

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children, the wee-ist children was at school, even the teachers

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thought I only had dressed them up because their big sister was

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going to school, you know, but they were actually starting the school.

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And the teachers were going like we've never had such small children, you know?

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-But it ended up...

-Basically we were midgets.

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Not quite, son.

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Glasgow town planners had historically linked poor

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housing to poor health, high infant mortality, rickets,

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malnutrition, typhus and cholera.

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In the one-room or single end of the poorer district, the height and

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weight of boys of 10 years was found to be 3' 11'' and 52lbs.

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In two-room houses, 4' 1'' and 56lbs.

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And in three-room houses, 4' 2'' and 59lbs.

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Glasgow Corporation was saying Harriet's children were small

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because her flat was over-crowded.

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-I mean by the sink over at the window...

-Used to get baths.

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That's where we used to get bathed every Sunday night.

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-That was our ritual, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

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It used to be terrifying.

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I didn't think it was to youse, but I did learn that later

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they used to be frightened of sitting in the sink.

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I was just terrified of people looking up

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and seeing little kids in the kitchen sink. Getting washed.

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-But that's how everybody done it.

-That's what it was like, yeah.

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That's what it was like.

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Duke Street may have been over-crowded, but it wasn't a slum.

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Evidence of its respectable working-class

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origins are still seen.

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The public baths were a gift to the local

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population from a wealthy benefactor.

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Once a week, walk down this road with my pram with all

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the washing in it and we came here to do the weekly wash.

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Luxurious for their time, they boasted a Turkish bath,

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a gymnasium and a reading room, as well as the public baths

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and wash-house known as the steamie.

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But in that one main building was the steamie,

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was the most important thing.

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It was called the steamie because everybody came here to

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do their washing that didn't have washing machines in them days.

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Because it got you out for a wee while, as well.

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You know, and then you met people and had a good blether as well, so...

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Moaning about their husbands, you know,

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which was the biggest thing I think to go on in the steamie,

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was you talked about your life, you know, and the kids and your husband.

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They moaned about you when they were in the pub.

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We didn't go to the pub, we went to the steamie.

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But it was a nice place to come to. I liked the steamie, it was good.

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My friend, Anne Lowry, always came with me.

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She with her pram and her wee-uns and me with my pram and my wee-uns.

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No, I only used to bring one. One child that wasn't at school,

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so Mario was the one I used to bring.

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He doesn't remember ever coming to the steamie either.

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He does say, "I think, mum, you put the washing in the pram

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and made me walk." And I said, "Probably I did, son,"

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because I only had one pram, you know?

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The Whitevale Baths and wash-house finally closed its doors in 1988.

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Unsafe and disused it was partly demolished in 2012,

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but what remains is now listed.

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If I won the lottery I would buy this building, because I think it is

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the most lovely building going to waste and I would convert it in to

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something for our area that would do benefit to the people of Reidvale.

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I would definitely buy this building if I won money.

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This fine Victorian building made of marble, stone and brick,

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with its reading rooms and luxurious baths,

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was built for an area with aspirations,

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because at the time there were high hopes for Duke Street.

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In 1891, one of the most extraordinary events was to

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play out along this street.

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Monday 26th October in the afternoon,

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three specially commissioned trains arrived just over here,

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bringing Buffalo Bill's Wild West to Dennistoun.

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They brought with them several hundred horses.

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They brought one Texas steer, four cows and a herd of 18 buffalo,

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which were all herded up this street.

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Now, obviously you don't want a buffalo stampede on Duke Street.

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And I believe that the cowboys rode in a square around them

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to keep the buffalo moving.

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Buffalo Bill moved on to the site of the previous year's East End

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exhibition,

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held at an old reform school just up the hill from Duke Street.

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Well, that is Colonel WF Cody, otherwise known as Buffalo Bill.

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You had the first show on the evening of Monday 16th November,

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only played to 6,000 people,

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so there were obviously tickets available.

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By the time word got round,

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that first Saturday they were turning people away.

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The show played to a packed house over three months.

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More than 600,000 people came to see Buffalo Bill and his Indians,

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more than the entire population of Glasgow.

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Don't fall in to the misconception that these guys,

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these Indians were just actors made up to look like Indians,

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these guys were the real deal.

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There was about 50 or so of them.

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The majority of them enlisted voluntarily, but 17 of them were

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prisoners of war from the trouble which erupted the previous winter.

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The government didn't really know what to do with them, so

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Buffalo Bill came along and said, "Look, why don't I take these guys to Europe,"

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because this was actually an old trick going back to Colonial times.

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If you'd hostile Indians you'd take them back East and say "Look,

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"the white man's world, the world that's is here is massive,

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"you can't fight us."

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The people of Duke Street came face-to-face with another world

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when they met real-life native Americans.

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The show was based up there and, of course,

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you'd get the Indians during their time off they'd come

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promenading down and on to Duke Street.

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At first it was obviously a very intimidating sight,

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a very novel sight, exotic sight for the local people.

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You didn't have immigrants then,

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when all of a sudden you have this encampment of Sioux Indians.

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You know, it's all a bit mad.

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But I think people got quite blase,

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they just became part of the scenery after a while.

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Buffalo Bill had come to Duke Street

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because it was the centre of a heaving metropolis.

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He was proved right as thousands came every night to see his show.

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His wagon train finally departed Duke Street on the

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27th February, 1892.

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This was a period of rapid expansion for the city

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and the industrial working class.

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Labourers and artisans migrated from the Highlands

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and over from Ireland to work in the shipyards, steelworks and factories.

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Glasgow was one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

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The population quadrupled between 1800 and 1850.

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Between 1850 and 1925 it quadrupled again, to peak at 1.1 million.

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Twice the rate that London was expanding in the same period.

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And its housing strained under this relentless demand.

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In Duke Street the tenements had all been built

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and they were full to bursting.

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In 1950, Glasgow was Britain's most densely populated city.

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Its stone tenements had become a symbol for poverty, disease,

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crime and over-crowding on a daunting scale.

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So you've come to Glasgow, have you?

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Pretty grim, isn't it?

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Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.

