Ken Liddell was able to present a fascinating and varied account of the great and not so great houses of the Clydesdale area. Using primarily photographs of postcards from his private collection, Ken was able to take the audience on a journey through the district. Starting at the north of the district in Hamilton and Larkhall, Ken presented pictures of a number of properties. He had several images from the hamlet of Dalserf, which he was able to elaborate on from his discussions with an elderly former resident of the village, who is now 102. The story he recounted was the tragic tale of the young girl in the photograph, who was to serve as an ambulance driver in the Great War, only to be killed on her return to the village when she feel from her bicycle.
Ken's tour continued down the Clyde to Kirkfieldbank and then took us west into the area of Douglas and Lesmahagow. This area had many great houses in the last century, but because of the preponderance of mine workings in the area, a large number of these buildings do not survive today. One notable example of this was Douglas castle, the home of one of the most prominent families in Scotland, which fell into ruin the 1920s. The number of houses surviving in the south of the district is much greater. Only a few of the properties displayed in the area around Biggar are not still in good repair today. As he concluded his tour in Lanark, Ken was able to show views from the turn of the century of a number of famous Lanark building, including the Cartland Bridge hotel and Stanmore House. This concluded an authoritative tour of many of the significant properties in the district.
The use of postcards, most of which dated from the first two decades of the twentieth century gave new insight into familiar building. More significantly, as over a quarter of the 86 buildings detailed are in ruin or are completely demolished, Ken was able to display pieces of Clydesdale's past that cannot be seen through any other medium.