East Kilbride has been very good to me.
It’s where I spent my teenage years and where I got my first big grown up job.
My family and I moved from the East End of Glasgow to East Kilbride back in 1973 when I was almost 13 and my brother Graham was six years old.
Compared with a one bedroom tenement flat in Bridgeton, our new three bedroom house in Turnberry Place in Greenhills felt enormous.
There was a downstairs loo as well as an actual bathroom with an actual bath upstairs (luxury) and I finally got my own room where I could put all of my David Bowie posters on the wall.
We even had a little garden which I loved.
We also had a telephone for the very first time, and I remember calling “dial-a-disc” to hear the latest pop tunes and also I’d call the speaking clock to hear the time – this was because no one I knew actually had a phone so I couldn’t call them up for a chat.
Back then, Greenhills was less than affectionately known as “Mudhills” because of all the building work going on.
For the first few months the buses stopped at the bottom of Lickprivick Road and we had to trudge up that steep hill. Things changed really quickly. A shopping centre was built and we got to know our neighbours and feel a sense of community.
At that time there was no secondary school in Greenhills.
I went by bus to Claremont High School and Graham went to Duncanrig.
I made lots of pals at Claremont High, including my lovely mate Stuart Harris who still lives in East Kilbride, and my best friend Joyce Woodrow who lives abroad, but we talk all the time and often share memories of our young days going to the Olympia dance hall and The Forum pub.
When I left school in 1977 I had a place in university to study Russian and English, but I knew I wanted to be a journalist.
We always bought the East Kilbride News and that week there was an advert for a job vacancy as reporter.
I applied and it was the best thing I ever did and completely life-changing.
Thanks to my years on the News I covered everything from sport to drama and even had my own opinion page.
I would not be presenting my own show on TV if it wasn’t for those formative, challenging and hugely enjoyable years working for this very paper.
I often wonder what would have happened if I had gone to university instead of applying for the job as a junior reporter. My mum and dad moved from Greenhills to St Leonards about 40 years ago and they love their flat there.
I go up to visit them often and mum and I have lovely long walks down the Glen or into the town centre for a bit of shopping.
They are both in their early eighties now and wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else.
Mum has her book club and German classes and a circle of lovely friends and neighbours.
When dad was taken ill recently the staff at Hairmyres Hospital were brilliant. He’s doing a lot better now, but I’m reassured that both of them will receive such good care.
They have such a lot on their doorstep.
The Village has some really good shops and restaurants.
The East Kilbride Rep puts on terrific productions and there’s always something interesting going on in the town.
It remains a really safe and good place to bring up children.
Like everywhere else, it’s not perfect.
I’m saddened that so many shops on the town centre have been forced to close, and I hope that will change.
But East Kilbride has such a very special place in my heart and I was very lucky to grow up here, and to get my big break on the EK News.
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