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And believe me, there are literally hundreds of backcourts every

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bit as bad as this in Glasgow.

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We were living in the slums, rat-infested.

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I remember looking out the window and watching rats climbing

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out of the midgie bins, and rats running about the closes.

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I was in fear to go up my close one day

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because there were a big rat sitting there.

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John Mallon was a child living in an area called

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the Gallowgate to the south of Duke Street.

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If you walked through the tenements in Glasgow you walked in a maze,

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because you were so small and the buildings were so high.

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And it just seemed to be a corner after a corner.

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As Britain moved in to the post-war world with high hopes, the

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Glasgow Corporation was determined that something had to be done.

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Their approach was as radical as it proved controversial.

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There's Glasgow, 40,000 acres.

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And this small patch represents 2,000 acres,

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and on that is crammed 150,000 of the city's dwellings.

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That is half the dwellings on a 20th of the space.

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-But that's ridiculous.

-Of course it is.

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-What are you going to do about it?

-Knock them down.

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Slum dwellings, starting in the Gorbals area,

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were Compulsory Purchased by Glasgow Corporation

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and then razed to the ground to make way for their vision of the future.

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Glasgow today takes a look in to tomorrow as the Corporation puts

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on an exhibition foreshadowing the proposed new inner core of the city.

0:21:080:21:12

A scale model, 100th full size, shows the bold

0:21:120:21:15

outline of the Glasgow to be, in sharp contrast to the city that was.

0:21:150:21:19

The Bruce Report, published in 1945, recommended the wholesale

0:21:190:21:23

destruction of the centre of Glasgow and the rebuilding

0:21:230:21:27

of an entire city from scratch over a period of 50 years.

0:21:270:21:33

That way Glasgow would transform in to a healthy and beautiful city.

0:21:330:21:39

Although later watered down, it did become the blueprint

0:21:390:21:42

for the complete demolition of vast swathes of tenement slum housing.

0:21:420:21:46

The aim was to rehouse a quarter of a million people

0:21:470:21:51

living in central Glasgow, and move them

0:21:510:21:53

out in to new council estates built on the rural edge of the city.

0:21:530:21:58

We really moved because it was me, my mother, my father,

0:22:000:22:03

my brother and then my other brother.

0:22:030:22:05

My mother was pregnant with my other brother.

0:22:050:22:08

And we stayed in a one-bedroom house, so we had to move.

0:22:080:22:11

And we got a house in Easterhouse.

0:22:110:22:13

John Mallon was eight

0:22:140:22:16

when his family were moved out to Easterhouse.

0:22:160:22:18

It was one of the largest of the new estates or "schemes."

0:22:190:22:23

I loved it.

0:22:250:22:26

I have my happy memory sitting in the back, building a fire,

0:22:260:22:29

sitting till five in the morning.

0:22:290:22:31

I used to kid on I was camping out and just sit at a fire all night.

0:22:310:22:34

And so that was my hobbies.

0:22:340:22:37

And egg hunting and making swings and building dens

0:22:370:22:42

and just being free.

0:22:420:22:44

That's what Easterhouse was really about.

0:22:440:22:46

Sometimes it seems as if there are more removal vans in Glasgow

0:22:530:22:56

than buses.

0:22:560:22:57

At any rate, statistics show that every five to ten minutes

0:22:580:23:01

somebody somewhere is moving house.

0:23:010:23:03

Tens of thousands of people were shipped out of the city

0:23:050:23:08

and in to the schemes.

0:23:080:23:09

Brand-new state-of-the art housing was waiting for them, set

0:23:110:23:14

in green fields with the promise of fresh air and a world away from the...

0:23:140:23:18

Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.

0:23:180:23:21

This was not a modern idea.

0:23:230:23:25

The concept of a healthy life away from the dangerous over-crowded city

0:23:250:23:29

centre had been tried before, and it had taken place on Duke Street.

0:23:290:23:35

This map allows us to go back 160 years to 1843.

0:23:380:23:43

Glasgow is in the grip of a typhus epidemic.

0:23:440:23:47

A Glaswegian doctor, Robert Perry, attempts to explain

0:23:500:23:54

the spread of disease by linking it to crime, poverty and over-crowding.

0:23:540:23:59

He draws a colour-coded map of the city, and Duke Street appears

0:24:000:24:05

on this map, part coloured red, denoting high levels of disease.

0:24:050:24:09

But Perry's map shows Duke Street to be a dividing line

0:24:110:24:15

between factories to the south and the green fields and trees of the

0:24:150:24:19

estate of James Dennistoun to the north, where there is no disease.

0:24:190:24:23

Ten years later,

0:24:260:24:28

his family would have a grand plan to create a new suburb

0:24:280:24:32

of moral rectitude, clean living, god-fearing and alcohol-free.

0:24:320:24:36

The idea for the garden suburb is a pet idea of his he wished to

0:24:370:24:41

develop.

0:24:410:24:42

He had a concern... He was a moral person, obviously, he had

0:24:420:24:45

a concern about the health and the welfare of society at all levels.

0:24:450:24:48

His son, Alexander, engaged one of the city's finest architects,

0:24:500:24:54

James Salmon, to plan a 200-acre estate of avenues,

0:24:540:24:59

boulevards and parks and gave it the family name, Dennistoun.

0:24:590:25:02

This was the first street built,

0:25:090:25:10

and the villas here I think were the first on the estate.

0:25:100:25:14

They were then connected up.

0:25:140:25:16

Craigpark was started, then the idea of connecting them

0:25:160:25:18

up with the various terraces was the next aspect.

0:25:180:25:21

I think one of the things, it's quite important to understand

0:25:240:25:27

this as a terrace in the context to Dennistoun is it was

0:25:270:25:30

originally supposed to be terraces and boulevards.

0:25:300:25:33

So, you know, we've actually got a complete one here.

0:25:330:25:36

John Tweed's 1872 guide of Glasgow

0:25:370:25:40

and the Clyde recommends the pleasant suburb of Dennistoun, "It is

0:25:400:25:45

"well laid out and contains many fine villas and lodges."

