Cornton – Our Story

Sheena has retained her maiden name of Dorrington and recalls moving to a bungalow style prefab in 1948 having moved from the town, where her memory of the conditions in which she lived with her parents was similar to Jane Dallas: –

“My Mum was born in Yorkshire and my dad was a Lancastrian.”

“I stayed in Montgomery Street, a wee prefab, there were only five houses in the street, two at one side and two at the other, and we were in the middle, my Mum, Dad, Grandpa and me. Mr Hamilton was next to us, across the road was Mrs Galloway, Mrs McAllum and Mrs Loudon. We were all great neighbours.”

“My mum thought that they were great luxury when we walked into the prefab, obviously, she’d been in a big room, in the town. They were brand new when we moved in and when she walked into the house she thought that she was in heaven. There was a boiler in the kitchen for the washing, there were double sinks, a lovely cooker, and a fridge! There were loads of cupboards and drawers, but the living room never had cupboards. We had a coal fire with wee windows on it. It was so good. There were two bedrooms, a wee one at the front and a big double bedroom at the back next to the bathroom. We had some lovely times in the prefab. We were lucky, being in an end house we had a driveway for the car. My dad had a garage in Doune he started his business in 1947. My Grandpa had a car as well.”

“My Mum loved her garden and created a rockery at the end of the lawn so that they had the driveway at the other side of the rockery to go up and down with the cars.”

“We had a coal cellar as well! It was fantastic! The coal man used to come and deliver the coal. When I think about it my rocking horse was kept in there too!”

“During the war time my Mum used to work issuing the Ration Books but had to stop that when she had me. My Grandfather was in charge of the Mill at Cambusbarron.”

“On a Friday night we used to go to the Community Centre and there were competitions and you got a prize if you were singing or such. You got half a crown if you won but you had to sing and dance your heart out because, I went to dance classes. My Grandpa had got me a beautiful blue party dress and I sang “Alice Blue Gown” and “I took my penny you see, to see the tattooed lady!” I used to win quite a lot. My rival was Veronica Dick, she sang all the Scottish songs but she didn’t dance!”

“We had the first telephone box in Cornton at the top of Montgomery Street.”

When asked if she recalled the Allotments beyond the Rubber Works, Sheena said that she used to cycle daily to Riverside Primary School past these allotments at the corner of Cornton Road and Causewayhead Road “…I always thought that they were gardens…” she said.

Sheena confirmed that the houses in Castle Vale were constructed along with the establishment of Cornton Vale Prison. Initially they were accommodation only for Officers at the Prison.

“Every Thursday my friend and I would go to Springkerse to a facility where the prisoners were trained in Beauty treatment and we would be dealt with by the prisoners who were being trained there.”