The Coach House, the White Summer House and the Green Summer House

When I was seven in 1955, I entered class 1A of George Watson's Ladies' College. The playground at the back of the school was originally the back gardens of the houses which comprised the school building. The playground itself had been tarmacked over, but two summer houses, known as the 'white' and the 'green' summerhouse, were used as shelters when it rained, and the coach was used for storing gardening equipment. To my chagrin, there was never any sign of a coach, or indeed horses. The white summer house was constructed of wood, painted white, whilst the green summer house, was a shelter, constructed of green iron pillars and roofing of light green glass. One could read books on benches in the green summer house. The wooden floor boards of the white summer house, however, were less conducive to quiet contemplation.

In 1958, when I was ten, I left St. Alban's Road, and entered the upper school, then located in George Square, where there was a formal garden in the square itself, surrounded by railings. But there was no playground, no summer houses, and no coach house. Worse than that, we had to share the formal garden, kept by gardeners, with the other residents of the square, and, behave ourselves! A total of fifty girls were allowed into the square garden at any one time. Everyone else had to make do with walking around the square. It was a far cry from the halcyon days at St. Alban's Road!

Sadly, there are no photos of these gardens - if anyone has photos of the Coach House or White House and Green Summer House please do send them on!

Margaret Fleming-Markarian (Class of 1966)