Eye on Millig: NATO facility ended use of Glen Douglas School

The story of the country school has been told in Eye on Millig this month by local historian Alistair McIntyre, a director of Helensburgh Heritage Trust, and a former pupil.

Miss Adamson resigned at the end of the 1930 session, her replacement being Miss Agnes Archibald who had family connections with Garelochhead.

In August 1930 Dr McHutchison, the county director of education, visited to explain the new library system.

This was the start of a twice-yearly consignment of library books for the pupils and some for adults, the school now serving as a branch of the county library service. The books were available for six months.

From this point the director of education paid an annual visit to the school, and for some time brought the two crates of eagerly anticipated library books. The school did have a library, courtesy of J & P Coats of Paisley.

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The portable three-valve wireless must have proved less than ideal, with another wireless set installed in May 1931. It was described as working perfectly.

In June 1933, Miss Archibald resigned, as she was to marry. Her husband-to-be was Dugald Black, a shepherd employed by Graham Cooper at Craggan Farm.

The Coopers lived in the farmhouse, but with the marriage and then the start of a family by the young couple, they vacated it for them and moved to Helensburgh, where they already had a home.

Well-known in the town, they ran the Cairndhu Hotel for many years, while still managing the farm from a distance. When Dugald retired in 1957, he was presented with a prize by Sir Ivar Colquhoun for 30 years of service with the same employer.

Miss Agnes (Nan) Colquhoun took up the reins at the school, and had a brother and a sister with her at the schoolhouse. Most of the teachers, including those who were unmarried, usually had a family member there as well.

In 1934 one pupil left school to proceed to further studies, this time at the Vale of Leven Academy. That left only three pupils on the roll at Glen Douglas.

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In June 1935 the children were being taken by car to the Loch Lomondside School Sports at Luss, courtesy of Mr Taylor at Tullich Farm. At Christmas, the custom continued of each child receiving gifts from Sir Iain Colquhoun’s Christmas Treat Fund.

In April 1936, Miss Colquhoun left to become headmistress at Muirlands School, and she was replaced by Annie Ross, a recently qualified teacher from the Vale of Leven, and her brother, John.

The HMI report that autumn stated: “There are five pupils, one of whom is in the senior division, as well as one junior and three infants. Attendance has been maintained at a remarkably high level.

“Accommodation and equipment are very satisfactory. The school has a good water supply. The young teacher is carrying out her duties very conscientiously.”

The school roll had two additions early in 1937, with the arrival of the six-year-old Morrison girl twins. They lived in a railway cottage at Morlaggan, which meant a long and potentially dangerous journey to school.

1937 also saw events marking the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The children received Coronation mugs. There was a Celebration Party, the school closed for a week in May as a special holiday, and later in the month there was a half-day holiday to mark the King’s birthday.

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The end of that session saw four children achieving perfect attendance for the school year.

1938 brought the Glasgow Empire Exhibition, and on May 2 the school closed for a day to mark the official opening by the King. In September, the school closed for a day to enable the teacher and children to visit the exhibition.

It was a happy time, but with the onset of war in 1939 things were going to be very different. Unlike the Great War, the Second World War quickly made its mark on the workings of the school.

One of the most tangible signs was the arrival in the glen of child evacuees from built-up areas.

After closure of the school for a week in early September 1939 - by government decree - the roll was swollen by four evacuees, adding to the 10 resident children. A fifth evacuee also turned up, but he was found to be too old.

Before the end of September the three Morgan children from Clydebank had returned home, and a boy from Glasgow had as well, leaving no evacuees on the roll. This outcome would appear to have been all too common.

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Being uprooted from their surroundings and taken to such a different place, with no family support, must have been traumatic for many of the children.

There was at least one other evacuee at the time of the 1941 Clydeside Blitz, but his stay seems to have been short-lived. Some evacuees elsewhere, such as several at Glenmallan School, were able to arrange to stay with relatives in the countryside.

Another reminder of troubled times came with the construction of an air raid shelter across the road from the school. It was built of brick with a concrete roof.

January 1940 heralded the onset of very severe weather, with deep snow drifts, and it was not until mid-February that normal school life resumed.

This was far from uncommon - the setting of Glen Douglas meant that there were many more extremes of weather than at places nearer sea level. Snow and ice could linger far longer, and wind and rain were all the more ferocious. The winters of 1895, 1947 and 1963 were especially severe.

The end of the war brought major social change. The much-delayed raising of the school leaving age to 15 years finally took place, and with it the progression of pupils from one school to another.

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Like other similarly placed schools, the designation of Glen Douglas now changed from public school to primary school.

A new challenge now reared its head. Since all children were now expected to attend a secondary school on reaching the requisite age, this meant attendance at Hermitage School in Helensburgh.

