Book description
'Poverty is a very exacting teacher and I had been taught well'
The post-war urban jungle of the Glasgow tenements was the
setting for Molly Weir's childhood. From sharing a pull-out bed in her
mother's tiny kitchen to running in terror from the fever van, it was
an upbringing that was cemented in hardship. Hunger, cold and sickness
was an everyday reality and complaining was not an option.
Despite the crippling poverty, there was a vivacity to the tenements
that kept spirits high. Whether Molly was brushing the hair of her
wizened neighbour Mrs MacKay, running to Jimmy's chip shop for a
ha'penny of crimps or dancing at the annual fair, there wasn't a
moment to spare for self-pity. Molly never let it get her down as she
and the other urchins knew how to make do with nothing.
And at the centre of her world was her fearsome but loving Grannie,
whose tough, independent spirit taught Molly to rise above her pitiful
surroundings and achieve her dreams.
Molly Weir was born in 1910 and grew up in Glasgow. Best known for
her role as the character Hazel McWitch in the BBC TV series
Rentaghost
, she appeared prolifically on TV, radio and in film.
Shoes Were For Sunday
received great acclaim when first published in 1970, and became a
bestseller. She died in 2004, leaving the proceeds of her estate,
including the royalties from sales of this book, to the poor and elderly
of her beloved Springburn in Glasgow.
