 Looking
at the home
page I
notice that
the Gala
theme this
year is
boots and
shoes and
this stirs
old
memories.
Quite often
though, I
see Maybole
being
described as
a small
market town
in South
Ayrshire
which in my
time, during
the nineteen
thirties and
forties, is
or I should
say was,
only
partially
true. At
that time it
was quite
the bustling
metropolis,
if only a
small one,
what with
footwear
factories,
tanneries,
agricultural
implement
manufacturing,
the railway
and a very
robust
commercial/merchant
infrastructure.
Of course,
the
agricultural
industry
surrounding
the town
always
played a
huge part.
My very
first job on
leaving
school in
the forties
was with
John Lees
Boot and
Shoe
factory. I
can still
remember how
I approached
the office
of Alex Lees
with a great
deal of
trepidation
for a job
interview.
Mr. Lees
asked me a
few
questions
then as a
final
question he
asked me the
Latin name
for a farmer
which took
me by
surprise,
however,
having just
left Carrick
Academy I
still
retained a
few remnants
of what they
taught me,
or tried to,
so I was
able to
furnish him
with the
right
answer.
Anyway, he
must have
been
satisfied
with with me
as he
instructed
me to start
work on the
following
Monday.
I started
working in
the general
office and
recall
sitting at
what seemed
to me to be
a very high
desk on a
very high
stool but I
think that
was just a
matter of
optics at
that time as
I was rather
short in
stature,
still am.
As time
progressed I
took over
office
printing
responsibilities
from
co-worker
Jimmy Heron
who was
moving on to
bigger and
better
things, with
another
company.
This was in
addition to
my regular
duties which
also
included
taking an
empty syphon
on a sack
barrow down
to Boyd’s
the chemist
once a week
to be
replenished
with soda
water.
When the
syphon was
re-filled I
had to
trundle it
back up to
the
residence
where Mrs.
Lees, Alex’s
mother,
showed me
where to put
it.
All in all
the job was
educational
and quite
often I was
dispatched
hither an
yon
throughout
the factory
for this
reason or
that, which
gave me good
insight into
how the
various
parts of the
footwear
were put
together and
combined
into
wearable
units.
Many of the
boots had
tackets in
the soles
with heel
and toe
plates, they
were great
for sliding
on the ice
during the
winter, much
to the
consternation
of our
parents, as
that
exercise
soon
demolished
the tackets
or
hobnails.
Some
footwear
contained
sparables
(headless
nails) on
the soles
and heels,
those were
probably for
people not
wishing to
slide in the
winter.
During the
war, Lees
also
manufactured
boots for
the
military,
especially
jungle boots
for the
troops
fighting in
Burma.
Much as I
enjoyed the
sights and
sounds and
smells of
the boot and
shoe
manufacturing,
and the
daily hike
up Kirkland
Street, the
Red Brae and
over the
Townend
Brig, like
Jimmy Heron
I also moved
on to bigger
and better
things, the
London
Midland and
Scottish
Railway.
Jim McAlpine
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