An Interview with Margaret Smith
By Andrew Hendry
A 67-year-old pensioner revealed her earliest memory yesterday, recalling the time her teacher’s underwear was unknowingly on view to her whole class.
Margaret Dorethea Smith told how her earliest childhood memory was her first day at Househillwood Primary School, 8 miles from the centre of Glasgow. The pensioner stated that going to school was ‘very exciting’ and remembered feeling a strong sense of independence. With a youthful grin, Margaret told how she and her friends were in ‘fits of laughter’, after her poor teacher’s skirt rode up, revealing her underwear to thirty shocked school children.
Margaret lived in the Househillwood district with her mother, father, three older brothers and her younger sister. She lived a ‘happy childhood’, despite the ‘occasional squabble’ with her sister. Margaret regularly attended church with her family, sang in its choir and was a Patrol Leader of her local Girl Guides. When she reached 15, Margaret left school and started work as a junior in an accounts office, working hard to eventually reach the position of Shorthand Typist.
Margaret married her childhood sweetheart William Smith in 1957, leaving work a year later after giving birth to her first-born, Moira. She went on to give birth to another three children in the years that followed, leaving work to raise her new family. Margaret said that this was very much ‘expected at the time’, highlighting an interesting shift in gender roles when compared to modern-day society.
Margaret now lives in Oxfordshire with William and enjoys reading, holidaying and seeing her four ‘wonderful’ grandchildren.
