Elderpark reunites former Hills Trust School pupils for Big School Dinner
Housing association celebrates restoration of former school with dinner event.
School days are the happiest days of your life – or so the saying goes. And, for one group of former pupils of an iconic Govan school, their trip back in time came complete with a ‘Big School Dinner’ to rekindle their classroom memories.
Hills Trust School, near Glasgow’s Govan Cross, is a landmark building which has lain empty for many years, having educated tens of thousands of children.
The building, with its recognisable bell tower, was built on land bequeathed to the Govan community and named after philanthropist Abraham Hill. It is a distinctive B listed building.
Now, Elderpark Housing is bringing the 19th century blonde sandstone building back to life as new offices for the association while constructing a major new housing development nearby.
The work on the former school is primarily funded by Elderpark Housing but with support from Glasgow City Council through the Govan Cross Townscape Heritage Fund and Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme.
To celebrate its restoration – due for completion at the end of the year – Elderpark threw a Big School Dinner event and sought to track down former pupils and those with a connection to the school. And when 40 of them gathered for the event, memories of their time as pupils of Hills Trust came flooding back.
On the menu was a distinctly school dinner-themed lunch comprising mince and potatoes and doughballs, rounded off with caramel shortcake and custard.
The meal was served by a team of young people from charity Aberlour.
Among those who attended was 90-year-old Joyce Fraser of Johnstone, Renfrewshire, who attended Hills Trust from aged five to nine, beginning her schooling in 1934.
She was accompanied to the Big School Dinner by her cousin Margaret Thomson, 85, who is also a former pupil.
Joyce Fraser said: “Each day, in Hills Trust School, class work included writing with a slate pencil onto a slate. Drawing was another daily activity. We used thick greasy crayons in books of dark grey thick paper, interleaved with tissue paper to draw different items each day.
“My class spent a day at the 1938 Empire Exhibition held in Bellahouston Park. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for our class. I recall the scenery, the buildings, the people from other Commonwealth countries, the opportunity to taste food from those countries, and the thrill of visiting the Tait Tower.”
Gary Dalziel, Chief Executive of Elderpark Housing, said the Big School Dinner was an important occasion to reminisce – particularly for older former pupils.
He said: “The memories came rushing back for them as they remembered, with great fondness, their time at Hills Trust School. That is exactly what we hoped to achieve as we celebrate bringing back to life an iconic Govan landmark.
“We are very grateful to the Govan Cross Townscape Heritage Initiative for helping to fund the Big School Dinner.”
Pictured: Joyce Fraser (left) and cousin Margaret with the slates they remember from their schooldays.