Born in Kyle

by Billy Kay

THE SUB TITLE of my book is A Love letter tae an Ayrshire Childhood and to paraphrase Lewis Grassic Gibbon in Sunset Song, it is a fond recalling of the “far off youngness” of my life. Mine was the last of the pre-television generations so my first decade was lived in a Scottish rather than a global village. My family had belonged to Galston for generations as weavers, stonemasons and miners, so the book was a celebration of their culture, as well as a record of my own personal experiences. My time in life was also important. When you reach three score years and ten, you realise how exotic the past appears to the modern generation, so I was anxious to preserve a perspective on the rich culture I inherited. I hope I have added to the culture with the book. This is from the chapter Hame:

Luikin back tae Gawston in the 1950s, whit comes intae ma mind mair than ocht else is the sense o belangin tae a community. That in itsel brocht comfort cause ye were happit in the warmth o an extendit faimily. But it cam wi responsibeilities tae – ye cuid be blythely heidin doon the road for a gemme o fitba at the public park, when an auld bodie, ony auld bodie, cuid cry oot tae ye an say, “Come here, son, wad ye run a message for me? Awa doon tae the bottom store an get me hauf a punn o ham for ma man’s tea. Here’s hauf a croun an I’ve written doon ma store nummer in case ye cannae mind it.” There wis nae wey ye cuid refuse an auld bodie, sae ye had tae trauchle awa doon tae the shoap an back while yer pals got tore intae wan anither at the fitba. Noo ye invariably got a wee reward o a threepenny bit or some sweeties, but whit sticks in ma heid noo is the communal nature o it. Ony auld wumman cuid commandeer ony wean gaun by their windae tae run a message for thaim. It wis jist the duin thing.

The chapters that get the greatest response of course are ones where I recall the anomalies of Scotland’s position in the Union and the ongoing struggle for independence culturally and politically

Stanemasons at the biggin o the Higher Grade Schuill in Gawston c 1908. Billy’s great grandfaither William Kay, Maister Mason, is seated on the richt aside the wee boy.