Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2011
17 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Clydebank Blitz 70th Anniversary
Like other members, I congratulate my colleague Des McNulty on securing the debate. As his motion makes clear, it is 70 years since Clydebank was bombed. As time wears on, the number who experienced that first hand diminishes, and it falls to our generation to ensure that those horrific events are not forgotten and that the memories of them are passed on to the next generation.
As Des McNulty said, Clydebank was the target because of its industrial strength and its position on the Clyde. As often happens in war, not all the Luftwaffe’s bombs fell on target. The suburb of Knightswood took a direct hit and 40 people were killed when Bankhead school, which was being used as a civil defence station, was hit.
Of course, I want to speak of the effect on my constituency. Several landmines—because landmines they were—fell in what is now Maryhill constituency. Bill Aitken mentioned one. Another fell in Crosbie Street, close to where I live, and demolished a tenement building. Another fell in what were then open fields west of Duncruin Street. Another hit a tenement building at 32 to 36 Kilmun Street and demolished it. One blast wrecked St Mary’s primary school. Properties in neighbouring streets sustained heavy damage.
Seven people from two families—the Scotts and the Simpsons—died in Kilmun Street on 14 March 1941. They included boys of six, seven and nine years old. It is thought that the death toll would have been even higher if it had not been for the practice of creating strutted closes. Props were put into the mouths of closes for people to shelter under when air-raid warnings went off. Many buildings in the area had that additional support, which for many made a difference to whether they collapsed.
It is fortunate that Glasgow City Council’s archive for the events of the evening of 14 March and the evening before it is extensive. The records show that more than 1,000 telephone calls were made to the Air Raid Precautions station on the night of 14 March, and every one of those records has been preserved, as has been the warden’s report of that night. Like many wartime records, it is surprisingly matter of fact about actions that were anything but. I will quote a short section that demonstrates that. The warden said:
“On reaching post F11 at Lennox Street and Maryhill Road, I found the people rushing from the scene. These were put into shelters in the Tramway Depot at Celtic Street. The wardens at this point were splendid attending to injured and taking the lead in the matter of rescue.
I noticed that the ‘homeless’ would be in the way to any work being done. So I ‘borrowed’ one of the trams and with one of my wardens we drove the homeless to the rest centre at Eastpark School ... We had five carloads before we put the car back to its ‘stable’. It was quite an interesting journey from Maryhill to Bilsland Drive. At some points I had to get out and remove shrapnel that clogged the rails. Our job over.”
Several years ago, as the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, I was asked to unveil a painting by the artist Ian Fleming that the Scottish national portrait gallery had recently acquired. The painting shows Kilmun Street after the bomb hit, when the rescue and recovery work was taking place. Ian Fleming had been stationed as a police war reserve sergeant in Maryhill at the time. What struck me most was that his painting could have been of any one of hundreds of streets in Glasgow, in Clydebank of course, in London or in Coventry at that time.
Des McNulty has done us all a service in helping us to understand events that few of us experienced. It is right that we record in the chamber the great suffering and the enormous human endeavour that took place 70 years ago.
17:29
As Des McNulty said, Clydebank was the target because of its industrial strength and its position on the Clyde. As often happens in war, not all the Luftwaffe’s bombs fell on target. The suburb of Knightswood took a direct hit and 40 people were killed when Bankhead school, which was being used as a civil defence station, was hit.
Of course, I want to speak of the effect on my constituency. Several landmines—because landmines they were—fell in what is now Maryhill constituency. Bill Aitken mentioned one. Another fell in Crosbie Street, close to where I live, and demolished a tenement building. Another fell in what were then open fields west of Duncruin Street. Another hit a tenement building at 32 to 36 Kilmun Street and demolished it. One blast wrecked St Mary’s primary school. Properties in neighbouring streets sustained heavy damage.
Seven people from two families—the Scotts and the Simpsons—died in Kilmun Street on 14 March 1941. They included boys of six, seven and nine years old. It is thought that the death toll would have been even higher if it had not been for the practice of creating strutted closes. Props were put into the mouths of closes for people to shelter under when air-raid warnings went off. Many buildings in the area had that additional support, which for many made a difference to whether they collapsed.
It is fortunate that Glasgow City Council’s archive for the events of the evening of 14 March and the evening before it is extensive. The records show that more than 1,000 telephone calls were made to the Air Raid Precautions station on the night of 14 March, and every one of those records has been preserved, as has been the warden’s report of that night. Like many wartime records, it is surprisingly matter of fact about actions that were anything but. I will quote a short section that demonstrates that. The warden said:
“On reaching post F11 at Lennox Street and Maryhill Road, I found the people rushing from the scene. These were put into shelters in the Tramway Depot at Celtic Street. The wardens at this point were splendid attending to injured and taking the lead in the matter of rescue.
I noticed that the ‘homeless’ would be in the way to any work being done. So I ‘borrowed’ one of the trams and with one of my wardens we drove the homeless to the rest centre at Eastpark School ... We had five carloads before we put the car back to its ‘stable’. It was quite an interesting journey from Maryhill to Bilsland Drive. At some points I had to get out and remove shrapnel that clogged the rails. Our job over.”
Several years ago, as the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, I was asked to unveil a painting by the artist Ian Fleming that the Scottish national portrait gallery had recently acquired. The painting shows Kilmun Street after the bomb hit, when the rescue and recovery work was taking place. Ian Fleming had been stationed as a police war reserve sergeant in Maryhill at the time. What struck me most was that his painting could have been of any one of hundreds of streets in Glasgow, in Clydebank of course, in London or in Coventry at that time.
Des McNulty has done us all a service in helping us to understand events that few of us experienced. It is right that we record in the chamber the great suffering and the enormous human endeavour that took place 70 years ago.
17:29
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Trish Godman)
Lab
The final item of business today is a members’ business debate on motion S3M-7738, in the name of Des McNulty, on the 70th anniversary of the Clydebank blitz...
Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab)
Lab
In the past couple of weeks, we have seen some horrendous images of death and devastation from Japan on our television screens. There is no doubt that the sc...
Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab)
Lab
I absolutely accept the point that Des McNulty is making, but on behalf of people in the east end of Glasgow, I ask him to convey to the people of Clydebank ...
Des McNulty
Lab
I thank Margaret Curran very much for her intervention. I think that other Glasgow members are well aware that the Luftwaffe lightened its load as it escaped...
Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I pay tribute to Des McNulty for bringing this debate to the chamber and I congratulate him on a fine speech. I associate myself with every word in his excel...
Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
I congratulate Des McNulty on bringing the matter before the Parliament. I speak as a member of a fairly blessed generation. Born post-war, I did not have to...
Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab)
Lab
Like other members, I congratulate my colleague Des McNulty on securing the debate. As his motion makes clear, it is 70 years since Clydebank was bombed. As ...
The Minister for Housing and Communities (Alex Neil)
SNP
I, too, congratulate Des McNulty on securing the debate and on his gracious and informative speech.Before addressing the issue, I pay tribute to Bill Aitken,...