IT IS a magnet for Mackintosh enthusiasts in this exciting anniversary year.

But Scotland Street School holds a special place in the hearts of thousands of people for many other reasons too.

The distinctive building, designed by the famous architect, is the subject of a fascinating new documentary by Glasgow-born artist and film-maker Margaret Moore.

Scotland Street School Remembers opens on June 7, the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth, and it brings to life a hundred years of memories from former pupils about life in and around the famous building.

Amongst them are Alex McKinlay, Betty Eaglesham (nee McInnes) and Alex Hamilton.

“I remember the playtimes, when we played with the gird and cleek,” recalls Alex McKinlay, who attended the school in the 1930s.

Betty and Alex Hamilton recall life in and around the school after the second world war, up to the late 1950s.

“I remember summer holidays doon the watter, and my mother packing a big hamper to go on ahead by train,” smiles Betty.

The 90-minute documentary includes conversations with 13 former pupils, through wartime up to the school’s closure in 1979.

Weaving interviews with archive film, illustrations, family photographs and song, Margaret draws a colourful, moving picture of life at the school and within the surrounding community through this period of great change.

The School Board of Glasgow commissioned Charles Rennie Mackintosh to design Scotland Street in the early 1900s.

The school, which is celebrated for its stone carving, metalwork, impressive tiled drill hall and leaded glass stairwell towers, opened in 1906 when employment around the Clyde was at its peak.

Like Alex McKinlay, Harry Couper, Nan Tindle and James Smith were pupils in the late 1920s through to the middle of World War II.

At that time, most pupils came from families working in local businesses and industrial works associated with shipping. Classes were busy, discipline strict and teachers taught by rote.

“I remember horse-drawn traffic and, in particular, a parade of decorated Clydesdale horses passing in front of the school,” says Harry Couper.

Nan Tindle, whose sister Esther also attended the school, recalls: “I had to stand peeling potatoes over a sink in a cold classroom in the 1930s, when my parents couldn’t afford the ingredients I needed to take part in the cooking class.”

Margaret Campbell was a pupil in the 50s, when teaching methods were modernised and plans laid for housing and transport reforms which would radically change the area.

She recalls: “My family bought our first television set to watch the Coronation in 1953 and all the neighbours came crowding into my house to watch.”

In the 1960s and 1970s, with the waning fortunes of the Clyde and demolition of the local tenements, residents moved out of the area. Local businesses closed and, eventually, in 1979, Scotland Street School did too.

For Margaret Moore, the documentary is part of her Still Sounds project, which she launched at Scotland Street School six years ago.

“In Mackintosh’s 150th anniversary year, I wanted to take the project further, bringing to life the fascinating social history of the school and surrounding community through film,” she explains.

“These are stories of everyday life. Though most didn’t understand the real significance of the building until they had left, the school was a huge part of their lives. It was the centre of the community, both geographically and in terms of collective experience, and the anecdotes reveal shared, precious moments of hardship and poverty, resilience and humour. “

She adds: “People made the most of what they had and supported each other. Although the community fragmented with the decline of heavy industry, and former pupils still keenly feel the impact of this dislocation on their lives, these former pupils look back fondly.

“Scotland Street School is a wonderful microcosm of Glasgow’s social history during the period and an enduring memory for so many.”

Scotland Street School Remembers’ will be screened at Scotland Street School Museum until Sunday 30th September.

Call 0141 287 0500 to confirm screening times before you visit.

*Were you a pupil at Scotland Street School? We would love to hear your stories. Email ann.fotheringham@heraldandtimes.co.uk