0:25:450:25:48

This, I think, originally had some seven or eight manses in there.

0:25:500:25:54

I know personally of three or four ministers,

0:25:540:25:56

and I think there's still a minister living just along there.

0:25:560:25:59

The manse, or vicarage,

0:26:000:26:02

is now the home of the Reverend Barbara Quigley.

0:26:020:26:05

I think this manse was built by James Salmon for a friend

0:26:060:26:12

of his, so this has got kind of bells and whistles on it.

0:26:120:26:14

It's got the curved staircase and the double arch there, which is

0:26:140:26:21

I think rather stunning, but then this is my house, so I love it.

0:26:210:26:26

It's got a lovely skylight there,

0:26:280:26:31

throws a lot of light in to what would be a dark space.

0:26:310:26:35

But when the rain starts it's like River Dance.

0:26:370:26:40

I love this room. It's really, really great.

0:26:440:26:49

It's got all this fantastic ceiling and cornicing and frieze.

0:26:490:26:53

And, of course, having your own access to what is essentially

0:26:550:27:00

a private garden means that you've got a beautiful view.

0:27:000:27:03

It explodes the myth of the image of the East End of Glasgow.

0:27:060:27:10

It blows it wide open. It's a hidden gem.

0:27:100:27:14

Dennistoun wanted to attract the professional classes

0:27:180:27:21

to his utopian vision, doctors, lawyers and ministers.

0:27:210:27:25

But as the East End of Glasgow's industrial heartland grew,

0:27:260:27:30

so did the factories and tenements expanding along Duke Street.

0:27:300:27:34

Dennistoun's lower-class neighbours were proving a little too

0:27:360:27:39

close for comfort.

0:27:390:27:40

This is originally a gated community,

0:27:410:27:43

and at one point there seems to have been some type of sentinel

0:27:430:27:46

post here, whereby it looks like it was manned.

0:27:460:27:50

It also had various different arrangements, it was scarlet

0:27:500:27:53

and the posts have been moved, but that gives you

0:27:530:27:55

an idea of exclusivity for this area. There's two main

0:27:550:27:58

entrances, Westercraigs and Craigpark, they were actually gated.

0:27:580:28:02

You needed to have a reason to come in here.

0:28:020:28:04

Dennistoun's dream had been to manufacture an idealised

0:28:050:28:09

community for the professional classes.

0:28:090:28:11

100 years later, Glasgow Corporation had the same vision,

0:28:130:28:17

but for its more impoverished citizens.

0:28:170:28:19

# I said, "My man, tell if you can

0:28:210:28:23

# "How you come to be here?"

0:28:230:28:25

# He said I live in Easterhouse

0:28:250:28:27

# I flitted there last year

0:28:270:28:29

# Everybody's flitted out to Easterhouse last year

0:28:290:28:33

# Everybody in the world has flitted out to here.

0:28:330:28:38

# There's everyone you know

0:28:380:28:40

# Uncle Joe and Auntie Mo

0:28:400:28:42

# All flitted out to Easterhouse last year

0:28:420:28:44

# It's in the steaming jungle and... #

0:28:460:28:49

But by the late 1960s and early '70s, their imagined suburban

0:28:510:28:56

utopia was a social experiment that had gone badly wrong.

0:28:560:29:00

40,000 people live here.

0:29:010:29:03

They have no public toilets, no banks, theatres or cinemas.

0:29:030:29:07

There isn't a dance hall in Easterhouse or a restaurant,

0:29:070:29:11

a community centre, or even a place to collect the dole.

0:29:110:29:14

A displaced population struggled with unemployment,

0:29:170:29:20

gang culture, and crime became rampant.

0:29:200:29:23

# Everybody's flitted out to Easterhouse last year

0:29:250:29:29

# Everybody in the world has flitted out to here. #

0:29:290:29:33

No doubt about it, the gangs were there.

0:29:330:29:36

And you joined the gang.

0:29:360:29:38

When I go back to Easterhouse I still get called a Skinhead boy,

0:29:390:29:43

right, people say that, and I've still got a nickname,

0:29:430:29:46

and my nickname is Jinky.

0:29:460:29:48

I mean I go back to Easterhouse, I'm Jinky Mallon of Skinheads.

0:29:480:29:51

Even though I'm 50, I'm still Jinky from Skinheads.

0:29:510:29:53

I loved the gangs. I loved it.

0:29:540:29:56

I loved to gang fight, I loved being part of a gang and everything.

0:29:560:29:59

And it was all about moving out of your area.

0:29:590:30:01

You could not move out of your area in Easterhouse.

0:30:010:30:04

If you did go anywhere you had to take ten-handed.

0:30:040:30:06

The very structure of the estate helps the gangs to enforce

0:30:060:30:09

the strictest code of all, that boundary lines are sacred

0:30:090:30:12

and you cross them at your own risk.

0:30:120:30:14

The playing field separates Drummy land from the Den-Toi territory.

0:30:140:30:18

A road marks the dividing line between Packland and the Den-Toi.

0:30:190:30:23

That was your territory and you guarded that territory.

0:30:250:30:28

It doesn't matter where you went.

0:30:280:30:29

Even if you was going to a dentist, if your dentist was in another

0:30:290:30:33

part of Easterhouse, just say Aggro, you had to take your pals

0:30:330:30:36

with you, because you couldn't go to that place yourself.

0:30:360:30:39

By 1975 over a 120,000 people had been moved into the schemes,

0:30:410:30:47

and 95,000 homes had been demolished.

0:30:470:30:49

But the Corporation was running out of money.

0:30:510:30:53

Despite this, it was still pressing ahead with demolishing

0:30:570:31:00

the city's tenements.

0:31:000:31:02

Vast swathes of Glasgow were now wasteland.

0:31:020:31:05

In 1975, the Corporation's bulldozers were

0:31:170:31:20

heading for Duke Street.

0:31:200:31:22

Irene McInnes was 19 when she settled into her tenement

0:31:250:31:28

flat off Duke Street.

0:31:280:31:29

This was our first flat.

0:31:310:31:33

This is where I got married in to Bathgate Street,

0:31:330:31:36

the top flat up there.

