A memory, but short of the details.

I was in Troon this afternoon and  indulged in a wee diversion in order to take this picture.

It was taken  at the bottom of Darley Place, just round the corner from Bentinck Drive where  I was brought up. 

My Uncle John and his family  lived further up the street but in one half of this building (I think, though am not sure, the right) which is further down just by the railway line my paternal grandparents lived .

After when we moved back to Troon ourselves as a family in 1959, I recall visiting my grandmother there.   She lived with my Aunt Janet, who got married after my grandmother died and moved to her husband Andrew's  farm outside Annan. 

I know have seen a picture of me as a baby  being held by my grandfather, who was blind,  at the door of this house (I think) and I need to find that too.   It would have been taken in late 1953 or early 1954  as  he died shortly thereafter. 

The house next to it (on the left)  operated as a little school run by a Miss Hunter and her sister who lived there.    It was where I had some of my first  formal lessons .

On a positive note they gave me a good grounding .  On a negative it was where I was forced to learn to write with my right hand, even though I am naturally left handed.  To this day my handwriting is appalling.  

Between the buildings is a lane which leads to another house.   I recall what appeared to me to be a old man who lived there , and whose dog was named Dileas - Gaelic for "faithful".  It is a common dog's name in the islands and I wonder if he was a native Gaelic speaker.   

Anyway that was a brief memory voyage.  At some stage I will try and update it with researched fact !