READING our article about 100 years of adult education in Edinburgh last week brought back memories for Jane Duncan about her own schooling.
The 67-year-old left Carrickvale Junior Secondary School in December 1955 and started work a month later with the retailers Lawson's Ltd at Castle Terrace, where she was assigned to a department selling ladies underwear, make-up, blouses and jumpers
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One of the conditions of the job was that Jane had to attend the Edinburgh School of Salesmanship on Broughton Road where she completed night classes that were paid for by Lawson's.
"I went Monday and Thursday nights and gained a certificate in salesmanship, shop practice and window dressing," she recalls.
"I started on a wage of £2 per week and after gaining my certificates I was given a rise of 10/- – 50 pence."
Lawson's was celebrating its centenary at the time and junior staff were presented with a Parker pen and pencil set – a gift Jean still has.
"There was a dinner and dance in the Northern British Hotel – now the Balmoral," she adds. At the dance, Jane also had her photograph taken and the picture appeared in a special feature in the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch (a paper which later merged with the Evening News) in 1956.
She donated an original copy of that photograph, the certificates she earned from night classes and a magazine commemorating the Lawson's centenary to the National Library of Scotland, which displayed the items in an exhibition about shopping in Edinburgh.
Jane, who at the time lived with her parents Jock and Jean Malloy and her brother George at Sighthill, eventually found herself working in an office of Thomas Usher and Son brewery.
Keen to earn extra money, she also took a job at the Greyfriars Bobby pub – the place where she would meet her husband Dave.
The couple were married at St Giles' Cathedral in 1971 and moved to Aberdour, Fife, where their son Bruce, now 32, was born.
Desperate to continue her education, Jane enrolled for nightclasses at Inverkeithing High School in 1990 and she gained an O grade in accounts, as well as a Standard grade and then a Higher in craft and design.
An HNC in business management followed and she hopes to one day gain a university degree. She adds: "With adult education, it's never too late to learn something."
