BOOK REVIEW: Recollections of a bygone Helmsdale
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Author and historian Dr Nick Lindsay reviews Memories of a 1950’s Childhood in Helmsdale by Marjorie Kelman.
There is a book in everyone, or so the saying goes. Marjorie Kelman has written about her childhood memories of growing up in Helmsdale. At the tender age of 78, she has proved the old adage correct and her book is a joy to read.
She penned her memoirs for her two granddaughters with encouragement from her cousin way back in 2009, but her husband and daughter persuaded the reluctant author to publish.
And we, the readers, are blessed that they did.
Born in Lamlash, Arran, in 1943, Marjorie was the second child of an Edinburgh-born Church of Scotland minister and a Thurso-born mother.
Her father’s vocation soon took him to Clarkston in Glasgow for three years, before the family moved to Helmsdale in November 1948.
Marjorie recalls that it was quite a shock moving into the manse at Helmsdale – there was no electricity and little heating. She describes the winter frost frequently being on the windows – on the inside!
Writing initially for her granddaughters, Marjorie informatively explains all the things she had around her as a child that modern children would not have a clue about.
People of a certain age will read and reminisce; for younger generations, it’s a history lesson.
At school, she used a slate pencil for writing on a small, wooden-framed slate, later replaced by a penholder with a scratchy nib, dipped into small inkwells in the desk. It could be a messy process!
Clothes worn to school were very different: a vest next to the skin, a liberty bodice over that (which had attachments for thick stockings), heavy, navy-blue knickers, a hand-knitted jersey or cardigan, a kilt or skirt, all under a thick winter coat and a woolly hat.
We all remember pre-decimal coinage, don’t we? If not, it’s all explained, as are other old-fashioned systems of weight and length.
Marjorie (and the rest of us oldies) had a lot of difficult numbers to learn – and, oh, times tables! She admits to all this being a good way to learn and useful for carrying out simple calculations in her head to this day.
Significant events in Marjorie’s childhood are noted: Operation Snowdrop in the harsh snowy winter of 1955, the visit to Helmsdale of the Canadian Prime Minister Diefenbaker and the move from the old school on Old Caithness Road to the new school.
She describes the sights, smells and sounds of the old manse, her favourite haunts, and how children amused themselves.
Life in 1940s-50s Helmsdale was carefree and innocent. There was little traffic, everyone knew everyone, there was no trouble and it was safe to go anywhere. This included going to the beach, with a motherly warning of never to go into the sea with water over the waistline! Can you just imagine?
Memories of a 1950’s Childhood in Helmsdale is a delightful look back into the past of a bygone age, far removed from the hurly-burly, social media world of today.
Things were different then and Marjorie’s book is a charming dip into her personal memories, which will remind older readers of things forgotten and show a younger audience that this generation was not deprived. What it didn’t have, it didn’t miss.
Available at the Otter’s Couch in Brora, the Dornoch Bookshop and Timespan in Helmsdale at £7.50 or by email at £10.00 from Marjorie at marjorie.kelman@googlemail.com
