There has always been the story, which I have helped to perpetuate, that religion did not reach Allandale until after the Second World War.This is probably not true but there doesn’t seem to be any prominent religious presence except for Roman Catholics.
St. Joseph’s at High Bonnybridge was the local church for the Roman Catholic families in the village and this would be well attended. I am told that Roman Catholics were not accepted for jobs in the head office of the company but I am not sure whether this was a deliberate policy or just the whim of the person who was interviewing.
One Roman Catholic was started but that was because she had attended Falkirk High School and her interviewer thought that all catholics were educated at St. Modan’s.
There was no such bigotry in the works as there were foremen & workers of all denominations.
Some people attended Haggs Parish Church which was the parish church for Allandale and any banns of marriage would be called there although some couples were married in Bonnybridge Parish Church or the church manse.
A small group of children attended the Ebenezer Gospel Hall in Bonnybridge for Sunday School. They had a children’s meeting on Monday evenings at which lantern slides would be shown and this was very popular.
Then Haggs Parish Church under the ministry of Rev. Mr. Michie started a Sunday School in the Bowling Club in the late 1940s. This was run by Willie Weir, Isobel Millar and Campbell Miller and was well attended by the children of the village.
There was also a Bible Class for older children and they went on walks over the Kilsyth Hills, etc. The Sunday School also went on trips, some local and others farther away. They went on one to the Walton Farm up the Walton Road at Castlecary. The transport was provided by horse-drawn carts from the local farms plus the works dust cart curtesy of Wullie Brown & his horse. Unfortunately, one of the farmers, Johnny Fleming, decided to paint his cart the day before and the paint was still wet when the children got on, resulting in all the good clothes getting covered with paint. Then one of the teachers, Miss Millar, fell off a cart and broke her ankle.
There were two lady evangelists who came once of twice and lodged with Mrs. Bennie. They held meetings in a small hall in Longcroft but I can’t remember any Allandale residents going to them apart from Mrs. Bennie, her daughter, Mrs. Cleland, Jim Cleland and myself. Children at Greenhill School attended services twice a year at Christmas and Easter in St. Helen’s Church at High Bonnybridge where the minister was Rev. Malcolmson. The hymns were practiced for weeks beforehand, first in sol-fa for many weeks and then we were exposed to the words. On the day of the service we would walk along the path at the side of the LNER Railway to High Bonnybridge which was always a big adventure.
