Nostalgia: Prams for the memory

IT would seem that nothing is sacred – not even a pram. The Evening News revealed earlier this week that buggies have become a target for thieves, with dozens having been stolen in the Capital from outside homes and shops.

Designer brands such as Bugaboo, Silver Cross and iCandy can cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds, creating the “buggy black market”.

Buggies have become something of a status symbol for some mums – and have certainly come a long way since Victorian times, when babies could be spotted being carted about in a basic pony-and-trap-pram.

Back in February 1966, 15-month-old Shona Cairns was pictured posing in one of the antique prams.

Believed to have been made in around 1870, the collector’s item was bought by antique dealer Eric Davidson who pushed it out to amuse baby Shona, the daughter of family friends.

Mr Davidson believed at the time it would have been one of the oldest prams in existence in Edinburgh.

Vintage prams also featured heavily in the Balerno Gala Week in May, 1970.

Adults dressed up as bonnie babies to journey back through the years while taking part in the pram race.

Mrs Alvin Flett, Mrs Anne Speake and Mrs Joyce Bird were pictured wearing their rather fetching pyjamas and bonnets for the event.

And the lovely ladies – or babies – were not the only ones to step back in time to raise money for charity.

In May 1981, during Edinburgh Students’ Charities Week, one of the participants dressed up as a baby and was pushed around in a toy pram collecting money along Princes Street.

It was part of a convoy of decorated floats and costumed students who paraded through city centre streets.

But far be it for adults to steal all the limelight – some “real” babies were captured enjoying some quality time with their sisters in Holyrood Park in summer 1959.