Charles Bannerman

And how could I possibly have forgotten the Guibarellis, especially as my daughter, when she was still at school, worked in the Hilton Chippie along with Mike G and Mike M, Caley D's brother? I believe JoJo, of course, was something of a character!

I would agree too. But I also remember being taken to the Palace Cinema (for years now the Bingo Hall on Huntly Street for the benefit of the under 50s) to see "Lorna Doone" when I was about 4. And as the hero kissed the heroine, I stood up and shouted something like "never mind about that, just get on with the film!" Memories also of regular visits to the front stalls of the Playhouse or the La Scala on Saturday afternoons when Caley were playing away. Usually the profit made from collecting the lemonade bottles at the previous home game would cover the shilling it cost to get into the pictures. It was strange to come out from three hours in the dark into bright sunshine (and several hours' scratching if it was the La Scala you were in!)

Goodness me, this thread started with memories of Eastgate but it's now producing some cracking reminiscences of old Dalneigh! I don't know if the waste land behind St. Valery etc was for safety reasons or not but what we used to call "The Back of Kavvies" (ie the area behind Brian Kavanagh's house in St. Valery) played a huge part in my early development. It was there that I discovered that I was no good at ball games - cricket or football - but the hours and hours spent running about attempting to play the latter probably epitomise the fitness gulf between my generation and the current one. Then there were games of "war" in the undergrowth where we liberated either Western Europe or Burma in battles where everyone had a machine gun (ur!, ur!, ur!, ur!, ur!, ur!..... yer dead!... No ah'm no.. yah missed!) Or if it wasn't war it was Hide and Seek. These games of War remind me of Commando comics which were so good at illustrating the seriously limited vocabulary of the Wehrmacht.... "Gott in Himmell", "Achtung Englander", "Donner und Blitzen", "Schweinhund", "Dumkopf".... and not much more. The Japs were worse. All they seemed to manage was "Banzai" .... and occasionally "Aieeee" if they got shot. (Strangely Germans didn't seem to utter "Aieeee" when they got the bullet which, in Commando comics, they did frequently). But I digress and to return to the "Back of Kavvies".... climbing up on the of the "Garages" and jumping from one to another was also a favourite pastime and of course as you wandered about the undergrowth you did, from time to time, happen across the odd abandoned copy of Parade. It was also there that we built our bonfire and "guarded" it for nights on end in case intruders from the Ferry or Laurel Avenue had ideas of premature combustion. Then, on bonfire night itself, everyone brought their fireworks (or at least the ones that hadn't been chucked into unsuspecting residents' gardens) for a wonderful, communal display of Roman Candles, Catherine Wheels, Squibs and Rockets. A long time ago now, though.....

Caley D.... where about on the canal (even) side are these numbers missing in St. Valery? St. Valery, like Hawthorn Drive, also has Swedish houses along part of one side. In St. V, they are part of a mini Swedish "estate" also comprising St. Mungo, St. Ninian and St. Andrew. I have had the impression (wrongly perhaps) that these Swedish houses are a little newer than the stone ones beside them. Was it the St. V stone houses or the Swedish houses or both which went up in 1954. We went into a Swedish house in St. Andrew in 1958 but weren't the first tenants. I remember that because of the complete tip the place was when we inherited it!

Still not convinced. I still have an ominous suspicion that this is Johndo in disguise. By the way, that 15-0 defeat by Caley of Golspie in the North Cup was en route to Caley's last ever trophy, the North Cup in 1994. The final ended in a 1-0 defeat of Forres at Kingsmills and the only goal of the game was scored by the man the Caley Rebels loved to hate.... Alan Smart! Caley 100... were you doing the Cross? I left just before 3:30 so you must have had a pretty decent time.. unless you were a walker, in which case, still RESPECT!

It was in the North Cup in 1994... January I believe. I remember taking my son to the first half and then having to go to Kingsmills for the second half of the last Thistle - Clach derby up there. On another matter... I'm just wondering if "f*ballers wife" might, in reality, be a BLOKE?! In fact I'm just sensing that this might be another of Johndo's wind ups in the best traditions of Greenbhoy Larsson?

I only met Mrs Bergamini once when she was and old lady getting a hip prelacement with my mum in 1980. Seems to have been a bit of a goer in the 50s and 60s.

Sandy! Now there's a memory! The sound of the wind in the Dalneigh school fence. It used to travel for a long way and could certainly be heard clearly in St. Andrew Drive about quarter of a mile away. It was, indeed, quite scary at night. Certainly when we moved into Dalneigh from Kenneth Street late in 1958 the school was complete and up to P7 and the Church was there. I don't remember a hut at all. Presumably Hamish MacIntyre was the first Minister. I only remember one person ever claiming to have seen him without that (not very natural looking) "rug" on his head. He used to come into our class every week to pick up the kids with polio and take them to the baths.

Fitness Suite? Don't worry about it! It's just gone the way all other terminology has in education. Pupils have become Students, The Remedial Department has become Support For Learning, asking kids questions has become "Assessment is for Learning", the timetable has become the Curriculum for Excellence..... and the ricketty old weights machine in the corner has become the Fitness Suite!

Sandy... are you sure Dalneigh School wasn't complete in 1957? I went into P1 there in August 1958 and I had always been under the impression that the school was new but not split new. If the Church wasn't complete in 57, does anyone know when the Rev MacIntyre came to Dalneigh? He was certainly in the Manse when we moved into St. Andrew Drive, which backed on to his garden (and apple trees) late in 1958. And did the Rooneys move to Dalneigh by the 50s. I remember a Mary Rooney in may class in Dalneigh. Scotty... might it be the Swedish houses between Caledonian Road and Limetree Ave that were newer than the rest of Hawthorn Drive?

