IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Leven Street, ALEXANDRIA, G83 0SR

See Image for another view of the building (formerly the local buroo, now converted into housing), and for further details. The present photograph additionally shows an open area opposite the building. Housing was later built on that space: compare Image and Image

The name "Mews" often suggests the former presence of stables in an area. However, this building, Millburn Mews (122 Leven Street), was previously the local Buroo (cf. Image); it has since been converted into housing. In this photograph, two white doors are visible on the front of the building; above the door on the right, the date 1936 appears, along with the royal cipher of Edward VIII: Image See Image for another view of the building, and Image for a later development nearby.

These details appear above one of the front doors of Millburn Mews. For more information, and for a view of the building itself, see Image

The area is called Riverside. The large building left of centre is being built on what was previously a grassy area in front of Image (visible at the far left in the present photograph). The Image are on the right. As for the buildings that were under construction when this picture was taken, they are in Leven Street. According to a plaque on a stone at the north-western end of the development, this area of new housing was officially opened by Keith Brown MSP, Minister for Housing and Transport, on the 6th of June, 2012. See also Image, taken when construction was complete.

The large building shown left of centre is one of several that had recently been built on Leven Street (the others are behind it). They were completed just a few months before this picture was taken, and they were officially opened in June of 2012. Compare Image, which was taken while construction was in progress. The section of track in the right foreground is a footpath and cycle route that follows the western bank of the River Leven; it continues along the road on the right.

Bonhill Church Vale of Leven FC ground and Vale of Leven Academy

The bench is by the footpath / cycle route, near Image and Image The upper part of it has a small information panel attached to it, as does another bench nearby. These panels were installed by the Leven Group. On the two benches in this area, they commemorate: ● Renton-born poet Katherine Drain (1868-1904), the daughter of a block printer in the local textile industry. ● Roderick Random, the main character from Tobias Smollett's picaresque novel "The Adventures of Roderick Random" (first published in 1748). See also Image and Image About 300 metres north of here, there is a similar group of benches in the area around Image They commemorate the following people (given here in no particular order): ● "Wee Bourax/Boorocks" (pronounced [ˈburəks], and more a spoken than a written name, so the spelling varies): nickname of James MacFarlane (1817–1870), Town Crier and general odd-job-man in Bonhill; short in stature, but a local worthy. He is said to have disliked his nickname. One of the local church ministers, through a misapprehension, would address him as "Brooks", believing it to be his surname. ● Colin M Liddell: a local cinematographer and historian; his film archive serves as a valuable record of life in this area. ● Alexander Govan: a local industrialist, associated with Image Govan Drive (Image), near that building, is named after him. ● Richard "Skeets" Gallacher (1925–2013): World's Best Amateur Flyweight Boxer, 1946; born in Renton, and a relative of mine. Gallacher Way in the Cordale is named after him (see Image). His nickname came from the American actor Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher (note the different spelling of the surname), and was acquired when, at the pictures as youngsters, Richard and his friends saw the actor's name appear on screen. ● W F Frame (William Flint Frame): a music-hall comedian (1849?–1919), sometimes listed as a "comic tenor"; born in Partick. The panel says that he was popular in Alexandria and district, but this does not seem, to me, to be a very strong local connection. I suspect, though without anything other than my intuition to back it up, that his commemoration here may be an attempt to salvage something from the results of confusion with a different William Flint Frame (1905–64), who was born in this area (Alexandria) and later moved to Toronto. It is possible that there are more of these benches elsewhere in the area; those listed above are simply the ones that I have, up to now, noticed in passing. I should add that the panels include more biographical information than I have provided above.

Riverside flats, Alexandria.