THE ITALIAN COMMUNITY IN CAMPBELTOWN: A MEMOIR
by
Dora Grumoli Kennedy
My father was Leonello Grumoli, son of Alcestre and Ermelinda. He was born and
brought up at Renaio, a very small village in the Tuscan hills above the town of
Barga. He met and married my mother, Maria Moscardini, who lived in the nearby
village of Carpinecchio.
In the early years of this century most families were large and those who lived in the small hill villages were smallholding farmers living off the land, and there really weren’t any jobs for all the young men, as a result of which they began to emigrate to various countries in search of a better life. Word was filtering back from abroad that there was plenty of work and opportunities to make a living.
Although the hill families were poor in material
things, they were always well-nourished as they grew all their own vegetables
and fruit. They had sheep, cows and hens and rabbits, so they always ate very
well.
Olive oil for cooking was cheap, as was the wine. In fact, as a nation the
Italians were better nourished than the British.
As a youth, my father was sent with relatives to work first in Switzerland, then in Belgium, where relatives were doing well in the plasterwork industry, making holy ornaments for churches mostly, as well as other things. Then he was taken to London and actually did one year’s schooling there. One of his London memories was of watching Queen Victoria’s funeral passing by. After a year in London he returned to Italy and married my mother Maria on 11th June 1909. A year later their first child was born in Italy, my sister Emma.
In 1911 they made a momentous decision to emigrate to Scotland, because those who had gone before them were making a success of setting themselves up in business selling fish and chips and ice-cream. It is a fact that until the Italians came to Britain, fish and chip shops and ice-cream parlours were non-existent. They also made their own ginger beer, and a great favourite was plates of hot peas and vinegar. The ice-cream they made was truly delicious and in my opinion much superior to the frozen stuff you buy nowadays. It was made fresh daily with full-cream milk straight from the farms and it was like velvet in the mouth. It was so smooth and creamy. Here we are in 2000 and people of my generation still talk of the lovely ice-cream the Italians used to make.
When my mother was a young girl she was already an expert hand-loom weaver and crocheter. She told me that when she was 11 years old people used to come and watch her in admiration, and to this day all her descendants own beautiful examples of her work, i.e. hand-woven bedspreads, hand-crocheted bedspreads and hand-made lace borders. Real family heirlooms they are, and she herself was delighted when her grand-daughter Veronica, daughter of the aforementioned Emma, became a handloom weaver and made that her occupation in life. Mother did all her weaving with fine linen and cotton yarns, which was much more difficult to do than working with wool, which Veronica does; but Veronica’s work is equally beautiful and all the relatives own her lovely woollen travel-rugs and floor-rugs. She now lives in a cottage at Culloden Moor.
ARRIVAL IN CAMPBELTOWN
Maria and Leo came to Campbeltown in 1911 because they had been told there was a cafe for sale there. It was situated in Kirk Street, long rather than square, and had those lovely old high-backed wooden bench seats which were in fashion at that time. Trade was good, so Leo sent for his young brother Umberto (‘Bertie’) to come, and both families were able to rent flats, one above the shop in Kirk Street, where Uncle Bertie went, and the other round the corner at 49 Main Street, and that’s where the other seven children were born: All, Neli, Robert, Geni, Lidia, Italo and Dora (that’s me). Uncle Bertie and Claudina had five children: Yole, Oswald, Renato and Maria, also Robina who died young.
Business flourished because the men put their heart and soul into the business and worked hours which no one would tolerate nowadays. They worked from early morning right through till midnight every day of the week. The potatoes were all peeled and chipped by hand, the fish were skinned and filleted on the premises; the ice-cream tOok hours to make, the freezer being rotated by hand. I have memories of the hand-turned freezer from my childhood.
Later, a third Italian family came to Campbeltown, the Cascis, Mrs Casci being a sister of my Aunt Claudina; but as time went by it became obvious that one cafe wouldn’t support three growing families. The Cascis has twin boys, Pnmo and Lindoro, and a daughter Rosa, and they lived in a flat in Cross Street. As time went by, a cafe in Tarbert came on the market and the Casci family decided to buy it, which was a good move, as the flat above was included in the sale and it turned out to be a very prosperous business. It has been beautifully, spotlessly maintained throughout the years and to this day is still run by the Casci family. All through the years the Cascis have been a well-respected family in Tarbert. They integrated well, as did Italian families throughout Britain. Lindoro later opened his own cafe in Ardrishaig.
When I was a little girl, my father bought premises in Hall Street - also known as Royal Avenue - and there he established a large cafe and confectioner’s which became a very popular and prosperous business, called The Royal Cafe. It was a favourite haunt of the fishermen, being along the sea-front. In those days Campbeltown had a very large fishing fleet and once a week the fishermen gathered in Leo’s cafe to do their ‘divide’ while chatting and drinking iced drinks. Sadly, over the years the once-glorious fishing fleet has dwindled to just a few boats. As time went by Uncle Bertie also expanded his business interests. He gave up the Kirk Street cafe and opened one in Longrow South, called The Locarno, which too was a good size, with a nice confectionery counter. In 1938 he then opened the Mayfair Cafe on the corner of Kirk Street and Main Street, Alf having taken over the Locarno. It was always amusing to us that the local people referred to the cafes as ‘the High’, ‘the Middle’ and ‘the Low’.
More next issue
Wee Drams E-mails, comments, queries and enlightenment from around the world
Page 2: Oatfield House - An Exchange of Emails
Page 3: Interesting Articles from the MOD (with permission)
Page 4: It Is a Small World After All
Page 5: The Italian Community in Campbeltown - A Memoir
Page 6: Memories of Macharioch
Page 7: By Hill and Shore - Angus Martin