The Blantyre Project: A Journey in Time - Volume 3

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These are starkly challenging times for health and social care, and for the communities we serve – Blantyre Life shows the impact that collaboration and innovation can make to delivering positive outcomes for local people.” This viaduct formerly carried the Motherwell – Glasgow portion of the (London, Euston – Glasgow) West Coast Main Line across the River Clyde between Uddingston and Newton, at a dangerous part of the river , at a location named Chapel Eddy. The piers are in bull-faced red sandstone ashlar with polished ashlar band courses and dividing arches. Stepped semicircular cutwaters sit below on square-plan coped piers. The approach walls are in bull-faced sandstone ashlar and feature 2 deep round-arched recesses upstream on the west bank. In 1878, as the volume of railway traffic increased, a more substantial viaduct was required. As such, the new Caledonian Railway Viaduct over the River Clyde was erected from May 1876 to October 1878 immediately adjacent to the old one. It had three main wrought-iron lattice spans, with slender diagonal web members, notable for having its rivets silently driven by hydraulic riveters invented by William Arrol. Menu: Coal | Early Discovery | Blantyre Pits & Collieries | Coalmasters | Miner’s Homes | Coal Mining Life | Strikes | Blantyre Mining Accidents | 1877 Blantyre Pit Disaster

This is of course the new state of the art Blantyre Care Hub, with its various new buildings, homes, gardens and parking. In the foreground is the playground of the current St Joseph’s School.

Provost Margaret Cooper, who officially opened the facility, said,“It was fantastic to have the opportunity in person to express on behalf of the council our gratitude to all those staff who have worked so hard to deliver what is a truly impressive development. Throughout the 20 th Century and into the 21 st Century many Blantyre pupils also attended schools slightly outwith the Parish. Namely: The state-of-the-art homes and care campus have been built to the highest standards to be warm, comfortable and highly energy-efficient and right in the heart of the community.” Built by Cruden Group, the transformational, excellent facilities provided on this multi-million pound development has delivered a 20 bedded transitional care hub – with community facilities – and 20 new technology enabled properties, all equipped with state of the art telecare systems to support independent living and care fit for the 21st Century.

When you consider the long road getting to this welcome milestone, everybody should be extremely proud of what’s been accomplished and what this means for the community and residents.An incredible collection of Photographs of Blantyre people, kindly donated & shared. Menu: People Stories | People Photos | Ancestry | Honours Roll | Blantyre Directory A-Z | Business Directory A-Z | Entertainers | Sports Legends | Sports Clubs | Heritors | Famous Folk | Estate Owners | Organisations | Professions | Weddings There were celebrations as the state of the art, brand new Blantyre Care Hub recently officially opened. Plans for the Care Hub were approved in December 2019 following extensive consultation with the public, though the pandemic and efforts to find the right contractor, delayed construction.

Exclusively, Blantyre Project has researched & compiled a list of all Blantyre Farms, past and present, exploring their detailed histories. Extracts from the forthcoming booklet, “Blantyre Farms” by Paul Veverka (c)

South Lanarkshire Council said that the housing and care campus ‘champions’ the ‘home for life’ principle, with an emphasis on enabling more people to live as independently as possible within their own homes. Veverka Directories: Glasgow Rd South | Glasgow Road North | Stonefield Road | Auchinraith Road | Bardykes Road | Main Street | Victoria Street | More coming…. An exclusive, detailed history of all Blantyre’s 23 Schools, past and present including an insight into early and current Blantyre Education. History of each school, all about the Teachers, former pupils and interesting stories and videos. Also the largest ever FREE ‘School Photo Archive’ in existence featuring 245 School Photos. |On the morning of 22nd October 1877, at Dixon’s Pit 3, High Blantyre a large explosion took the lives of 215 men and boys, remaining to this day as Scotland’s worst ever Pit Accident. Our list below updates the amount of 207 previously thought to have passed away. This unique archive is extensively researched for the events of that day. It was also quite inspiring to be both shown around the state-of-the-art facility and hear first-hand from staff providing care about how they are using their expertise to support people to live well, safely, and independently at home.