Expensive! I really can't see the point of paying about 40 quid a month to look at a wall when you can go and run in the wonderful outdoor for nothing. You'd be amazed at how good an overall fitness regime you can devise for yourself without the cost of going near a gym.... where the training of the staff can be... to say the least... variable.

Whilst trailing home from Dalneigh School at lunch time to the strains of the Hovis advert I used to dream of an ideal lunch of Broth, Mince and Tatties and Fairy Pudding... which was a kind of frothed bit made frrom egg white and a custardy sauce made from the yolk.

Caley 100 - I think many of these brown or formerly brown harled houses in Kessock Ave, West, North and South Drives, might be 1930s, possibly in common with bits of Bruce Gardens and Dochfour Drive. The immediate answer to the post war housing shortage was the Prefab, some of which are still there in Sunnybank Rd off Culduthel Rd. Then Dalneigh and Old Hilton saw a lot of expansion in the 50s - hence also the construction of the similarly designed primary schools in these areas. For 14 years, from 1958, I lived in a Swedish House in St. Andrew Drive which I believe was 50s construction (and when the Beatles "Submarine" came out, we all sang "We all live in a Yellow Swedish House"!). I also remember a "Tom Fraser" Old Inverness piece in the Courier a few years ago detailing the creation of the "Electric Flats" in Bruce Gardens, Dalneigh Road and St. Valery Avenue. The houses down the middle between St. Mungo and St. Margarets are definitely mid 60s because I remember them being built. So it's not just in recent years that Inverness has seen rapid changes to its housing stock. Jock... you would be able to tell us definitively about the Ferry Houses etc. And I suppose if these houses weren't down the Ferry by 1940, there could have been no West Drive Platoon of the Home Guard under Captain Dyce to repulse invading Panzer Divisions!

Apparently there is an elite group which includes Germany, France, Italy, Greece and England. The withdrawal came from within that group so first choice of replacement also has to be offered within that group.

Never mind, Jock. I'm sure that, with Dan Dyce around, the Germans would never have been able to mount a successful invasion of South Kessock in 1940. Dan would doubtless have hit Rommel on the head with a large boulder. In fact, I'm sure that the gentlemen of the Wehrmacht were fully aware of the inadvisability of attempting to invade South Kessock at any time! What chance would a mere Panzer Division have against the West Drive platoon of the Home Guard?!

bigmack.... I have to admit to having lived in Wick for my first 2 years although I was born in Inverness. Gringo... I think even Berriedale may be better than it was way back in 79. And, switching to your preferred mode of transport, it's geographical features like Berriedale that force the railway line right inland on the last stage of its route North.

Caley 100 .... the journey "up ee rodd" isn't that bad. It's about 107 miles from the Caley Stadium to Wick .... it's closer than Perth.... and if "ee rodd" is fairly quiet it can be done in a couple of hours. "Ee rodd" isn't all that bad either apart from The Ord and Berriedale, and much better than it used to be, for instance before the Kessock, Cromarty and Dornoch Bridges and the improvements at Dunbeath. As someone who has joint Caithness and Inverness roots, although essentially an Invernessian, I'm delighted to hear that there's support in the far North for the Highlands' SPL club.

Bonzo.... don't get too wound up about this! You'll soon realise that Johndo is unique and often not to be taken literally.

R reg? Youngsters! My first car was a Simca NJS 829 K, bought for £825 from Ian MacKenzie (147 club and ICT Management Committee) when he worked at the Inverness Motor Company in Strothers Lane. Sometimes it did feel a bit steam driven!

Indeed, by now that seems highly unlikely!

Markies' front door and Burger King to be sure!

Hey... footballer's wife... you're spoiling your image by showing able to describe motors of that vintage! If you're not careful, people will start wondering if the footballer you're married to is somebody like Ginger MacKenzie or Jupie Mitchell!

Thanks A96... just couldn't remember the name. Was the Cafe George not quite close to the Balmoral as well? Remember also the old style waitresses in the Carlton on Inglis Street... much loved by under age drinkers of the 60s? (The Carlton I mean - not the waitresses!) There's a classic photo of Eastgate in late Victorian times - I think probably by George Washington Wilson - which I've seen in various locations about town over the years. I don't THINK it's one of those they now have in Morrison's Supermarket where there's certainly a good one of The Haugh about 1950 and the Friar's Shott round about the same time. There's another one too. I don't think it's Eastgate... more likely the Town Hall with the Forbes Fountain in front of it. I'll check when I'm in tomorrow.

A96 I think you might be talking about the Cafe George but on the other hand there might have been another cafe quite near that too on the same side. Then in an earlier era (late 50s) there was The Queensgate ?Snackbar? just to the Church St side of Frasers the Butchers on that side. I think it disappeared quite early on though. Did there not also used to be an office of Duncan Duffy, travel agents, on Queensgate. PS - the reason I wasn't sure if it was called the Snackbar was that when I was about 4 I used to call it the Queensgate Talbot beause I once spotted a Sunbeam Talbot outside!

Although not food, there was (is?) also Fornari's hairstylists on Academy Street, opposite Bar Pivo (Inverness Royal Academy in a previous existence). NB - I was a Diggar's man myself! David Balfe, of course, wrote the ICT song "Bring It On Home". I remember sitting beside him at a Suporters' Club Dinner in, I think, 1997 where I was guest speaker.