For most children in the glen, the only practicable way of doing so on a daily basis was by means of the local train service. Children needed to be at Glen Douglas Halt for 7.30am.

Margaret McNiven recalled travelling daily with younger sister Jessie from the late 1940s onwards. They lived at High Craggan, which meant a walk of a mile to catch the train.

“We’d be in Helensburgh about 8am,” she said.

“When we got to the school, there was nowhere to go, and we just had to hang around until classes began.”

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For pupils living further away from the railway, it was even worse. When George Shaw attended Hermitage in the early 1950s, he faced a walk of over three miles to catch the train. This meant getting up very early.

George’s plight came to the attention of the Sunday Post, and a major article highlighted his case. The Shaw family moved away from the glen soon after, and attendance at school may well have been a factor in this decision.

Despite the age cut-off now in place, the school roll had swollen by 1947 to 12 pupils, and Helensburgh District School Management Committee reported to the County Council that the classroom was too small.

By early 1949, the County Council was drawing up plans for a replacement school. However, as had happened before, the situation changed very rapidly. At the start of the new session, the roll had shrunk to a single child.

By December the arrival of a new family meant four more children attending, and before long, several more pupils appeared. Miss Ross relinquished her post at the end of session in 1952 to become headmistress at Luss.

When the new session began in August, no replacement teacher was in post, so the children were taken by taxi to Arrochar Primary School, an arrangement that continued till the end of the year. In harsh winter weather, the taxi was frequently unable to reach the glen because of ice and snow.

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It was not until the start of 1953 that a new teacher, Mrs Elizabeth Woods, was ready to start.

The local press reported that only two out of four candidates had been deemed suitable, and it emerged that there had been “lively debate” within the Education Committee as to whether 50 was too old.

This was not due not to any inability to teach at that age, rather because of the living conditions. But Mrs Woods settled in quickly, supported by her husband, a retired army officer.

She soon became very popular with the local children and their families. However, she began to experience serious health problems, and it was found necessary to take the children to Arrochar School on several occasions.

Despite medical treatment, Mrs Woods passed away within 18 months of her appointment.

There was prolonged delay in appointing another teacher, and for the whole of 1954-55 the children were taken by taxi to Arrochar School. Once more, bad weather meant weeks of absence.

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The local community began to have serious doubt as to whether the school would ever re-open, and they brought their anxieties to the attention of the education authority. But by the summer of 1955, another teacher was appointed.

When the new session started that August, Mrs Kate Melrose was able to welcome back the half dozen pupils. As with Mrs Woods, she had her husband there to offer the support needed to run both school and home.

She resigned her post at the start of 1960, and they set up home in Lanarkshire. A new teacher, Miss Marjorie Fraser, was appointed, and she was supported by her sister.

Not very long afterwards, however, the even tenor of life in the glen was given a serious shock.

From 1955, surveyors had been active in the northern half of Glen Douglas, measuring and mapping the terrain. There was talk of a “hush-hush” government scheme, but there were few facts.

By 1962, civil engineering contractors, headed by John Howard of London, had begun to transform the landscape on a mammoth scale. Initially a NATO facility, this would eventually become RNAD Glen Douglas.

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The project was to provide storage facilities for a huge underground ammunition store. Carried out under the auspices of the Admiralty, a private road was constructed to Glenmallan, where a large jetty was also built.

Many suspected that nuclear weapons were being stored in the glen, and a number of CND marches targeted the installation. But after a question in Parliament, it was stated that no nuclear weapons were being kept there.

For the school this led to significant changes. Five homes at the western end of the glen were demolished, as they were too close to the military installations. One, Tullich Farm, was relocated further down the glen.

The MOD built several terraced housing blocks, comprising 16 households, to accommodate employees. But the Admiralty stated that the school could not continue at its existing location.

Discussions began with the County Council over the possible relocation of the school further down the glen. But the talks came to nothing, and the school closed its doors for good in 1965.

There were 14 children on the roll, of whom eight were from MOD families. Several of the children were from the household of Billy Scott, a married shepherd and past pupil. His parents, Bob and Helen Scott, shared signalling duties at Glen Douglas Halt.

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Now the glen children once more found themselves being taken to Arrochar School.

Miss Fraser, now retired, and her sister, were permitted to continue living at the schoolhouse until it was demolished in 1970, when they were relocated to Garelochhead. She died in 1974.

It was truly the end of an era. Today, while there may be more people working in Glen Douglas than at any time in the past, the resident population is tiny, and Doune Farm is the only working farm left.

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Email your suggestions for historical Helensburgh and Lomond topics that could be covered in future Eye on Millig articles to milligeye@btinternet.com.