CHARLIE
CROSS : BORN 1 APRIL 1955: DIED 18 JUNE
1995
Our dear brother Charlie Cross would have been 71 today.
He
was born at the William
Smellie Maternity
Hospital, Lanark, on 1
April 1955, to John and Daisy Cross, a second son.
Our
Mother said that " he was like a leopard " when born, covered in
spots, owing to some blood disorder.
My first memory of my brother Charlie is seeing him in his pram
with a pretty white hat, made of cotton, tied round his neck in a bow. He was
just so tiny, and he cried a lot. It must have been his first or second
summer and my third or fourth.
Daily ( our Mother)
got us ready to go out. I was expected to walk, reigns attached. I
couldn't grasp who this other little chap was, but soon got used to him.
Our Mother took us out
regularly down the Wishaw Low Road.
Another favourite jaunt was down the High Road, towards the Calder Water and
Swinstie, where there were always a nest of swans.
Somehow, I remember the
sun was always shining, the pavements were hot to walk on, the tar on the roads
even melted sometimes. There was also a peacefulness in the air. The traffic
was lighter and slower, the Calder Water was clean and free of smells and
effluent. This was a 50s childhood, in a small village in Lanarkshire where
coal and iron ore mining had been the principal occupation for over a hundred
years.
Charlie had a reputation
as a singer and his rendering of old gospel hymns was very moving. As a party
piece he did a marvellous take on Zena Zavaroni " Ma, he's makin' eyes at me..." We
did try a few duets together, we disappeared at the seaside to make a record in
one of the record booths that were popular in the 60s & we repeated our
" Someone " in later years, at New Year parties, in London.
Charlie had the chance to
go to agricultural college when he was 11, it was regretted later that he did
not go there. As_it was he transferred from Cleland and Omoa JS School to Coltness High School and ended up leaving
school at 16, in 1971. He joined our father then, who had started his own
central heating business in 1970, and the running joke for years was that
Charlie was the very oldest_apprentice in Scotland. The two of them became
inseparable as Oil Heat Services Lanarkshire.They didn't always agree and much of
their work was dirty and spent out in all weathers. But they were both good
engineers and very reliable.
Charlie looked forward to
his weekends off and this was spent in the company of a small crowd. Saturday
night was club night, for years with best pal, Frank Keenan. He developed
a very skilful singing act on the clubs circuit, taking the micky
out of TV adverts& helped raise money for many good causes.
Dear Charlie suffered a
great deal through his long illness after kidney failure, and the dialysis ordeal took its toll. But, he could be
amusing & witty & sometimes impossible, but always brave. Charlie remained
close to our brother Keir, they had been in the house together with our parents
after I left Scotland in 1972. Keir moved South in 1983, but they had memories
and experiences that I didn't share and they both had a interest in sport, both
played together in the Bellside football Team, usually overseen by Bellside weans. Charlie, like Keir was a good goalie.
He had a rigorous regime
of having to attend the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow three times a week, Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays, he was on a dialysis machine for 5 hours at each visit and he did this for 8
years. In between he had numerous operations and repairs including two
horrendous, failed kidney transplants. Charlie’s life was full of illnesses.
He died on 18 June 1995, aged 40.
There is a good word for
Charlie that sticks in my mind and it was in fact the word used by Rev Mr
Wilson, of Cleland Parish Church, to sum him up in
his funeral address. That word is EXTROVERT.
He is still very much loved and missed.
Happy Birthday, Charlie.
With Charlie ( right) at Holytown Churchyard at the grave of our Pettigrew grandparents - c1991.
Charlie is also remembered in other anecdotes in my book " BEECHWOOD : A STORY OF CHILDHOOD"
William Cross, FSA Scotemail
williecross@aol.com
