As the author of Mavis’s Shoe I have strived to ensure all particulars regarding the Clydebank Blitz and other historical events and circumstances are correct and true. However, all the characters are my own invention and not based on real people, apart from three notable exceptions: the first is Allan Barnes-Graham, the owner of the Carbeth-Guthrie estate; the second is Miss Read, the teacher at Craigton about whom I know nothing but her wonderfully apt name; and the third is Jimmy Robertson who I did not have the pleasure of meeting but who by all accounts did live in a bus which also functioned as a shop and had a tree growing through the middle of it. My apologies also to the owners of the tearoom which used to stand beside the Halfway House pub and which would surely have featured had I been aware of it earlier in my research. Additionally while children in the 1940s were regarded as filthy, dangerous beings who weren’t allowed into hospitals, apologies are also due to the wartime staff of the Western Infirmary who have suffered at the hands of artistic licence. Further apologies are owed to anyone who feels that they or their experience has been misrepresented, but this is a work of fiction and no offence is intended.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those who helped in my research who are too numerous to mention by name. Special thanks are due to Marlene Macowan and Kevin Morrison of the Special Collections section of Glasgow Caledonian University, the library group of the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians especially Bill Reid, Pat Malcolm of West Dunbartonshire Libraries, and Tommy and Jane Kirkwood, May McGregor and brothers Dennis and Jimmy Cairns of the Carbeth huts, and Isobel Douglas for her invaluable help on children who have experienced trauma. I would also like to thank Anne Nicholson, Karen Sullivan, Moira Salter and others for historical advice and for reading this book at various stages, and Liz Small and Penny Grearson of Waverley for their tireless help and attention to detail. Lastly, I would like to thank Jim without whom this book wouldn’t have happened. All these people and more made my research not just interesting but a very positive experience despite the sadness of some of the subject matter.
Sue Reid Sexton