Cinemas
There were a number of Picture Houses in the towns during my time. Ardrossan had the Lyric, Saltcoats had the Regal, The La Scala and the Countess and Stevenston had the Grange and the De Luxe. I was only ever in the De Luxe a few times before it closed and the Grange was to follow soon after. The La Scala used to have a Saturday morning matinee, which was around 10.30. There were always kids movies on and of course there was the serial, I can remember Flash Gordon, which was shown in 15 weekly parts, this was to keep you going for the full 15 weeks, who said marketing was only a recent idea? The Saturday morning faded away and then it became the Saturday afternoon at the Regal, at 2.00 p.m. you got in for a tanner (sixpence for those not in the know) two and a half pence in today’s money. The normal weekly movie was shown and if it was X rated then it was substituted with a kid’s movie. The countess was good for the cheap seats were down the front and that’s where you could get up to all sorts of mischief away from the usherettes. The one good memory from the matinees was that when the bad good guy was in trouble and the cavalry was seen riding to the rescue the whole picture house erupted in an enormous cheer. The baddis always lost in the movies in those days.

Tenpin Bowling
November 1960 the Pavilion became the Pavilion Bowl, a six-lane bowling alley the first in Scotland and the third in the U.K. The first being in London and the second in Brighton. An American owned it a Mr. Norman E. MacLean who had married a local widow in the town. Friday night was the opening and this was reserved for the dignitaries, I think I was working and couldn’t make it. The Golden Ball was rolled to signify the official opening and the man who rolled it was Eric Caldow a full back for Glasgow Rangers. Saturday morning it was open to the public and I had my first game on the Sunday and was hooked. Many a time I won the 50 cigarettes for the highest score of the week and sold them to my dad for more money to go bowling with. I played in the Saturday morning junior league and this was for a shilling, which was a third of the normal price. It did close some years later but I was not in Saltcoats then and don’t know when that was. I do remember having some wonderful games with Chalmers Roberts, who ran the Melbourne Café, he was an excellent bowler. I did hear he passed away some years ago.

Entertainment, Radio, Television and Comic Books
So much to be said on this subject, one could write a book on the programmes from our era, I will have a go at a few but keep it short as I’m sure there will be many more who will add to what I will write. Television was only one channel to begin with and then there were two, the BBC and ITV. Sunday Night at the London Palladium was the favourite, it opened with the Tiller girls who were 16 scantily clad young ladies with sequinned costumes and long legs who could kick them high in the air to music and do several different formations. Probably the forerunners of today’s cheerleaders. My father was a keen fan of theirs along with most other fathers in our street. The compere came on introduced an act or two then a competition with members of the audience; the star of the show was on last. What’s my line, who can remember that? There were four members of the panel; the ones I remember were Barbara Kelly, Gilbert Harding, Eunice Gayson, Bernard Braden and Lady Isobel Barnett. Eamon Andrews was in the chair. Crackerjack was a good kids programme. Who can remember the Grove Family? A forerunner of Coronation Street, another was Life with the Lyons. Scotland had its own "One o’clock Gang" with Larry Marshall, Jimmy Nairn, Charlie Sym and the lovely Dorothy Paul. On the radio there was Dan Dare, The Billy Cotton Band Show. Who can forget the Ovaltenies singing? Comics we had were the Dandy and the Beano along with the Beezer, these we swapped at the end of the week with the Quinns next door for the Tiger and the Topper. Radio Luxembourg was the in radio station for teenagers, Jimmy Saville was the top D.J. at the time. This grew in popularity in the early sixties with the advent of the transistor radio. Who would ever have thought you could make a portable radio to carry around the streets with you? They’ll be putting a man on the moon next.

Education
As I mentioned earlier as a kid I loved school and was a sponge for knowledge, I read a lot of books on many subjects and was keen to grow up and learn more. The time came for the 11+ exam, which determined what sort of Secondary Education you were going to have. There were 5 grades A, B, C, D, and E. The A, B, and C went to Ardrossan Academy and the D, and E went to Saltcoats Junior secondary (known as the public). Exam day came and all were nervous except me, I felt it was my divine right to pass with an A and go on to learn another language at the Academy. When the exams were over everyone seemed to think they were hard, I thought they were easy and was confident, as I had answered every question. A few weeks later we were given our grades but not our results, I had made it with an A and was over the moon. Dad asked me if I was going to be a Doctor or a Lawyer, I didn’t know and I didn’t care, I had got my A and was going to the Academy, that was all that mattered at that moment and I wasn’t thinking about work, that was years in the future. I was expecting to be the Dux Boy for my year but I didn’t get it. I was very deflated when it went to some one else; I didn’t turn up for the presentation of prizes at the Countess on the last day. Sour Grapes I guess.

September came and it was off to the Academy, I was put into class 1A1 where I had to learn Latin as well as French. From there on I went downhill, education was different and I could not grasp the concept of Latin. After the first exam I came 36^th out of a class of 41 with very dismal results in all subjects except a few. Dad wasn’t very impressed. He sat me down and asked what had gone wrong. I told him it was the Latin that was getting to me, a subject in which I scored 11 out of 100. He went to see the Rector, Mr. McFarlane and asked what could be done. I was moved out of 1A1 and put into 1C1 where I joined a few of my mates from the Lifebuoys who were Freddie Keen and Johnny McKee. Life became much better and I rose to 16^th in the next exam. I decided then only to do well in the subjects that I liked. These being French, Geography, Engineering and Technical Drawing and of course Maths in which I had no equal. The rest I didn’t care about, as I could not see History, Shakespeare or a few other subjects that I considered irrelevant as being any use to me when it was time for me to go and join the workforce and begin to travel.

I eventually did leave and of course did travel, some time after I left school I realised that there was more to education than just the few subjects I had liked. I went back to further education during my twenties and thirties for a number of years to gain the qualifications I could so easily have gained when I was younger. I’ve decided I now don’t need to learn anymore for my career, just knowledge for pleasure now. As for the travelling, I’m still on the move and visit at least somewhere new once every year. My final trip will be in two parts, half my ashes will be sprinkled in Saltcoats Harbour not far from where it all began in Quay Street and the other half will be going to a wee island in the Pacific to be buried not far from where Mr. Potto talked about all those years ago.