Norrie GlesgaPal

Norrie was was born in Wales 25th June 1945. His mother and father were in the Air Force.
He was brought up to Scotland, Glasgow at a very young age but it was before 1947 when his sister was born in Glasgow.

He remembers staying with his granny ( his fathers mother) in Mansion St Possilpark, lived there till he was about 8yrs in Huntershill St. Springburn in a single-end, gas lit, coal heated, cold water flat, shared toilet, then the family got a brand new flat in Shapinsay St Milton, what luxury! A bedroom for his sister and him , a bath, electricity in every room, hot water when the fire was burning, a far cry from the single end .
First he went to Elmvale Primary school 1950 before transferring to Miltonbank Primary School. At 12 he went to Colston, left at 15 in 1960, went to work in A.J.Mains in Hawthorn St, served his time as a Template Maker, worked in various engineering works in Glasgow, a spell as a joiner in the building trade before going to work in Babcock and Wilcox in Renfrew, where he was employed as Process Engineer from 1974 to 1993, isn't it always the good jobs that you lose! He had 4 months on the dole before getting a job as a Concierge with Glasgow Housing Association. He worked in Norfolk Court at Gorbals Cross, that is where his interest in Gorbals started from.

He now lives in Rutherglen and has done so for 28 years (as of 2007) with his wife Claire.

When he started working as a concierge in Gorbals he came up with the idea of putting old photos of Gorbals in the foyers, money was found and also a collection of Gorbals photos that included many that had not seen the light of day. The foyers looked great for some time but one by one the toerags wrenched them off the wall. again money was found to replace them but sad to say the same thing happened, Norfolk court where he worked has had all the photos placed in the foyer where the concierge station is, so far so good.
While he was doing this project he kept saying to the guy that gave him access to all the collection, there is a book in this, well go and do something about it he said. The result was a book called The Gorbals An Illustrated History, Norrie didn't write it but is mentioned in the fly leaf for the idea and technical help, His fifteen minutes of fame he said!. Norrie still meets Gorbals folk who don't know that the book exists, such a pity. If any one wants to know where to get it , get in touch with him. He retired in..2006.

The photo on the right was taken at the GlesgaPals Sept 2006 swally.
Norrie is a fantastic help at these GlesgaPals get-togethers, organising the kitty and making sure everyone is looked after - an invaluable GlesgaPal, and we have become firm friends.

P.S. the snazzy photo with Claire was taken a long time ago, 1970 in Venice, lovely shorts Pal!