VALENTINE’S Day, 1980, and what is occupying the minds of dozens of Glaswegians is not so much romance and red roses as the damp condition of their homes.

Some 100 tenants from Darnley demonstrated outside the City Chambers to demand they be rehoused. Many of their placards took the form of St Valentine rhymes. Local councillor Frank Hannigan told colleagues of carpets, furniture and even health being damaged by the dampness. Campaign leader Gordon Bilsland said: “The people of Darnley have had enough. Our homes are riddled with dampness and our walls are covered with fungus. We are not prepared to put up with this situation any longer.” A council sub-committee decided to ask the architecture department for a report on the extent of dampness across Glasgow.

Read more: Herald Diary

This newspaper said that the City Architect, the man who would lead the attack on dampness, had a dampness problem in his own home, but that he wouldn’t benefit from any council action as he lived in a private property in Bridge of Weir.

* Listeners to Radio Four’s Today programme that Valentine’s Day were taken aback to hear a Christmas message in the Prayer for the Day slot. An hour later, presenter Brian Redhead apologised. “The production team are ashen with apology, but they put on the wrong tape. They are now wearing hair-shirts and with trembling hands are putting on what we hope will be the right tape for Thought for the Day.”