Bob talks of his own family in Glasgow and the importance of the wider Jewish community there
INT1: One last question really about your time in Scotland. What were the high and lows for you? Obviously you got married, you had children
BK: Yes. Well, obviously getting married was a high
INT1: Mm
BK: Um, 1953. Um, we had children… our children came I suppose 2 or 4, 2 and 4 years after we married, something like that. If, if Barbara was here, she’d tell me I got it wrong
INT1: Mm
BK: Well, 2 or 4 near enough
INT1: Mm
BK: Yeah, and one boy and one girl. A reverse order, one girl and one boy. Yeah.
INT1: And did you get involved with working with the Jewish community? In a voluntary way? I I know you do now, but did you always do that…
BK: In those days no. I had I had no understanding of that even. I suppose like a lot of immigrants, we were concerned looking after ourselves and getting ourselves established.
And I wasn’t even… re… remotely concerned with Jewish problems, except I tried to find a synagogue fairly soon. Make, let, make it clear I’m not very religious, but you have to have a synagogue. And partly though that I met some people as well of course
INT1: But, later didn’t, you were very involved with drama?
BK: Very involved. An amateur theatre club, which was very very high standing and standard…
INT2: Avrom Greenberg Players
BK: Avrom Greenbaum Players, where my wife was one of the leading ladies. But because I have no talent I went on the management side. I was the chairman quite a while in it. That was a fantastic time. For Glasgow, young people all together, I think the Avrom Greenbaum Players did wonders to drawing the community together both in terms of spectators and workers. It really was, you are all too young to know about it. But it was quite fantastic
INT1: It is, It’s a shame that the community is not big enough really now I think to sustain that is it?
BK: It wasn’t big enough and television became… a serious competitor.
And kids didn’t want to go out in dark in the winter to rehearse when they could sit at home watching the old fashioned television box
INT: Mm
INT1: Would you say that that Judaism has been significant in your life?
BK: Totally. Totally. Um, now anyways, to me it’s all about being Jewish, but it’s always been… the persecution, the running away, the persecution, the running away, and then coming to this lovely Jewish community. Which was and is a lovely Jewish community. And very supportive of me. Not in the sense of charity, but in the sense of being supportive and kind and helpful, yes
INT1: Remind me what your books called Bob, because I’m sure…
INT2: Over My Shoulder
BK and INT1: Over My Shoulder
INT1: And why is it called Over My Shoulder?
BK: Looking back…
BK: … what I’m doing with you just now