0:31:360:31:39

We bought the house in November, 1966,

0:31:390:31:43

and we moved in on the 9th June, 1967, the day we got married.

0:31:430:31:48

We weren't allowed to stay with anyone, in my day, before that,

0:31:480:31:52

so we moved in on our wedding day.

0:31:520:31:54

It was two bedrooms and an inside toilet, and we were very posh

0:31:550:32:00

because there's not a lot of people at that time

0:32:000:32:02

bought their houses or bought their flats and Tom and I were delighted.

0:32:020:32:06

But, unfortunately, we could only live in the living room

0:32:060:32:09

and the bedroom, because we could not afford the furniture.

0:32:090:32:12

Duke Street was still a thriving and bustling street at this time,

0:32:130:32:16

but nevertheless its tenements were scheduled for demolition or

0:32:160:32:20

"comprehensive redevelopment."

0:32:200:32:22

We got a notice through the door, public meeting called,

0:32:230:32:26

Thomson Street School, this school here, for everybody,

0:32:260:32:30

every tenant or owner to come and hear what this meeting

0:32:300:32:34

was about, it would be something to your interest.

0:32:340:32:36

There's "threat, big threat", I think

0:32:360:32:39

they had that in big writing, BIG THREAT.

0:32:390:32:41

Knock them down!

0:32:410:32:43

And they were telling us all about how

0:32:440:32:46

they wanted the whole south side of Duke Street to be demolished.

0:32:460:32:50

Harriet was sitting with a neighbour, John...

0:32:500:32:52

-John Butterly.

-John Butterly.

0:32:520:32:54

He was quite calm at the beginning, and then later on, when the guy said

0:32:540:32:58

they were pulling down the houses in your area and probably most

0:32:580:33:02

of you will be sent to Easterhouse, Mr Butterly did get up, didn't he?

0:33:020:33:06

-He did.

-And he said to the man, "You go and live in Easterhouse

0:33:060:33:10

"if you like, but I certainly am not."

0:33:100:33:12

-Excuse me...

-He used profane language.

0:33:120:33:14

I will f-ing not.

0:33:140:33:16

I will not use the language John used, but...

0:33:160:33:18

He had colourful language all the time, it didn't matter who he spoke to.

0:33:180:33:22

I remember a lot of shouting and balling,

0:33:230:33:25

and it was basically like it was no, that's not happening.

0:33:250:33:30

Easterhouse lies five miles away from Duke Street.

0:33:310:33:35

Back in the '70s there were no regular bus routes there.

0:33:350:33:38

At that time in the '70s, Easterhouse was very much

0:33:390:33:43

a distant land, it was miles away as far as we were concerned.

0:33:430:33:47

The schemes got a bad name, especially Easterhouse,

0:33:480:33:51

it was way back then.

0:33:510:33:53

-This could have been us, because these houses are over 30 years old.

-Are they really?

0:33:550:33:59

-They must be.

-What do you think of these wee verandas though, Irene,

0:33:590:34:02

-they're so small.

-There is not much you could get in them.

0:34:020:34:04

Maybe one chair, and that would be it.

0:34:040:34:06

Because they're family houses, you know?

0:34:060:34:09

-The stuff they were offering us way back then...

-Back then, yeah.

0:34:090:34:11

-Look at it.

-Well, they couldn't have been very well built

0:34:110:34:14

if they're coming down already, I don't think.

0:34:140:34:16

There was a lot of gangs in Easterhouse

0:34:190:34:21

and it really did frighten people to come and live here.

0:34:210:34:24

I certainly didn't want to come and live in Easterhouse,

0:34:240:34:27

it was very scary stuff, you know?

0:34:270:34:29

John Butterly's reluctance to be moved out to Easterhouse

0:34:310:34:34

struck a chord with many at that meeting.

0:34:340:34:36

They decided to take on the authorities.

0:34:370:34:40

What motivated him was basically people were telling him what

0:34:410:34:44

he was to do and when he was to do it, and you will just accept this.

0:34:440:34:47

And he's like,

0:34:470:34:49

"Well, no, you're wrong, because I'm not accepting it."

0:34:490:34:51

They were mostly

0:34:530:34:54

from Bathgate Street, John Butterly, Irene McInnes.

0:34:540:34:57

I lived up in 64.

0:34:570:35:00

We had John Butterly and Cathy McFarlane was in 59.

0:35:000:35:04

We had Harriet in 47.

0:35:040:35:07

Harriet the nuisance.

0:35:070:35:09

We had Isobel Allen.

0:35:090:35:12

Jimmy Donaldson.

0:35:120:35:13

And when we all got together we made things happen.

0:35:130:35:16

So people in the area thought well,

0:35:160:35:18

that's the Bathgate Street Mafia, you know?

0:35:180:35:21

And their boss was John Butterly.

0:35:210:35:23

The idea was to create a resident-run organisation from

0:35:240:35:27

scratch, which would purchase and then renovate their own properties.

0:35:270:35:32

Yeah, it was unheard of. Nobody knew what it was.

0:35:320:35:35

I mean, I don't know where the initial idea came from but no,

0:35:350:35:39

it was very new, especially in Glasgow.

0:35:390:35:42

The residents faced two big problems. First, to try and persuade

0:35:420:35:46

a reluctant Glasgow Corporation that the residents knew better.

0:35:460:35:50

Second, to persuade all their neighbours to join them.

0:35:500:35:54

The houses were in disrepair,

0:35:550:35:57

there's no doubt about that, the houses were in disrepair.

0:35:570:35:59

People could not afford the upkeep of them,

0:35:590:36:01

they couldn't afford the maintenance of them.

0:36:010:36:03

We had landlords who were not interested in doing anything

0:36:030:36:06

with them, just as long as they were getting their rent

0:36:060:36:08

they were not interested.

0:36:080:36:10

The Corporation thought they were unmaintainable.

0:36:110:36:14

They thought that they were at the end of their life.

0:36:140:36:16

He disagreed with that.

