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Angus Bradley, better known as Angy, is a popular character in Lochgilphead. Born and brought up in the town, Angy shares some memories with Argyllshire Advertiser readers, and recalls his mother and father’s reaction when he returned from national service in 1955 as a teddy boy.
When I went for my interview at the Post Office the first thing I asked was if you got a half-day off on a Tuesday because everything in Lochgilphead closed then.
I very nearly never got the job for asking that, but ended up working there for 42 years.
I had a retirement party in the Argyll Hotel in Ardrishaig and was wished a long and happy retirement by the bosses, but I was back working there two weeks later because they were short staffed.
I was called out of retirement 38 times on and off.
I joined the Air Training Core when I went on national service, which helped me get into the RAF. The training camp I was at in Hednesford in North Staffordshire had a bigger population than Lochgilphead does now and I had a brilliant two years there.
We were taught discipline and I don’t think national service should have been scrapped.
I was demobbed in 1955 and had become a teddy boy at 19.
I loved the style of clothing.
There wasn’t another teddy boy in Lochgilphead but there was in Oban and I used to go there for nights out. I had all the gear.
Somebody asked the police once if there were any teddy boys in Lochgilphead. They said yes, but they were keeping him under surveillance – it was me.
What was it like coming back to Lochgilphead from national service?
I travelled on the Midnight Scot from Stafford to Glasgow and my father came to pick me up at 6am.
When I came off the train with my kitbag – number 3140727 – my father was standing on the platform but didn’t recognise me because of the way I was dressed as a teddy boy. When he realised it was me he said: ‘Oh no!’
My mother set about me when I got home and told me to get my drainpipes off. I thought it was a great style.
There were lots of women after me in Lochgilphead but I didn’t bother with them. I went to Oban and Dunoon instead.
You couldn’t get the clothes I wore around here so you had to go to the city. My father said he’d take me to Glasgow once.
We drove up and down the streets of Partick looking for the barber’s shop that cut teddy boys’ hair.
My father waited out in the car for me while I went inside. He couldn’t understand why I was taking so long having a haircut.
When I came out three hours later I told him I’d had my hair permed into a Tony Curtis style, which was popular at that time.
Then I made him take me to another shop for new shirts.
He told me on the way home that was the last time he was taking me to Glasgow.
Boys in Lochgilphead tried to copy my style because I was suave and debonair, but they couldn’t.
Would you like to live anywhere else?
I’ll never leave Lochgilphead because my mother and father are in the cemetery.
I have good friends here and I’m well known, which is nice. I’m always in the Stag and the Comm, which are good pubs.
I can be quite daft sometimes but I just like a laugh. I had my hair dyed black a couple of years ago and went out on a Thursday night with my dead auntie’s fur coat on.
I went to the Stag for a drink and when the police came in on their routine patrols, they asked me what I had done to myself, before shaking their heads and walking out.
My grandchildren are all here as well and I see them regularly.
My granddaughter Kendal is in the Territorial Army and has been to Afghanistan twice.
I look after her medals and I’m very proud of her.
How has Lochgilphead changed since you were a child?
The population has gone up a good bit but there are less shops.
I remember when there were about 40 shops in Ardrishaig including three barbers. The area is run down now.
Jimmy Ross and his wife Sarah stayed upstairs from us and I remember he used to play the accordion in the dark.
My father used to play the drums with him, and I’ve still got his whole drum kit. You don’t get that these days.
I also collect football shirts and old miniature cars, lorries and buses.
I like showing them to my pals, and listening to Scottish music with them.
