years to play with toys; they also played singing games and had a wonderful

time — this was a forerunner of the subsequent Play School. On Sundays the

Episcopal Church Sunday School (All Saints) met in the hall in the morning.

‘The above summarises the normal week in the Girls’ Club and in addition,

of course, there were Christmas parties, Hallowe’en parties, etc.: all greatly

enjoyed.

‘I ought to add that there was sanitation in the Girls’ Club. Water was

driven by a ram from the burn and the sewage went into a cesspool in the Club

Grounds.

‘The Men’s Club was also started by Mrs. Younger. It was situated in the

Main Street and was open every evening to members. It was run by a caretaker

who lived with his family in a house next door. The Club consisted of a

reading-room with numerous books, dominoes and also a billiard table. It

was popular and much patronised by the men of the village.

‘Armit, baker, Church Street (St. Andrews) had a baker’s van once a week

until the war years when the Guardbridge Co-operative Bakery van called on

Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Butchers called on Monday, Wednesday

and Saturday. William Niven & Sons and also D.P. Niven, Church Street

(St. Andrews) called on alternate days. After the end of the second world

war Guardbridge had a delivery of meat on Monday, Wednesday and Friday;

by this time the other butchers had more or less retired from business.

‘Mr. D. Greig called round the village farms selling ironmongery, china,

soap, etc.’

Miss Agnes Traill has written about Strathkinness as she saw it as a District

Nurse in the village for many years.

‘At the age of 88 one can quite truthfully say “At my next birthday I will

enter my 90th year”.

‘This is a great gambit sometimes played by very old people who enjoy

talking of their great age, but in Strathkinness there was little need for this

for an exceptional number had not only reached this milestone but had passed

it, and though some were sadly affected with failing sight and hearing, most

were physically and mentally alert.

‘A Doctor retired from Public Health, who lived in the village, attributed

this longevity to the blue actinic light of which there is a plentiful supply in

Strath, for few villages in Scotland can enjoy a wider panoramic view to the

North of earth, sea and sky, while I was inclined to think the exposure of its

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