The Seagrove Sessions- Episode 6- Olivia's tales from Leith in 1940s and 1950s.

It's part three from Jeanette. We hear about her first flat on the wrong side of Elder Street, the side that was being demolished for the St James shopping centre. That's the one before the present the new one. Then we hear all about life on Piershill Square West. This is Jeanette so they are lively tales, told in an earthy way. Yes there is swearing but you won't hear it, just the blanks!!  We finish with more stories from her time managing Pickwicks bar. Raucous fun, telling it has it was. Enjoy. 

More tales more Doris, who we heard from in episode two of The Seagrove Sessions. We hear more about her job at W& AK Johnson, the printers. How her classrom was set up at Lochend primary school. Her job as an usherette at The State picture house, on Great Junction Street. Earning extra money for a Spanish holiday. Quite the adventure in 1959.

For information about North Edinburgh Dementia Care's Seagrove Centre check us out on Facebook- NEDC- The Seagrove Centre.

Great memories from Betty, from the 1930s and 40s. Tenement life in The Pleasance, on the southside of Edinburgh, where her grandprents lived. Every child's dream- her granny had a sweet shop! Betty's evocative stories give a real sense of what it was like to be brought up in a close knit family before World War Two. Also what it was like to be one of the families who moved out from the crowded tenement to one of Edinburgh's new housing schemes. We also hear about her wartime stays with her aunt and uncle and the many visits to airbases in England. A child amongst the fighter and bomber aircraft.

As always, fascinating memories from a member of North Edinburgh Dementia Care's Seagrove Centre.

For more information go to: www.nedc.org.uk or find us on facebook- NEDC Seagrove Centre 

In episode 16 we return to the vivid and entertaining story telling of Jeanette. This time its all about growing up in the mining village of Newton, Midlothian, in the 1950s and 60s. Childhood in the village, the mischief she got up to: including stealing cabbages and turnips from the farmer's fields and taking a dare to jump a barbed wire wall. She still has the scar on her knee from that adventure. We hear a local piece of rhyming slang and how to prepare the house for hogmanay visitors. 

Check out the work of North Edinburgh Dementia Care at www.nedc.org.uk or on our Facebook page- NEDC Seagrove.

Episode 15 of the Seagrove Sessions is something a little different. It is an interview with a loved one of one of our members at The Seagrove Centre. 

Kathleen tells us about being a carer, not only for her husband Ronnie, but before him her mother. It is a candid, pragmatic and honest account of looking after a partner who is on their dementia journey. You hear about the trials, tribulations, and practicalities of being a carer. About the guilt and frustrations. You will also hear about the importance of humour, of being adaptable and being kind to yourself.

The recording was made in June 2023. We are very sad to relate that Kathleen passed away a week ago.  It was a privilege to have interviewed Kathleen and we will all miss her at Seagrove. We feel that her wisdom and practical experience was invaluable and will resonate with so many loved ones and carers of those who have dementia.

For information about North Edinburgh Dementia Care and the Seagrove Centre go to www.nedc.org.uk or our Facebook page NEDC Seagrove Centre.

In episode 14 we head to Lincolnshire and the great fishing port of grimsby. Judith tells us of her childhood and growing up in the town. From her father being a policeman and her uncle working in the docks, its a fascinating glimpse of bygone Grimsby. Memories of the sound of people going to work in their clogs or the waves of workers on their bikes starting their shift. We hear about her dancing days, locally and in The Winter gardens, Cleethorpes. Working for the gas board doing cooking demonstrations and marrying a Blacksmith.

We hope you enjoy. Check out our work at www.nedc.org.uk

Episode 13 sees us listening in on a conversation between Judith, Doris, Vi, Joan and Eleanor. Lots of laughs and memories. Dance halls and waiting for an invitation to dance, the perils of Ice skating on speed skates, swimming at Portobello outdoor pool and its famous life guard and wave machine. Learning to swim in the North Sea! Playing in the street and in the park- and we learn what chummy seats were! 

For more information about The Seagrove Centre and North Edinburgh Dementia Care please go to: www.nedc.org.uk

Welcome to episode 12 of the Seagrove Sessions. An episode not only full of memories but thoughts on life. What a long life it is too. Mary was born on the Isle of lewis in 1935. She moved to Edinburgh in 1955. We hear about being brought on the island. Collecting the peat, life in a Black House. How independent people had to so far from the main land and her Grannies's firm belief in education. What comes over is Mary's positive view on life. All delivered in that wonderful, soft Hebridian accent.

For more information about The Seagrove Grove Centre go to www.nedc.org.uk 

Episode 11 of the Seagrove Sessions see us on the beat with Ricky. The local bobby patrolling his beat is a much missed form of policing. Ricky worked in The Grassmarket, Royal Mile and Craigmillar areas of Edinburgh in the 1960s. We hear about helping to clear a rowdy pub, being on a night shift, helping out a local chip shop and the most important item in a police box. Also the serious side of the job and making an arrest after an attack at a Grassmarket disco.  Stories how a uniform copper in the locality was such an important part of the community. 

This episode contains adult language. I've always wanted to say that. Fear not though the adult language has been silenced but you'll get the gist. It's a cracking episode from Jeanette. Tales of being brought up in a Midlothian mining village, one of a family of 14. We learn how to work for Littlewoods on Princes Street but still go dancing at the Palais on a work day afternoon. The tedious task of boiling beetroot at Rankin fruit shop. What it was like to work in a posh hotel. The main event though is managing Pickwicks bar at Piershill. These are the real stories of running one of Edinburgh's livier bars. The fighting, the singalongs and lock ins. The selling of 'knock off' at the side door. All the tricks of the trade. A decidedly earthy episode of The Seagrove sessions.