Allan Old 1927

 

Allan Old was born in the miner's rows in Bridgend before the rest of the village was built. Before long he was living in similar accommodation a mile along the road at Kingscavil, in a small terraced house with no inside water supply. More about these settlements can be found here.

The obvious line of work was to follow his father and grandfather down the mines but his father wanted him to serve an apprenticeship and this he did, as a joiner, working on various building sites and at Thomson's Caravans near Falkirk and in the Plessey Factory in Bathgate and eventually as the yard foreman at Millar Homes in Edinburgh.

He became well-known in the area as an accordianist, playing at dances and weddings over a long period, sometimes solo, sometimes with a band. It was as an accordianist in a post-war concert party that he met his future wife, Jane (Jean) Anderson, also an accordianist.

He also excelled in bowls, winning the Linlithgow Bowling Club Championship a then-record five times and representing the club and county on numerous occasions. The highlight of his bowling career came in 1989 when he was the skip (captain) of a team of four which qualified for the Scottish Finals, the first from the Linlithgow Club to do so. Not content with qualifying for this last sixteen stage, the rink went on to win the Scottish Championship. Interestingly, his brother-in-law John Graham, married to his sister Rita (official name Rachel), was also in the rink and their sons Malcolm and Ross also have Scottish Championships to their name so the family has a proud tradition in the sport.

In his younger days he played in goals for Bridgend Rovers.