I had the pleasure of knowing Sidney Devine through his ownership of the Harbour Lights Pub in Irvine and his hotel at Alloway, by Ayr, near his home.
I supplied catering and bar equipment for both enterprises for Sidney and Shirley and the Harbour Lights was a total revamp from old harbour workers pub to an upmarket joint with higher class food on offer.
My then business partner David Blair and I were sitting in the hotel one day discussing supplying glasswashers for the bar and opposite us at a table for two was a young couple who had just been served their meal. Shirley nudged me and nodded towards Sidney so I turned and saw him carefully watching the interaction of the waitress and the young couple. As soon as the waitress disappeared into the kitchen he nipped across to the table and asked if the waitress had offered them sauces and other condiments. They replied not and Sidney dived into the kitchen returning with a tray full of sauces, vinegar and mustard etc! He was nitpickingly fastidious that people deserved the best service possible.
I had installed a stock control cash register at both establishments and one Saturday night my wife and her sisters and their pals (all nurses) were all having a supper and drinks at our house when the phone rang at 11:45pm.
It was Sidney; " Ian, Help! the cash register has jammed and we're full to bursting, can you come over?" He was a hard man to say No to so I went over to Irvine toute suite. There was a crowd outside drinking and dancing and inside a band was playing loudly ... the cash register jammed because it had too much money stuffed under the spring clips and they prevented the drawer from opening ... problem solved with a carving knife from the kitchen and the party continued.
The determination in the man wasn't just in his music business, he was just driven to be as good as you can be at everything you do.
In conversation I mentioned the artificially lowered rail bridge at Bellside and its unnecessary roundabout ( my own belief was that they had raised the road surface to lessen the gap between road and bridge to force South bound lorries to use the new M74 link to the north and spare Airdrie from all that heavy traffic) and Sidney told me he came from Cleland.
The same group of nurses and I had a night out at the Ayr Gaiety Theatre to watch Sidney and they were over the moon when the second half of the show saw Sidney bound onto the stage in a white cowboy outfit with sparkling stars and sequins and from then on it was Country & Western, including 'Blackboard'.
Sad to know he's passed, he was a 'Legend in his Time'
cheers, Ian
