As someone born and reared in the Village of East Kilbride, I would like to dig into my memory and share with you some of the interesting facets of life as an altar server, before the advent of the New Town in the last century. I was born a mere stone’s throw from the wee chapel in 44 Murray Place. This wee chapel, which can be seen in the aerial view of the Village taken in that era, was located in Glebe Street, where I became an altar boy between the age of eight and nine. I was taught the Latin of the Mass by Hugh South, known locally as Sparrow.

I well remember the names of fellow altar boys down the years: Danny McQuade, Owen Traynor, Peter Hasting, Jim Caulay, Matt McGhee, Jim Harkins, Willie McCann, John McQuade, Billy Madden and Thomas McGhee. Other names have slipped my memory. The priests I remember were Father Battel, Father Boyle, Father Gibbons, Father Brooks and Father Kilcoyne_

Of course, as a regular server at the Seven O’Clock on a Sunday, there’s one aspect that sticks out in my memory. It was the fact, if you were serving Father Battel at this Mass, it was, to use a colloquial term, a “short back and sides shot”. In other words, to accommodate the Sunday workers, it was carried on at an express speed so that they could clock-in at their respective workplaces on time. My late father used to catch the SMT bus to Bridgeton at 7.15.

May Processions were very much an integral part of our Parish activities then. These processions started off inside the church, proceeded out into the garden surrounding the church. My First Communion Day comes vividly to the fore of those memorable events - especially the aftermath of the service, when we were taken round to Micky Burns’ Fish and Chip Restaurant for our Communion Breakfast. No hotshot discos to follow in those days!

And how about this, you present day altar servers? A trip in a Volkswagen car with Father Walsh to Hairmyres Hospital and the other one at Philipshill to serve Mass for the benefit of Staff and patients.

Many priests have come and gone in my lifetime as an original villager and a resident of the New Town, which came into existence in 1947. Perhaps too numerous to recall in this short reminiscence. First of all, the wee chapel was knocked down to be replaced by a sturdy wooden church in Glebe Street. Father Kilcoyne was eventually replaced by Father Kilpatrick - later to become Canon Kilpatrick. If my memory serves me correctly, his first curate was the late Father Givens and then Father Clements. Older parishioners with their roots in the Village certainly had nostalgic longings for the wee chapel, but soon took to the spacious comfort of the wooden church, which with the influx of an expanding catholic population was decidedly required to accommodate original parishioners and the incomers. As the old saying goes, you can’t halt the force of Progress!

So further progress has rolled on within East Kilbride with the building of that striking brick edifice on the hill of Whitemoss Avenue.

The architecture and the man who designed the church building, Jack Coia, have been the focus of much controversy since the church was officially consecrated. However, those of us, who have grown up with it, especially those who have been involved in worshipping in a tiny chapel and then the wooden church, have adapted to feel very much a part of the church that has long become known by its dual name of Fort Apache. Now that we have a Canon again, in the form of our Parish Priest Canon Ryan, the armoury of our Faith should be stronger.

In summing up, I can state categorically, that I am proud to have had the opportunity to put down in print my memories of fifty odd years of the New Town of East Kilbride with a vested interest in it, as one born and reared in the Village. Could I finish on a real high note of the pride I have for the town and village, which is the memory of that cherished moment, when I witnessed my late Father, John Wright walking down the aisle at the Kirkin’ of the Council as the Provost of his beloved EK.

I trust that I have highlighted some of the succession of events and names, with which I have had the privilege of being actively part of as a parishioner of St Bride’s Parish.

Peely Wright