0:36:160:36:17

He thought that they just needed a bit of TLC, they just needed

0:36:170:36:20

a bit of love, they needed a bit of money spent on them, whereas they

0:36:200:36:23

just thought the easiest solution was just to knock them down.

0:36:230:36:26

For a year, the Bathgate Street Mafia kept pushing,

0:36:280:36:31

petitioning and arguing.

0:36:310:36:33

Finally, Glasgow Corporation recognised a group of enthusiastic

0:36:340:36:38

amateurs with no previous experience as a legitimate housing association.

0:36:380:36:43

I think he finally won by basically grinding them down and just

0:36:460:36:50

by basically being persistent and saying, "no" every single time.

0:36:500:36:54

"No, no, this is what we're doing, this is how we're doing it,"

0:36:540:36:57

and not listening to what their proposals were.

0:36:570:37:00

He had a community and he was determined 100% to save it.

0:37:000:37:03

Reidvale became one of the very first community-based housing

0:37:050:37:09

associations in Glasgow. And this immediately gave them

0:37:090:37:14

access to central government grants of millions of pounds.

0:37:140:37:18

They now needed to persuade all their neighbours to

0:37:200:37:22

entrust them with their homes and see what they could achieve.

0:37:220:37:26

How people trusted us I don't know.

0:37:280:37:30

How we trusted ourselves at that time,

0:37:300:37:32

because we didn't really know what we were doing.

0:37:320:37:35

In spring 1976, local builders and contractors set to work.

0:37:350:37:39

The community ran it.

0:37:390:37:40

The community were the people who were in charge.

0:37:400:37:43

They looked after it, they made the decisions.

0:37:430:37:45

It wasn't the Glasgow City Council who sat in their ivory white

0:37:450:37:47

towers, it was the people within the houses themselves who decided

0:37:470:37:51

what was going to happen.

0:37:510:37:53

They decided what colour the bathroom suites were going in,

0:37:530:37:55

they decided what colour the closes were getting painted.

0:37:550:37:58

It was always to do with the community,

0:37:580:38:00

it was always to do with that.

0:38:000:38:01

We did one flat up at 93 Reidvale Street there, showed them

0:38:030:38:05

what it was like, and it was just a refurbishment.

0:38:050:38:07

"Oh, this is beautiful". "This is great."

0:38:070:38:09

-Aye. But it was great.

-"Oh, I would not mind a house like this.

0:38:090:38:12

"Oh, it's got an inside toilet."

0:38:120:38:14

"Oh, look at that beautiful bathroom, oh, it's lovely."

0:38:140:38:17

So that was the start. One flat was a start.

0:38:170:38:19

Very exciting, yeah.

0:38:190:38:20

Some did move away.

0:38:240:38:25

Some did accept rehousing in the schemes,

0:38:250:38:28

but those that stayed joined the Association

0:38:280:38:31

and watched as their neighbourhood began its transformation.

0:38:310:38:35

And a century of coal and grime was washed away.

0:38:370:38:40

There was a lot of people getting involved within the committee,

0:38:430:38:45

people wanting to help, people wanting to volunteer,

0:38:450:38:48

people wanted to be a part of this, because I think after a

0:38:480:38:50

while people realised this is starting to become something real.

0:38:500:38:54

This isn't just some wee guy with a bonnet shouting his mouth off.

0:38:540:38:58

This was becoming something real.

0:38:580:38:59

This is Reidvale Housing Association.

0:39:000:39:03

Glasgow Housing Association.

0:39:040:39:06

What would you rather have?

0:39:060:39:08

MUSIC: "The Passenger" - Iggy Pop

0:39:080:39:10

John Mallon had no choice.

0:39:150:39:18

His family needed more room, so the Corporation rehoused them

0:39:180:39:21

in the new high rises that now over-shadowed Duke Street.

0:39:210:39:24

They were built on the foundations of the tenements where John

0:39:270:39:31

had lived as a boy.

0:39:310:39:32

I stayed here for 14 year. It's still a dump.

0:39:340:39:38

It was a dump when I stayed here.

0:39:380:39:40

But a lot of good memories about here, a lot of good people,

0:39:420:39:46

a lot of good neighbours who looked after us all.

0:39:460:39:49

And we used to have fun meeting everybody in these lifts.

0:39:490:39:53

But not today, they're broke again.

0:39:530:39:55

This is the back stairs.

0:40:000:40:01

When built back in 1968, the Whitevale

0:40:050:40:08

and Bluevale Towers symbolised the pinnacle of Glasgow's bold vision.

0:40:080:40:13

Soaring 30 storeys high and each containing 174 flats,

0:40:130:40:19

they were the tallest occupied buildings in Scotland.

0:40:190:40:22

We used to have to walk all the way up to the top, 26.

0:40:250:40:27

These flats are quite notorious, but the biggest majority of people

0:40:290:40:34

that stayed here were really good, honest citizens.

0:40:340:40:37

What level are we at now?

0:40:370:40:39

I've lost count. I've lost count.

0:40:400:40:44

I think it's the next one.

0:40:440:40:46

At one time you did not need to leave the flats.

0:40:470:40:50

You could buy your drink here, you could buy cheap vodka here,

0:40:500:40:53

you could buy cheap Champagne up these flats,

0:40:530:40:56

buy drugs up the flats, buy tobacco up the flats.

0:40:560:40:59

Buy butcher meat, there was a butcher, used to buy half a cow.

0:41:000:41:04

Used to chop butcher meat up.

0:41:050:41:07

You could buy a butcher parcel for a fiver.

0:41:070:41:08

No, I mean, so...

0:41:080:41:10

That community kind of was there.

0:41:100:41:12

We were all, you know what I mean.

0:41:120:41:14

And all the meters were rigged.

0:41:150:41:17

But the heating, they could not run it, it was costing 20,

0:41:200:41:23

£25 to heat a one-bedroom house.

0:41:230:41:27

Nobody could... Nobody could heat their houses.

0:41:270:41:30

So there were a spark staying up here and rigged all the meters,

0:41:300:41:36

you know what I mean, and we were all toasting.

0:41:360:41:39

HE LAUGHS

0:41:390:41:40

Ah, this is my old bit here, this is my old landing.

