Mount Zion and Quarriers

[Russell]

Did anyone see tonights BBC Scotland programme on the fate of Mount Zion church in Quarriers village?
It has been called The Children's Cathedral and is a beautiful building in its own right.
It is now under threat of being turned into flats (for the rich) in the middle of a village which was established to cater exclusively for the poor and abandoned and take them out of the slums of Glasgow.
The whole village is under a conservation order so - lets surround the building with car parking -extra large spaces of course!!
Although Quarriers no longer look after orphans the entire village is of huge historic interest nationally and my feeling is that it should not be left to local politicians who, themselves are under pressure to provide new places to live at lowest cost, and may not have the best national interests at heart.
Should the nation pay to have the Church maintained so that the beauty of the interior is not lost?
I can't vote because I have an interest. I go there every day to work. Jealous?

Russell

[joette]

Yes I did catch the end of the programme after work.It is such a beautiful building.I was especially touched by the people who wanted it to remain a place of worship & found myself qouting Mammy from "Gone With the Wind"
"It just ain't fitting,it just ain't fitting".
There are too few places of manmade beauty & peace.This is one let the yuppies make alternate arrangements.
PS Where you on-screen?

[Russell]

Hi Joette

No I wasn't on screen although quite a few of my friends were.

I work in the village for Quarriers organisation 'teaching' carers and the building shown where the congregation currently worship was Bethesda where my office is. They use the rooms on Sundays and we use them the other days of the week. Not a satisfactory solution.
The village is wonderful. Every house is different (William Quarriers idea) and there are no fences or hedges so its open parkland with big houses dotted around and lots of mature trees which were mere saplings when the village was first built.
The village is in a valley and every day I drive in there the tranquillity of the place grips me.
The whole place is a National Treasure. I know I live in the past but it is still here today.
I have no faith so its not religion that motivates me but the inside of Mount Zion is lovely and needs to be kept as it is.

Russell

[rita]

Hello Russel
A former neighbour was brought up in Quarriers Homes I met him the other day and I asked him about the church you wrote about but he told me he never saw the inside of it but he knew of it and said he saw the report of it, he prob would have been there around late 1930/40's but spent 5 years in the TB Sanitorium which he said although wasn't a great place to be in but was a welcome relief from the cottage and house parents he had ( the stories he has told over the years are horrendous) his brother was also raised there but after another horrible incident was taken away
as he suffered fits. The next time he saw his brother was just a few years ago when the police called and asked if he would accompany them to identify a body they believed to be his brother which it was, he said although he hadn't seen him since he was a boy he knew straight away it was him. I know conditions probably changed over the years but for some the memories stay with them .
He also told me the boys wore Tackety bits which he hated.
I know this has nothing to do with the church you wrote about and I am sure it is beautiful and hope it can be saved.
Regards Rita.

[Russell]

Hi Rita

Thanks for your comments
I used to wear tackety boots too in the 1940s and I wasn't in an orphanage.Boots for winter and 'Gutties' (black plimsolls) for summer. Bare feet were even better and I wasn't underpriviliged.
Tell your neighbour that the whole of the old Sanitorium has been converted into flats but priced out of the reach of ordinary mortals. When it was opened as a hospital it would take people(adults) in for care and bring the children in to the main home so the family wouldn't be split up. That was caring I feel. OK not all care was compassionate in every house (or 'cottage' as they are called) but in my childhood when big families were the norm what they got at home was not much different!
Quarriers have the only residential assessment unit for Epilepsy in Scotland and its been in existence for years. They understood epilepsy better than most and were much more accepting of its consequences.

Russell

[rdem]

Where do I start? My Mother and her twin sister were sent to Quarrier's in 1908 after their Father had died. Their Mother had died ten days after their birth due to birth complications. For the most part my Mother had only good things to say about Quarrier's. She said that they were looked after and well clothed and fed. The only missing she said was hugs.
She remembers the church and how they were given a gift at Christmas usually, ribbons for their hair.

My brother and I visited there in 1992 and were kindly given a tour by the manager Mr. Bill Dunbar. He explained some of the history of the place. The "cottages " were large houses that housed about twenty children to give them a feeling of community, not in a barrack style bedroom. The house mothers were usually single women who were Christians who felt that this was their calling as much one would have had in those days to go as a missionary to save the "heathens" of Africa. Of course there were some instances of abuse, one particular was caught pulling a boy down the stairs sitting because of a bed wetting incidence. The abusive ones were usually sorted out.

We came away with copies of any correspondence from their files and it was paltry. In fact the only mention of the girls was when some one wrote on their behalf or visited, all in the hopes that that relative would make a donatioon. there was no mention of the schooling or their health records.

[Russell]

Hi Rdem

Bill Dunbar is still around and in good health.
Back in the early 1900's Quarriers was still very much a charity with a total dependence on donations to keep the place running! It was founded on the principle of philanthropy and Christian giving and never rattled collecting cans or any other public collections of funds. Staffing was always an issue but the idea of 'house parents' who could teach the children a trade or domestic skills was adhered to as much as possible. Children who were going out into the world would learn a skill which would make them employable and independent.
Recently a lady, in her eighties visited and showed me the office she worked in, as had her older sister, just before she left Quarriers. She was thrilled to see it almost unchanged after all these years. Although the school was provided in the village, the teachers were the responsibility of first the Parochial Board and later the local authority so Quarriers would have no records unless there was something special about the young person's attainment which would be broadcast to the whole village.
Did your mother keep a written record of your health? House mothers with 20 children to look after most certainly could not. They were there to give 24 hour care and support not write up daily logs as we have to do now.
Nowadays there are all sorts of government payments to maintain someone in care. Back then it was work or die. Blunt, but that's the way it was!
Hope this has informed

Russell

[rdem]

Thank you Russell for explaining the the schooling procedure at quarriers I wasn't aware of that. Secondly, regarding the health records I only mentioned that in my supposition that an institution of Quarriers stature would have been compelled to keep health records. Of course it was a different time.
I have read Ms. Magnussen's book on Quarriers and it really gave an insight to how the home was built and maintained especially the how the funds were raised.

[Russell]

Hi Rdem

I was thinking about laws and regulations and suddenly realised that when William Quarrier set up his Grand Plan it wasn't even that. It was something that, like Topsy 'just growed'.
A law was just about to be passed which prevented children from going down the mines below the age of 12. another one prevented the mill owners from forcing children to do more than a 12 hour day. There were virtually no laws which even considered the welfare of children so anything he did was done without having to seek permission from anyone. He did try to keep good notes about the family of any child taken into care but often there was no-one to give the information. Some of them were literally plucked off the street !
There was segregation of children but this was normal at school certainly. My Primary school had separate entrances for Boys & Girls - carved into the stonework. In Quarriers cottages 3 or 4 children shared a room and it was less tempting to the older boys(girls too I suppose but I can't speak for the opposite sex!!), to house children of the same gender under a separate roof!!
The history of the place fascinates me but has to be considered by the standards and values prevailing at that time.

Russell

[Russell]

Well folks

This thread has just lost its cause!

A decision by the scottish Office/parliament/whatever has given the go-ahead to a developer to turn the Children's Cathedral into a dozen luxury flats.
This shows the value our legislation place on Heritage.

I could, probably will, weep!

BMWs and Daimlers sweeping up to the central focus of an orphan village.

Just as well there's a filter to block the language I'd like to use.
Thanks those who voted. It made me feel a little better.

Russell