Glencaple 1939 -1940  Dalmarnock pupils evacuees 

May 2002.  James Thomson   DPS 1936-1943           

I just love these photographs........a big thanks to Jim for sending them to me.
During World War II Jim and many others were evacuated from the densely populated Glasgow
to quieter regions in Scotland.  
.Photos taken Autumn 2001 

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GLENCAPLE revisited 2003

.Another example of the power of the internet and another success story for our website .........extract from e-mail May 2003 Dear Mr McArthur I am running a project with the senior class at Caerlaverock school, Glencaple, in which we are looking at the buildings and the history of the town. We were very interested to hear that pupils from Dalmarnock were evacuated to school in Glencaple, and one of the things the pupils will be doing is trying to imagine what Glencaple would be like to a visitor from the city. At the end of the project we will be holding an exhibition in the Barbour Hall and thought it would be nice to invite one of the evacuees from Dalmarnock to open the event. I wondered if you would be able to put me in touch with anyone who remembers the village. Many thanks, Anna Johnson I contacted former pupil James Thomson and passed his e-mail onto Anna, Jim was delighted, contact was made, and Jim went along as an honoured guest, here is his report. June 2003

"The Glencaple project was carried out under the aegis of the Nith Estuary National Scenic Area. This is a body answerable to the Scottish Office and is one of several such area bodies in Scotland devoted to the securing of the environment and culture of certain specially designated areas. Anna Johnston, your contact, works for this organisation. I learned more about it when I was there.  However., to the details of the day. I spoke to the upper classes of Carlaverock School (it's in Glencaple, but is now the school for the entire parish of Carlaverock - total pupil numbers, 60) and then answered the inevitable  questions - the headmistress had eventually to call a halt for lunchtime, so my audience was very interested - they were a  very attractive bunch of weans!  The village is very different from that which I knew but it is still geographically much the same. I related some of the scrapes I got into, with the stern warning that they weren't to attempt to imitate the crimes of a Glesca Keelie. They were interested in the fact that, when I went back to Glasgow I didn't feel that I was going home - the opposite, in fact - I felt that I'd left home, since I had indeed "gone native" and that my time in Glencaple had left a permanent mark on the lad from Brigton. Mrs Winters had asked me to convey a message of goodwill to the school, which I did, and one of the staff (I forget which) wondered if there was any possibility of a link of some kind which might be profitable to two such very different schools as Dalmarnock and Carlaverock. I didn't take the idea any further - that's not my place - but I'll mention it to Mrs Winters. I duly opened the exhibition, which was the fruit of some hard work by the children and was very imaginative - the usual models, maps, comments by the children, and this being the age of Microsoft, a Powerpoint presentation of them actually carrying out the various tasks. Agnes and I spent some more time in the village, reminiscing with various people about names and families I had known sixty-odd years ago but there are not many inhabitants today who can continuously trace their time in the village back to the thirties - Glencaple has changed from the pleasant community I knew to a pleasant residential village. Even the old, strong, dialectic Glencaple accent has gone. We thoroughly enjoyed our day - old men enjoy reminiscing about the past, but I think I had the pleasure of actually revisiting it.   Jim Thomson

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Headteacher Mrs Winters July 2003 I'm so pleased Jim's day went so well and the children of today obviously enjoyed quizzing him about his experiences. I have shared the info with staff and children and hopefully in the new session , we too may forge some interesting links through correspondence with Glencaple school.

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