0:41:420:41:46

HE COUGHS

0:41:460:41:48

This is my old house.

0:42:000:42:03

I was living in here for over 20 year.

0:42:030:42:05

These are the rooms. I didn't realise how small it was.

0:42:100:42:14

This is the living room. This is where the parties we had.

0:42:170:42:20

We used to sit here and get full of it, constant.

0:42:210:42:24

Drink, drugs. Everything.

0:42:260:42:28

And that's a kitchen that very rarely got made food in.

0:42:320:42:36

Pot Noodles. We lived on Pot Noodles.

0:42:360:42:38

They called us the Pot Noodle gang when I stayed here,

0:42:380:42:41

because we lived on Pot Noodles.

0:42:410:42:43

Drink, drugs and Pot Noodles.

0:42:440:42:46

I don't know how I'm still alive to tell you the truth.

0:42:460:42:49

I could walk out the door and get full of Valium, cannabis,

0:42:550:42:59

acid, heroin, cocaine, Mogadon, Tramadol.

0:42:590:43:06

We didn't know the risks.

0:43:080:43:09

We'd seen it on the telly basically, watching 'Starsky and Hutch'.

0:43:090:43:13

But no, there were drugs everywhere, you know what I mean?

0:43:190:43:21

It was easier to buy a bag of smack than it was a bag of toys.

0:43:210:43:24

And it was quicker to buy a bag of smack than a bag of toys, you know what I mean?

0:43:240:43:28

Miners were on strike, Thatcher was shutting everything down.

0:43:290:43:34

The... anarchy, everybody was running riot, there was no jobs.

0:43:340:43:39

We just wanted to smash the government up.

0:43:390:43:41

And then all of a sudden heroin appeared

0:43:430:43:46

and everybody started taking it,

0:43:460:43:49

and it quelled... You know what I mean, it quelled the uprising.

0:43:490:43:52

I feel it was a government, the government.

0:43:520:43:54

Well, put it this way, the Tories are back again,

0:43:540:43:56

and this place is full again of heroin.

0:43:560:43:59

MUSIC: "Breadline Britain" - The Communards.

0:43:590:44:01

# This is Breadline Britain

0:44:010:44:05

# This free and promised land... #

0:44:050:44:09

In the 1980s, Duke Street, like the rest of Glasgow was hit

0:44:090:44:13

by the economic downturn that was to engulf Scotland and the North.

0:44:130:44:17

With mass unemployment came social deprivation in the form

0:44:190:44:22

of alcohol and drug addiction.

0:44:220:44:24

Duke Street was in the thick of it as Glasgow's reputation blackened.

0:44:260:44:30

The life expectancy of a man living in the most deprived

0:44:330:44:36

areas of Glasgow was a full 15 years less than one

0:44:360:44:40

living in the city's more affluent district.

0:44:400:44:43

What was left of Dennistoun's middle classes on the north

0:44:450:44:47

side of Duke Street now fled the East End.

0:44:470:44:50

As families moved away, so the grand houses became bedsits,

0:44:540:44:59

halfway houses and hostels.

0:44:590:45:01

During this period, Reidvale was also under-going a period of change.

0:45:060:45:10

Families were still leaving the area.

0:45:100:45:13

They had also been forced to demolish some buildings

0:45:130:45:16

deemed to be unsafe.

0:45:160:45:18

The remaining tenements were all covered in scaffolding.

0:45:180:45:21

But then the scaffolding began to come off as the first flats

0:45:230:45:26

were completed.

0:45:260:45:27

This is my mum's house, this is where I was brought up

0:45:280:45:31

when I was a kid.

0:45:310:45:32

DOORBELL RINGS

0:45:320:45:34

Hopefully she hears me.

0:45:340:45:36

John Stewart moved in to a newly renovated Reidvale flat when he was 10.

0:45:380:45:42

And they were all new inside, new doors, new toilets,

0:45:430:45:45

new kitchens, just everything was new inside.

0:45:450:45:49

And it smelt brilliant, it smelled like a really new house, you know?

0:45:490:45:54

Yeah, my old room there.

0:45:540:45:55

This was my old room.

0:45:570:45:58

This is where I slept. It's now used as a store-room.

0:45:580:46:01

This is our kitchen.

0:46:020:46:04

It's never really changed except for the new cupboards.

0:46:040:46:08

I remember when I was younger, me

0:46:080:46:10

and my brother were standing here and we were fighting, he pushed me,

0:46:100:46:14

and I actually went right through the window and landed out the back.

0:46:140:46:17

You can just imagine falling from there as a kid.

0:46:170:46:21

Luckily, hitting the grass.

0:46:210:46:23

If I had hit the brick I would have been in hospital.

0:46:230:46:26

John Stewart attended the local

0:46:260:46:28

primary school at the end of his street.

0:46:280:46:30

It served those living on the South of Duke Street.

0:46:300:46:32

This here is Thomson Street Primary School where I went in primary.

0:46:340:46:37

I was in here for Primary 6, Primary 7 and stuff.

0:46:370:46:40

And this here is the playground,

0:46:420:46:44

the area where you can see the clothes line.

0:46:440:46:47

This is where the playground area was.

0:46:470:46:49

A lot of people knew this as the bike shed area.

0:46:500:46:54

That wall it's never ever changed, but it was a great school,

0:46:540:46:58

it was absolutely brilliant.

0:46:580:47:00

And I know and I always remember the headmistress, her office was

0:47:000:47:04

in there, because I was never out of it, it was just one of those things.

0:47:040:47:08

But it's a great old building.

0:47:080:47:10

Thomson Street School was built in 1875.

0:47:110:47:15

Its fees were four times higher than other local schools,

0:47:150:47:18

such was its reputation.

0:47:180:47:20

It initially appealed to the elite of Dennistoun on the other

0:47:210:47:24

side of the street before becoming a free school in 1890.

0:47:240:47:28

By 1984 it was educating Duke Street's south side.

0:47:290:47:34

It's got a lot of memories.

0:47:340:47:35

I think the memories were the thing for me.

0:47:350:47:37

My life started when I moved in to that school.

