Fergie, many thanks for that, I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve walked by that building and never noticed the bush on the apex, what I find!
Re. Soapy, my memories of him are from Baker Street, I remember him wearing the army greycoat, held together with a piece of twine around his waist, and a bunnet. I don’t think it was a kitbag, I remember Hessian sacks that he carried, that used to jingle, jangle with empty bottles that he collected.
But most of all, his stick! When us kids would shout out ‘Soapy’ at him, he would grab the stick at the end and hurl it at us running after us at the same time, I don’t recall him ever catching any of us.
My dad would occasionally help out in Dugald Campell’s or Cullen’s the butchers in Baker Street, and auld Tammie would come into these shops on the cadge for some scraps, which he would always get. My dad would always give him either a shilling or two bob whenever he met him in the street.
I can remember quite vividly one day my dad came round the corner from Friars Street into Baker Street and Tam was standing at the window of Paige’s bar (The Star), my father told me later he honestly didn’t notice him and crossed the street to walk up the Street. Auld Tam was furious, and shouted abuse at my dad saying, ‘Jock, if ye werna guan tae keep it gaunin’ ye should nae hae sterted it in the first place.’ My dad hadn’t given him his ‘tap!’
I remember some of the stories I heard about Soapy was that he slept rough out at the King’s Park Farm, I recall seeing him walking out Dumbarton Road, and it was said that he was very intelligent who had lost everything when he hit the drink. One story about him that was often repeated was that it was said that he could write the Lord’s Prayer on the back of a postage stamp, but these are just memories now.
I’m coming to Stirling within the next couple of months to catch up with some old friends, I’ll ask any of them if the remember auld Soapy Moray, a real Stirling worthy.
Cheers