DO YOU remember the old trams in Cardonald?

Did you take your sweetheart to the pictures – to the Westway, the Aldwych, or the Mosspark?

Maybe you went for the messages to Galbraith’s or the Co-op, or popped in to Riddick’s for sweets and a newspaper?

We want to hear all your Cardonald memories at our next Thanks for the Memories library drop-in event on Tuesday, October 22.

From around 10.30am until 12.30pm, we will be at Cardonald Library and we would love to hear your stories and see your photographs of the area through the decades.

Perhaps, like Nan McAslan and Liz Findlay, you remember the streets full of children playing and very little traffic…

“It’s very different now,” smiles Nan. “I remember the odd horse coming up the street and running in to the house to tell my dad it had done the toilet all over the road! He’d go out and scoop it up to put on his strawberry patch….”

Liz recalls: “I remember the row of shops, with the Whitehouse chippy, Riddick’s the sweet shop and Galbraith’s…in those days, it was always us kids who were sent along to get the messages.”

It was a great place to grow up, recall the two women, who both raised their own children there too.

“There’s a great community spirit in Cardonald,” smiles Liz. “You always knew, when we were younger, that no harm was going to come to you here.

“Like every community in Glasgow, things have changed, of course and it has its challenges. But it’s still a fantastic place to live.”

Less savoury aspects of the community, like Betty’s Bar, will also live long in the memory, believes Nan.

“That was a notorious place for drinkers and ladies of the night,” she laughs.

Nan also recalls the cinemas. “There were three close by, I remember – the Westway, which became the Flamingo dance hall; the Mosspark, which went on to become an office and the Aldwych, which is now the Aldi supermarket,” she says.

“The cinema was where you went with your pals, there wasn’t that much to do. If you wanted to go dancing, you’d go into town.”

She smiles: “I went to the Albert, which is where I met my husband Bobby. We’d also go to the ice rink in Paisley, it was a great laugh, and I travelled to my work in Hillington on the trams.”

Librarian Margaret McMahon has worked in Cardonald for 25 years.

“It’s a great community and we have a very strong local history group here too, who love to share their stories and old photos,” she says.

“I hope lots of them, and other residents who remember Cardonald in the ‘old’ days, will come along and take part in this Thanks for the Memories event.”

The library is celebrating its first anniversary of re-opening following a beautiful refurbishment. Staff discovered old black and white photos of the interior, with its impressive curved wooden staircase, taken back in the 1970s.

“It’s a wonderful building, and a real hub for the community,” smiles Margaret.

Come along any time between 10.30am and 12.30pm on Tuesday, October 22 and share your memories and old photographs or memorabilia with us.

If you cannot make it along, please email or write to us at the addresses below.

Through our regular library drop-in events, which have now taken place all over the city, and our letters page and email banks, we are compiling a fantastic archive of stories and pictures, all dedicated to the city we love.

Email ann.fotheringham@heraldandtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB and share your photos and stories.

Don’t forget to include a contact telephone number or email address.