0:47:380:47:40

The first couple of days I came to the school I saw this boy,

0:47:430:47:46

shocking blond hair and thought, "Ooh, he's nice,"

0:47:460:47:50

and I went home and says to my mum I've met the boy I'm going to marry.

0:47:500:47:53

And she just looked at me and went, "So you have, dear,"

0:47:530:47:55

and just left it.

0:47:550:47:57

But ten years later I married that man.

0:47:570:47:59

But the number of families in Duke Street was in sharp decline.

0:48:010:48:05

In 1983 the council decided to close half of the schools in the area.

0:48:050:48:09

Duke Street's parents and children campaigned to save their school.

0:48:110:48:15

Irene led the protest.

0:48:170:48:19

As a parent our first responsibility is to the safety of our children

0:48:190:48:22

and under no circumstances are we going to allow the council to put

0:48:220:48:26

us in a position and our children in a very dangerous position.

0:48:260:48:29

We're sitting in the middle of a community, we're surrounded

0:48:290:48:32

by four main roads, and no matter what school they propose to send

0:48:320:48:36

us to, our children are very going to face very dangerous hazards.

0:48:360:48:40

Yet again, the council was coming in,

0:48:400:48:42

other people were making decisions for us.

0:48:420:48:44

It's about time they sat up and listened to the

0:48:440:48:46

people from the area and realise our children come first.

0:48:460:48:49

There was a big march.

0:48:520:48:53

We left from here and we done a march right all the way round, past

0:48:530:48:57

Glasgow Cathedral and came back down High Street and John Knox Street

0:48:570:49:01

all in protest at the fact that they're closing this school down.

0:49:010:49:05

Hundreds of parents and children gathered outside Strathclyde

0:49:050:49:08

region's headquarters before the meeting.

0:49:080:49:10

The children wore plain white masks because, say their parents,

0:49:110:49:14

they're being treated as faceless people.

0:49:140:49:18

I remember it very well, because it was filmed with the TV

0:49:180:49:20

and it was the first time I was ever on TV, so I'll never ever forget

0:49:200:49:24

that, and my face was in the picture in the paper as well, you know?

0:49:240:49:27

Despite winning a temporary stay of execution,

0:49:280:49:31

the school finally closed its doors in June 1984.

0:49:310:49:35

I was one of the last Primary 7 pupils at Thomson Street Primary.

0:49:350:49:40

It seemed it was another building that would chart Duke Street's

0:49:400:49:43

sad decline.

0:49:430:49:44

But John Butterly and the rest of the Bathgate Street Mafia had

0:49:460:49:49

other plans.

0:49:490:49:50

After a century of grime and filth, stone cleaning revealed row

0:49:520:49:56

upon row of glistening honey coloured tenements.

0:49:560:49:59

Reidvale Housing Association was transforming the area.

0:50:000:50:03

Then you get impatient waiting on yours to get done then.

0:50:040:50:08

-I think Bathgate Street was one of the last.

-Uh-huh.

0:50:080:50:10

We were the Bathgate Street Mafia, we were last to get renovated.

0:50:100:50:13

We did all the work, but we were last to get renovated.

0:50:130:50:16

Harriet moved back in to what had been her one room and kitchen flat.

0:50:180:50:22

Here we are, after this being the small flat, Reidvale came

0:50:240:50:27

and knocked two flats into one, so now we've got this nice big flat.

0:50:270:50:31

If you'd like to come along and see it.

0:50:310:50:34

And this was the flat next door, and this used to be

0:50:340:50:38

the kitchen in the flat next door, which is now a lovely bedroom.

0:50:380:50:43

So that was two-bedrooms now we've got in the flat.

0:50:430:50:46

This used to be a cupboard and now we have a bathroom,

0:50:480:50:52

which was a nice luxury when we moved in to this flat.

0:50:520:50:55

This was a sitting room.

0:50:560:50:59

This whole part here was a sitting room that they divided

0:50:590:51:02

it in to two, and now we have a small single bedroom in here...

0:51:020:51:07

..which gives you three bedrooms.

0:51:080:51:10

And next door we've got a nice kitchen, which even takes

0:51:120:51:17

a table and chairs, so it's a big enough kitchen for a family.

0:51:170:51:20

So this was the sitting room of the house next door

0:51:220:51:25

and now it's a nice kitchen.

0:51:250:51:27

Personally, I felt moving from a small room, the kitchen,

0:51:270:51:31

toilet, in to a three bedroom, bathroom,

0:51:310:51:34

kitchen house was to me absolutely brilliant.

0:51:340:51:38

It was like moving in to a mansion.

0:51:380:51:40

This three-bedroomed flat is now rented from Reidvale by her

0:51:400:51:44

daughter, Vicky.

0:51:440:51:45

Vicky's twin brother lives just straight across the road.

0:51:450:51:48

You could see his window from here,

0:51:480:51:50

so they could actually almost talk to each other.

0:51:500:51:52

My other daughter lives in Thomson Street,

0:51:520:51:54

so she's not far away either, so...

0:51:540:51:56

As the residents of the south side moved back in to

0:51:570:52:00

their refurbished and now desirable homes, so this was influencing

0:52:000:52:05

the whole of Duke Street, and the north side was changing too.

0:52:050:52:09

OK, everyone. Thanks for coming along today.

0:52:110:52:13

I know it's a holiday weekend,

0:52:130:52:15

so that's even better that people have turned up.

0:52:150:52:17

Jerry, you'll be doing Craigpark, we'll do Westercraigs

0:52:170:52:21

and then we'll kind of congregate down and you're doing the Square.

0:52:210:52:25

OK. Cheers. Have a good day.

0:52:250:52:27

So I've been here since 2005 in this street,

0:52:320:52:37

having lived in the West End of Glasgow for 18 years before that.

0:52:370:52:42

And by selling an apartment in the West End of Glasgow one can

0:52:460:52:50

afford, or one could afford to buy a house in this street

0:52:500:52:53

with as much space, if not more, and gardens front and back.

0:52:530:52:57

That's the rubbish from the gloves.

