To end part one of the aerial photo sequence, we now fly over one of my old hangouts, Douglas.Another 2 schools on show here that haven't survived the passing of time. Bottom right is Balerno Primary, my school. The wee hoose to the left of the school in Balerno Street belonged to the Janitor, Mr Bowman. He was a friendly chap. Always good fun when he picked you out to help carry the crates of milk around all the classrooms.
The other school, centre right, is the old St Pius.
At the middle left of the photo, you can make out the flat roof of the shops in Ballindean Road. Been on top of there a few times, mostly to get our ba'. Borzoni's chippie was one of the shops we most visited.
Although I lived in Craigie, a lot of my schoolmates lived in Douglas, and one quirky thing I can recall from Douglas in the early 70's when we were secondary school age, was Dundee's "Magic Circle..!!". A mob would pick out a victim (usually a mate!), the mob would encircle him...and then commence to rough him up. The victim wouldn't get his head kicked in, but he would be on the end of kicks up the backside, dead legs, knuckles on the head, that kind of treatment. Although it ached, the victim would accept his fate without a fight, then once the ordeal was over, he would dust himself down and join back in with the mob. I've been on the receiving end and have dished it out. Organised bullying, with no damage done!
TODDY YA BASS !
ReplyDeleteThis was the tribal chant of the urban jungle that is Douglas,in my youth.
I remember magic circles! Anyone else remember Chicken Runs?
ReplyDeleteSimilar to a magic circle but someone would have to run inbetween two lines and take what they got!!
Quite often took place in a corridor as someone was on their way to class!!
Don't recall the "chicken run" but I would imagine it would depend on how many pupils were wearing Doc Martins as to whether you risked it or not...then count those bruises!!
ReplyDeletedouglas primary is of course burnt down now and is just grassland at the moment. powrie is the new claypotts castle primary and is HUGE. i used to live in ballantrae road and used run the gauntlet of snowball assaults from st pius kids as i tried to get to douglas. great times!!
ReplyDeleteGreat picture. That's right down my street: literally. I would have been around 5 or 6 then and living in Balmerino Road. You can see our house opposite St Pius. It's the first semi on the way down to Balunie Drive. My grandparents lived in a nearby tenement. I went to Douglas Primary, which as someone else pointed out has burned down!! I drove past it a few weeks ago and it looks sad. At least the old trees are still there...
ReplyDeleteOne of the best footballers I've ever seen play in Dundee came from Douglas. Gordon Coleman. A brilliant player..Gerd Muller-George Best-Kenny Dalglish rolled into one. He played for Craigie Boys for a while, used to score about 10 goals each game, but when loads of teams showed an interest in him, he packed it in. He peaked at 15!!
ReplyDeleteI played alongside Gordon in that team. We are trying to locate Gordon for a reunion. You're not wrong about his goal scoring. Best finisher I ever saw.
DeleteCouple of other points of interest. You can see the Lea Rig (infamous Douglas pub)just right of St Pius. Our house was just across the road. We could hear the fights at closing time and often found pint glasses in our garden the next morning.The 'burny' is clearly visible too: the venue for many Toddy v Shams 'contests'. Talking of great footie players, Ralph Milne's house is in the picture too. What a winger....
ReplyDeleteGary Robertson is reaching the finishing touches on a book about Ralph Milne, so there will probably be a bit of Douglas background detail in there too.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely no Scout hut next to Balerno, although I can picture the building you mention. Douglas Scouts & Cubs met in the gym at Powrie.
ReplyDeleteDouglas? Jeeez, don't get me started -- mixed emotions having spent my first 20 years of life there. My folks still live in the same Baldovie Terrrace house 52 years later.
23rd St Pius Scouts had a Scout hut in the grounds of St Pius Church grounds. It was the temporary church while the actual church was built. It was a corrugated iron arched construction, demolished in the 80s and replaced by a brick built hall.
DeleteThe scout hut was on the grounds of St Pius church.
ReplyDelete