My favourite memories of growing up in Denny were the ribboned cart horses on Gala Day; fresh cakes from the co-op bakery; chips from Donaldson's,  guddling in the Toll burn, playing football in Anderson park, visits to wee Ben the barber, going in to Mathie's toy shop, my first ever pint in the Pines, the Friday disco in the British Legion, long days in the Don-R-In, Petale's ice cream, building rafts on the Carron at Castle Terrace, the Glen on hot sunny summer days, sliding down the Gala park on cardboard and the Saturday matinee at the Deluxe. I could go on. What a place to grow up!!!!

Speaking to some relatives who left Denny many years ago we were again reminiscing as to what a wonderful place it was.  We spoke of all our memories of having been lucky enough to grow up in Denny and I will share these with you. Gala Day was the highlight of the year. The cart horses in ribbons and the bags of biscuits and tin cups of milk given to kids were never to be forgotten. Then there was the farmers show in a field in lngliston. I went once but it just seemed to stop happening. We recalled the old brick works at Castle Rankine where some of the less fortunate slept. “Doon the toon” the co-op (the 'store') ruled and you had to know your mother’s co-op number if you went for messages so she got the cost added to her “divi”.  In the co-op there were sides of beef hanging in the butchers, big trays of cakes in the bakers and a machine in the shoe shop that showed the bones in your feet. There were also the pneumatic tubes that shot your money to the cash room while you waited for your change. There were wee local shops like Maggie McFauld's, Wee Ben, Joe Harvey and Kelly the barbers, Jane McNeil, Kirk the butcher, Donaldson the chippy, Gillespie the shoemaker and of course the king of ice cream, Tony Petale. If you went down Glebe Street you came to the Fire Station and across from it the surgery of the fearsome Dr Smith. Along with Canon Kelly these were certainly two of the most fearsome men o have ever come across. We used to go up the Glen from Castle Terrace under the motorway where some brave souls used to try to cross on the supporting arches. Did anyone ever manage it? The old men stood at the cross leaning on the railings. “Old men” but men who were probably younger than myself and others reading this today. These were men like “Toosh” McMenemy and his brother (whose. name I sadly forget), Hughie Grant and “Skipper” were Denny although as younger man at the time I didn’t realise this. There was the Lucky well at Denovan and the mysterious “witches pool” which nobody ever knew what it really was or had been. Coming back to Dunipace via Milton Row you passed rows of chicken coups and Jock Kays pig farm and the manicured grass next to the Mill wall. If you went in to the Mill you might find some comics waiting to be shredded if you were lucky. Turning left and across the Caron the Royal Oak was on the right which was managed with a rod of steel by Alistair, Jim & co.  Next up was Happy Valley, demolished when the Spine Road was built but where my famous relatives, the Dougal brothers footballers came from. Going up the Spine Road, before Ochil View was built we used to have a raft on a pond on the moor there. We also collected birds eggs – mainly Pessies - on that moor. Once Braesview and Ochilview were being built evenings were spent looking for Barr’s bottles to take to the co-op van and get the deposit on them. Just a few random memories which may jog your own thoughts. Above all, Denny was a community built on friendship, family and common interest and it was such a great place to belong to.