Days at Ruthrieston Seconday School

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This is a sub section of Early and school days which was split as follows.



Ruthrieston Secondary School



  Like Cults Primary, Ruthrieston Secondary is no longer there, and I don't have a photo. However I still have the school magazine. The year was 1957.

I quite liked Ruthrieston, and I enjoyed the new subjects we met. There was English and Maths, and Science of course - all of which I would continue to study, but there were also technical drawing and metal work and woodwork. These really were interesting.

At technical drawing we learned all about side and end elevations, and perspective. At metal work we got to use some super machines to heat and bend metal bars into useful tools - I made a screwdriver, and at wood work we wore funny white aprons and learned how to sharpen a pencil with a chisel - but first you had to sharpen the chisel and at the right angle. Nowadays it would all be considered too dangerous, but I don't remember any lost fingers. All of these were useful skills and I would have been perfectly happy to take them all much further.



  My sister had been learning to play the violin so this was my chance to get my own back. Page two of the above Ruadrian is an article by yours truly on the joys of having a "violinist" in the family. The article reads :

"O woe is me. What have I done to suffer this? On my returning from school one day, I was greeted by strange and weird noises coming from the living room. Further investigation revealed my sister struggling to play the scale of "G" on a violin.

Being musically minded, I thought, with time, this would improve, and so resolved to tolerate the situation. Bit by bit the music did improve, but the "screeching and wailing" increased in intensity and could only remind one of a sawmill working overtime. Things had come to a pretty pitch when even the cat meowed piteously to be allowed out, and my dad could always find some excuse to tend to the car whenever this violin was produced. No job outside the house was too big for me to tackle and no shop too far away to which I would willingly run errands in order to escape these hours of practice. With time came the day when she had to discard her small violin, but, nothing daunted, home she came with a bigger violin (which can produce still more noise) and with books of scales (Major and Minor), Chords, and everything to dement a sane person

Patience and perseverance overcometh all things and we have reached a stage of compromise where we can sit and listen to the strains of "Barcorolle" and music which we are now able to distinguish. The cat, too, can sleep peacefully to the strains of a violin. Iain Reid, IB2"

There were several jokes on the same page -not by me - and the first I thought was very appropriate piece of editing, following the above :
Soloist - "Did you notice how my playing filled the hall?"
Tom - "Yes, I saw several people leaving to make room for it"

Well, what else do I remember about Ruthrieston. I remember some of the teachers one of whom tragically committed suicide. I remember the end of term concert, and the excellent singing of a pop group formed from the older pupils. And I remember especially my very best friend Rex Thorsson, with whom I managed to keep in contact for several years - but then lost touch. Rex's dad was Swedish and Rex had a lethal foreign bike - the back brake worked via the pedals - back pedal and you braked. This was a great idea once you were used to it, but I kept forgetting and getting caught unawares. Rex lived in a bungalow in Wellbrae Terrace with his mum and dad, and sister Elna. Rex's mum did yoga which I thought strange, and poor Rex did not have a comfy bed at night - he slept on what we now know as a futon - but wierd to an unsophisticated young Iain. Previously the end of this paragraph used to read "where are you now, Rex ? " Well its a long story, but in December, 2008 someone told Rex about these words, and it was a great, great delight when I got an e-mail from Rex himself, and we then had a long, long chat on the phone. I absolutely love it when I am contacted from someone from so far ago !

Anyway I was at Ruthrieston for about half a year, and then got a second chance, sat an entrance exam for Gordons, and the rest is history. But Ruthrieston was a good school, and I had liked it there.




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