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airgweilo

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  1. I remember two of the news agencies mentioned, with crystal clarity: Ward's (of Eastgate) and Bowes (on Young Street). They were (for a number of years) owned by my grandfather, F Gordon Harper, who was - at one time - a Baillie on the Inverness town council. As, indeed, was his older son, Frank Harper who famously won the MC in 1956 for bravery during the Mau Mau Campaign in Kenya. My mother was Gordon Harper's daughter, and we lived in Surrey in the south of England, due to my father's job. But every year, we came north to Inverness to see our grandparents - Gordon & Ina - who lived in a house called 'Maybank' at no. 20 Island Bank Road. When my grandfather died in April 1965, my grandmother Ina sold Ward's, but kept Bowes, which went from strength to strength under her stewardship, doing far better than it had even when my grandfather was alive, surprising us all. I guess we'd somewhat underestimated my silver-haired gran! As I got older, my uncle, Frank, would take me out on early-morning newspaper delivery runs whilst I was up on holiday in Inverness. This involved getting up at something like 4:00 am to get washed, dressed and breakfasted before going to the warehouse to pick up the newspapers. Then, it was off to Bowes for twenty minutes of frantic sorting and bundling, before the papers were loaded into the back of the Bowes small grey mini-van, and we departed on the first of two delivery routes, which saw newspapers on the customers' doorsteps in time for breakfast. Delivery consisted of Frank slowing down to a walking pace, handing me the newspapers for a particular house, and grinning mischievously, as he would warn me about the particularly aggressive dog which guarded this particular customer's house ... I spent a lot of the delivery routes at high adrenaline levels. For the record, not a single dog ever attacked or even menaced me - indeed, I never so much as saw even one dog in all the deliveries I ever made. ? From the time from when I was age of 16 to when I was 20, we didn't see much of Inverness, due to my father securing post-retirement jobs first in Africa, and then in the newly-independent Bangladesh. But we returned to the UK in 1976, and selling the house in England, and moving to Inverness - to a house on Island Bank Road, just 200 yards down the street from my grandmother who still lived in Maybank. By this stage, Frank had moved down to Livingston, but I would now spend university holidays helping out in Bowes, behind the counter. But after graduation, I moved to California, and in 1979, my grandmother sold Bowes (and Maybank), and moved in with my parents, before she passed away in January 1980. I visited Inverness for a week again in 1982, but it wasn't the same for me anymore, and a year later, my parents sold their house on Island Bank Road and moved to Australia. I was back in Scotland in 1988, but never again visited Inverness until 1998, when I brought my wife to the UK to see the some of places where I'd grown up, which had been particularly important to me. In 2005, I brought my daughter to Inverness, but Bowes was no longer there. I never did learn what happened to Bowes: did it fail? Was it again bought out, this time for its location and then turned into the Mexican bar & restaurant ('Mambo' ... ?) which (I think) now occupies the same premises? Although Inverness has changed, all places do and it still appears to thrive. I miss the old Inverness, nonetheless. But then, we all miss our childhoods.
  2. My grandfather, F. Gordon Harper, used to own and operate a bakery on Telford Street in Inverness, not very far from the old Inverness Caledonian football stadium. It was either named "The Telford Bakery" or "The Highland Bakery", although I must admit I'm not sure. This was long before I was born, and all of that I know has been told to me by my mother, Helen, who was Gordon Harper's daughter. I believe my grandfather bought the bakery in 1930 or 1931 upon his return from Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. In 1937, he sold the bakery to an Englishman named Commander Vyner, who had come north to invest in the Highlands. Gordon Harper became Vyner's GM, and continued to oversee the bakery's operation as part of his duties. After the Second World War - in about 1947, I believe - my grandfather bought the bakery back from Vyner, and went into partnership with his younger brother, Jim Harper, who had returned to Inverness from New Zealand in 1934. In about 1953, my grandfather sold the bakery again (this time to his brother, Jim), and bought the news agency "Bowes" at 32 (?) Young Street on the west side of the River Ness just across the road bridge, and subsequently acquired another news agency "Wards" in Eastgate. Grandad died in 1965, and my grandmother - Mrs A A 'Ina' Harper - continued to run both news agencies. Wards disappeared during the first redevelopment of Eastgate, but Bowes continued in the family until my grandmother sold it, too, in about 1977. Ina Harper died in 1980. My grandparents, Gordon & Ina Harper, lived on Island Bank Road, owning two houses there - 'Valleyfield' at no. 27 and 'Maybank' at no. 20. Neither house has been in the family for decades, with Maybank being sold off in 1978 and Valleyfield in 1984.
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