0:52:570:52:59

The whole of the East End is now becoming a far better place to be.

0:53:030:53:07

When they asked you what you did and, you know,

0:53:090:53:11

I said I was an architect and we stayed in Dennistoun

0:53:110:53:13

and they were puzzled by this, because they had never heard

0:53:130:53:16

of Dennistoun, they thought all architects stayed in the West End.

0:53:160:53:19

Now everyone's heard of Dennistoun.

0:53:190:53:21

We're very pleased with the way that this area exists,

0:53:210:53:25

and there is a certain kind of community.

0:53:250:53:27

You know, if you can at least spend a little bit of time, once a

0:53:280:53:33

month, picking up a sweet wrapper or two then, you know, you do your bit.

0:53:330:53:40

It's just really a community feel now.

0:53:410:53:43

People feel that they're supported

0:53:430:53:44

and that there's a sense of place where they are.

0:53:440:53:47

Morning.

0:53:470:53:48

So it's that kind of thing that you continue to talk about it,

0:53:500:53:53

people begin to learn about it.

0:53:530:53:55

We were just lucky we got in early doors and we love it to bits.

0:53:550:53:58

And that's it, isn't it, yeah?

0:53:580:53:59

Slowly, the middle classes are making their way back to Duke Street.

0:54:030:54:07

A sense of community is returning to this street.

0:54:090:54:11

But no-one wants to live in these flats any more.

0:54:150:54:17

The last tenants moved out over a year ago and 378 homes lie empty.

0:54:180:54:24

Built too close to the railway line

0:54:270:54:29

and the homes that sit underneath, they can't be blown up.

0:54:290:54:33

Instead, they still await demolition, one floor at a time.

0:54:330:54:38

The school lay for a while with nothing happening to it.

0:54:400:54:44

And it was angering us all.

0:54:440:54:46

They were saying it was going to cost £50,000 to demolish it,

0:54:460:54:50

so we says to them we'll take it off your hands, what do you want for it?

0:54:500:54:54

And they went, well, we can give you it for a £1.

0:54:550:54:58

Irene couldn't save the school,

0:55:000:55:02

but Reidvale Housing Association did save the building.

0:55:020:55:05

It became 19 flats.

0:55:050:55:07

Irene moved here in 1987.

0:55:100:55:12

This is the main entrance of the old school,

0:55:120:55:15

and if you just come through it I'll show you the living area.

0:55:150:55:18

This is the living room and the kitchen area.

0:55:200:55:24

This used to be the headmaster's room,

0:55:240:55:26

and my husband, Tommy, visited it more often than I did for the belt.

0:55:260:55:30

This is the bedroom.

0:55:320:55:34

This was a classroom, or a staff room for the teachers.

0:55:340:55:39

When we moved in here this was...

0:55:390:55:41

John Butterly wanted a Jacuzzi. I got a Jacuzzi.

0:55:410:55:45

See John, he'll be looking down for me from above.

0:55:450:55:47

I've got a Jacuzzi at last.

0:55:470:55:49

We are independent and we make the decisions, the people of the area.

0:55:510:55:54

It's people power.

0:55:540:55:55

The City Council known as Glasgow Housing Association now,

0:55:570:56:00

are following in our footsteps.

0:56:000:56:03

Why? Because we were successful.

0:56:030:56:05

Not so long ago, Harriet moved in to Reidvale's very last project

0:56:060:56:12

sheltered housing for Duke Street's elderly.

0:56:120:56:15

That was seven years ago, and then I felt quite young,

0:56:170:56:20

and I thought I'm not going in to one with the old folk.

0:56:200:56:23

This is where we sit in the summer.

0:56:250:56:27

We bring the chairs over and we sit.

0:56:270:56:29

We're waiting on a new umbrella coming for the table.

0:56:290:56:32

And that's our love seat, but nobody's in love in here,

0:56:320:56:35

so it does not get used.

0:56:350:56:36

There was one man stood up and when he's seen me and he went,

0:56:380:56:41

"Oh, fresh meat," and he rubbed his hands, and I thought, "Oh, my God."

0:56:410:56:45

John Butterly was awarded an MBE in 1987 for his services to the

0:56:470:56:51

community.

0:56:510:56:53

I remember going to a Celtic match with him that day,

0:56:540:56:56

and it must have been the Rangers/Celtic game,

0:56:560:56:59

because it was a New Year's Day game and there was a guy

0:56:590:57:02

in front of us with his paper rolled up in his back pocket

0:57:020:57:05

and I could see his son with him kind of looking at his back pocket

0:57:050:57:09

and then looking at my grandpa, and then looking at the back pocket

0:57:090:57:12

and I kinda felt my grandpa's famous, you know, it was brilliant.

0:57:120:57:15

And I know he loved it,

0:57:150:57:16

he absolutely loved being on the front page of the Daily Record.

0:57:160:57:20

The residents of Duke Street were able to save a 1,000 homes,

0:57:260:57:30

and no-one was moved more than a few hundred metres from where

0:57:300:57:34

they'd previously lived.

0:57:340:57:35

It was the Reidvale tenants of Glasgow's Duke Street who

0:57:370:57:41

pioneered the creation of community controlled housing

0:57:410:57:44

associations throughout the United Kingdom.

0:57:440:57:47

In next week's episode, Aberdeen's Fittie Squares

0:57:530:57:57

were an enclave for fisher folk.

0:57:570:57:59

You were being taught from an early age that the demon drink was

0:57:590:58:02

bad for you.

0:58:020:58:03

Unchanged for generations.

0:58:030:58:05

Fittie was regarded as a kind of a strange place.

0:58:050:58:09

When a new industry arrived,

0:58:090:58:11

its people were thrown headlong in to the modern world.

0:58:110:58:15

These people have been sacrificed to oil interests.

0:58:150:58:18

If you want to learn more about social change

0:58:210:58:23

and issues such as poverty, class and housing,

0:58:230:58:25

the Open University has produced a free publication.

0:58:250:58:28

Go to bbc.co.uk/ourstreets

0:58:280:58:31

and follow the links to the Open University, or call 0845 271 0018.

0:58:310:58:36

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