The McMahons had five children, James,
Annie (Jackie Eaglesham's mother), John, Mary (Molly) and Joe. Mr McMahon
was employed in Ardeer Factory as a messroom keeper, a job he was given
following a serious and incapacitating accident. All of the McMahon family
had gone to America and when Jackie's mother, Annie, died his father and
Uncle John brought him back to live with his grandparents. The end block,
flat Nos 21 and 22, is a bit of a mystery to me although the bottom flat was
occupied by the Boyds until they moved to No 4. Mr Boyd was the head
gardener for Ardeer Factory. There were two sons Willie and Jim and I
remember sitting outside No22 with Jim who was a year or two older than me
and who was extremely ill . Jim died not long after this in No 4 and I am
almost certain now that he had been suffering from leukaemia . This was my
first funeral and a very sad occasion it was. Willie Boyd joined the Royal
Navy before the war started and was trained as a wireless operator, no doubt
his experience with Steve Barraclough was a factor . I remember being told
of him taking the morse message wishing him a happy birthday from his folks
while stationed at a land base somewhere in West Africa. It is possible that
the Firemaster for Ardeer Factory occupied No 22 and this could have been Mr
Bird.
Moving further up the main road towards
the factory there were two large semi-detached houses on the left hand side
of the road. These houses were separated from No 1 Nobel's Villas by a
stretch of grass approximately 150 yards long . This bit of grass had dirt
tracks at either end and a single dirt road running diagonally through it
connecting with garages at the rear of the semi-detached houses . In these
days traffic was light and football could be played there. Although the
general housing area is referred to as Ardeer Villas the correct postal
address for the group of houses Nos 1 to 22 was Nobel's Villas. The
semi-detached houses and the bungalow further up on the right hand side had
Sandhills as the postal address.
The first house, No 1 Sandhills, had the
McDowells as occupants. Mr McDowell held a senior management post in Ardeer
Factory, I have an inkling that it was to do with ''Shipping Department''.
As I remember there were two parts to the family, two girls quite a bit
older than me, Bunty and Peggy, and a younger family two girls, Renee and
Moira, and a son Ian. I was a bit older than the younger family. If my
memory serves me right Peggy won International honours in athletics, track
events, and hockey. I have no recollection of the families who lived in the
next three houses at this time but do know that Mr Thomas, the factory
chauffeur, Mrs Thomas and son Freddie occupied the bungalow. I say son
reservedly as Jackie thinks that Freddie was a nephew.
Backtracking a bit, across the main
road from the '' football field '' was one side of the ''Slag Hill''. As
already mentioned this was the slag tip for the iron works that had been
situated near Ardeer shore. Shanks and McEwan operated a crushing plant at
the Slag Hill site, converting the slag into road-metal. In retrospect
Shanks and McEwan must have owned or leased the whole of the foreshore of
Ardeer beach as the company built a holiday camp there, complete with
chipshop! Extra welcome pennies were earned by Ardeer schoolboys,
particularly at the Glasgow Fair, transporting holidaymakers luggage from
Stevenston Railway Station to the ''Beach Camp'' in home made two wheeled
bogies. This was prior to 1939.
Alterations to the back row houses not
including the large block were made in 1935/36. The sketch ''After
alterations'' will be of some help. This meant that the first, third and
fourth blocks were converted from four family houses into two flats, an
upstairs flat and a downstairs flat. Each flat had a kitchen, a living room,
two bedrooms, a bathroom and separate toilet. This meant a change to house
numbers in the back row, our flat becoming No 13. Villas personnel changes
occurred during and after this period and I will attempt to put these in
some sort of order. When Mr Cross retired the family moved from the Villas
and I do not remember the house being occupied until it was used by the L.D.V., later known as the Home Guard. After the war Mr and Mrs Galloway and
their son and daughter were resident. Mr Galloway was the Catering Manager
for Nobel Division, ie. Ardeer Factory and all outside factories.
The Boyds moved into No 4 when the Watts
moved away, this would be around 1935/36. Mr Boyd, head gardener, took up
the head gardener/ groundsman's job at Irvine Central Hospital prior to it
opening and moved to a house in the hospital grounds. I do not recall who
were the next occupants of No 4. Mr Sandford retired from the police before
the war and the new Inspector of Police at Ardeer Factory was Mr Lyon. With
his appointment Mr and Mrs Lyon, daughter Mary and sons Tom and Peter moved
into No 3. Tom and Peter worked in the factory, Tom as a fitter and Peter as
an electrician. The Norwoods or some of the family still resided at No 2.
Again I cannot remember who followed them at No 2. When the Morrells moved
Mr Tucker took over as the senior ambulance man for the factory and occupied
No 1 with his wife and two daughters, Pamela and Wendy.
The McCartneys moved into the ''new''
flat, No 5, just after the conversion. The family comprised Mr McCartney, a
police sergeant, his wife and three daughters, Maisie, Peggy and Nan, a
fourth daughter, Wilma, was added to the family at the Villas. The flat
below, No 6, was occupied for some time by a family(?) prior to Mr and Mrs
Bell and daughter Margaret moving in. Mr Bell was a factory chauffeur.
Upstairs in the large block, No 7, lived the Shaws, Mr Shaw, a policeman,
his wife and two daughters, Patricia and Evelyn. Evelyn was born when the
Shaws were at the Villas and Patricia must have been pretty new when the
family moved into No 7. Downstairs in No 8 were the Somervilles, Mr
Somerville a policeman, his wife and son, John Freeland. After schooling and
an apprenticeship in the factory John became an electrician and not long
after marrying emigrated to Canada. The Porters occupied No 9 until Mr
Porter's retirement from the police during the war years . Mr Thomson his
wife, son and daughter became the occupiers. Mr Thomson was in the police.
More
Bill Cunningham ~ Ayrshire, Scotland.
