Milton of Campsie

Brought to T&T by Caurnie Angling Club Secretary Roger Hughes, the story of the Kirk Trophy starts with James Mathieson, who worked at the Lion Foundry, Kirkintilloch pre-WW1. James was the great uncle of Iain McNicol who handed over the trophy to the Caurnie Angling Club (CAC) in 2015. Iain wanted the CAC to retain the trophy - a trophy that his father, John McNicol, had won pre- WWII - and agreed that it should be awarded annually by vote of the committee, to a ‘worthy club member’ member, one who makes a significant contribution to the running of the club. The first recipient was John Harwood, of Milton of Campsie, who throughout the year, cycles daily to Antermony Loch, to clear the reeds and burns and undertakes other necessary maintenance work. Much of what Iain knows of the family history comes from his uncle Andrew who died in 2013 aged 101. The story starts with Iain’s great- uncle James Mathieson, who worked at the Lion Foundry Kirkintilloch pre-WW1. Iain believes that James was a member of the Kelvin Valley Angling Club (KVAC) and a founder member of the Caurnie Angling Club (CAC). His father John was a junior member of the KVAC. Iain also thinks that James was Secretary of the CAC before his death in 1930 and John was a member of CAC until war broke out in 1939. It is believed that in the late 1930’s, John had won the Kirk Trophy two times and, following the rules of that time, if he won it for a third time, he could keep the trophy in perpetuity. John did this in 1939 and so the trophy became his property. In March 1941, when John was an ack-ack gunner in Hastings and his wife Isobel was running a canteen for shipyard workers at Clydebank, her lodgings were bombed. Amongst the items recovered were the broken remains of the Kirk Trophy. The plinth with the engraved plaques was missing and the stem of the cup snapped in half. Isobel had one of the shipyard welders, Alastair McKissock repair this. Apparently Alastair was a well-known ’Red Clydesider’. When he returned home John replaced the plinth and proudly kept his trophy until his death in 1972.

Edward Langley, who came from Liverpool, settled in Milton of Campsie and set up his first pottery kiln on a domestic scale in 1946. Edward, known as Ted, joined the Govancroft Pottery in Glasgow in 1949, where he designed a series of Scottish-themed novelty goods. In 1952 he established his own pottery, at 130 Pitt Street in central Glasgow, and continued manufacturing distinctive mantle-piece ornaments and tourist souvenirs. Posy vases and miniature whisky barrels were a speciality. In 1955 production moved to Hillington Industrial Estate in Renfrewshire and he named his products CAMPSIE WARE in recognition of where he started out as a potter. One of the most popular and distinctive lines was the birds series – parrots, pigeons, kingfishers, bluebirds – with striking iridescent glazes. A rubber stamp was used to mark the firm’s name on the base of the product. The mark was always in black and read either, CAMPSIE WARE or CAMPSIE WARE SCOTLAND. In 1975, Ted Langley left Hillington as the centre of his operations and established himself again in Campsie as a semi-retired, one-man business. He continued as a practising potter until his death in 1982. A bogle is a kind of goblin who delights in perplexing or frightening people, rather than causing serious hurt or harm.