BBC - Scotland on Film

Alfie Smith. Posted 14 Apr 2002.
Stonehaven in the 1940s was the place I spent my childhood. It always seemed to be long hot summers then and Stonehaven filled up with summer visitors only to then empty itself again for the winter months. It was in those winter months that one would hear the old folk say that Stonehaven was just a one horse town. I used to wonder what they meant by that, because I knew of at least two horses. One pulled the milk cart that delivered the milk, where everyone would queue with their milk jug in hand and the milkman would fill the jugs with his measuring dipper from the churn. I remember one day when he found a dead mouse in the churn and he just lifted it out and, in full view of everyone, he shook the milk off it back into the churn. There was no waste and very little hygiene in those days. Then there was the horse that drew Kennaway the bakers van. I would ask the driver, Andy Simpson, if I could go with him on his rounds to which he invariably agreed. Then I would sit up top beside him and pretend that I was riding shotgun on a stagecoach to Dodge City, keeping a wary eye open for robbers.This horse was replaced by a three wheeled electrically driven van, which just goes to show that electric vehicles are not a new concept.

	BBC Homepage Scotland

»	Scottish History Scotland on Film film/radio clips broadband player by theme by location a to z Forum Newsletter Tour Site guide Live Chats Web Guide Nation on Film BBC History
	Contact Us