8 MINUTES 49.2 SECONDS

Last November my father George Swan or the “Auld Man” as he was affectionately known, died at the guid auld age of 93. He was born in Perth in 1928 in North Methven Street to Jimmy and Margaret. After finishing school at 14 his mother decided he needed a job and she knew a baker that was needing an apprentice, so off they set to the bakery. As it happened he wasn’t in and the rest is history. The history being my father started an apprenticeship in plumbing instead of baking and served his time with Moffat and Carscadden. His brother Jimmy, you probably gather by now it’s the family name, was also a plumber and had set up his own business in the Craigie area of Perth taking over the premises of McIntyre and Son, Priory Place, Perth. To cut a very long story short my father joined his brother and went into partnership with him. McIntyre having been a well established business at one time with a name above the door and reams of headed note paper they thought why change the company name and from then on the Swan brothers remained McIntyre.

My father married my mother in Abernethy in 1953 in the kirk in the village and set up home in the very same house I bide in today, Ivy Cottage. My father’s hobby long before he married was cycling and going by the number of medals I have he was very accomplished in that sport. He was one of the founder members of Perth United Cycling Club and I still have one of the original blazer badges they had made at the time.

He was a very keen hill climber and competed in many events throughout Scotland. One of his success stories was the Abernethy Annual Hill climb. The route of this race was from the bottom of the Glenfoot road to the cottage at the top, before the road drops away to Strathmiglo, two and a quarter miles. I am not sure of the year but he broke the race record by 25.8 seconds held by Tommy McLeod of the Dunedin Cycling Club. The record he set was 8 minutes 49.2 seconds and he held the record for a number years before it was broken, although I am not sure by whom.

All you cyclists out there, have a go, only 8mins 49.2sec to beat.

Jimmy Swan