Janet Speedman was born Janet Cadden on 30 November 1909. The second of four children, she is at least the third generation of her family to be born in Thornliebank. She has been known throughout her life as Nettie. She and her siblings were brought up by her mother and grandmother (family pictured below left, with Janet in middle) after her father died in World War One. His name was later inscribed on a commemorative plaque on the wall of the former Woodlands Parish Church. The family had another loss; her brother John, the oldest sibling, sadly died at the age of five shortly before starting school.
Nettie herself attended Thornliebank Primary School where she performed well academically, then left at the age of 14 to become a junior clerkess as the Spiersbridge printworks. She stayed on with the company, becoming a senior clerkess. She loved dancing, especially foxtrotting, at the Big House in Rouken Glen in her free time.
The family moved twice more, to Summerlea Road and then to Main Street. After John died, Nettie and the children who were still at home moved to a flat in Woodfarm, where she still lives today. She did not work for a while after his death, then became a receptionist to Doctors Kidd and Thomson, based in the White Building on Thornliebank's Main Street. She stayed in that position until her retirement at the age of 72.
Nettie and John loved nothing more than a game of bowls on the green at Kennishead Road; both were very accomplished bowlers. Now almost 90, Nettie enjoys the company of her six living children, nine grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Health permitting, she is a devout member of Thornliebank Parish Church. She has never moved from her beloved hometown.
Created by
Paula Cuccurullo and Howard
Mitchell
Updated 21 October 1999
© 1999 WEA Scotland
