IT WAS hard, but honest work.
Grafting 44 hours a week, including on a Saturday morning and even on Christmas Day one year, the men in Alloa were proudly producing some of the finest spirits at what was once the largest grain distillery in Scotland.
Sixty years have passed since Sandy Horne began working at Carsebridge Distillery as an apprentice electrician, but the Kincardine man can still vividly remember the once bustling site.
The warehouses, cooperage, the electrician's workshop and much more of what was a key part in a busy brewing town are gone today.
However, Ochil and Harvey houses still remain and Resonate Together, the good cause which is seeking to buy them out for the community, has welcomed some former workers back to the site.
Snow or shine, Sandy used to bike to work to earn his weekly wage of £3 and 10 shillings.
Memorably, he can remember how a young John Stahl, still learning to become an actor, used to take summer work at the distillery.
Sandy kept working at Carsebridge until 1972 as he went on to become a professional golfer for the next decade.
“Luckily, I had a trade behind me, so I could go back to being an electrician when I gave up the golf”, explained Sandy, who said it was his father's wisdom that ensured he served his time as an apprentice before taking his golf to the next level.
Charlie Drysdale was probably one of the last apprentice coopers to be feathered and tarred at Carsebridge in what is an ancient tradition for barrel makers.
His father was a cooper at Carsebridge, his brother and cousin also worked there.
The craft run in his veins, passed down from his dad and now carried forward by his eldest son.
Full of tales and jokes, he importantly remembers the sense of camaraderie among the coopers.
He said: “There's not a lot of industry that's been left in Alloa to be remembered, when I was a young boy there was so much industry in this county and it's all just disappeared and there's hardly any memories at all of it.
“It would be nice to see this one remembered because it was an important place, an important part of the community and it still is – Diageo is still one of the largest employers within the area.”
William Syme is said to have been a “legend” among the workers who made up the site's firefighters.
His daughter Diana told the Advertiser of a “humble man, that liked being part of a wonderful distillery” and someone who would coach the younger guys ahead of competitions.
Diana added: “Dad was only 51 when it closed, he was devastated like everyone else they had lost a huge part of their lives, which was a huge blow to Clackmannanshire.”
Sandy retired in 2012 and is hoping to reunite late-April with some old Carsebridge staff, such as former manager Sandy Bowie, whom he always had to ask for permission to go play his golf before going pro.
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