The top picture has large ship shaped climbing frames in the background. I didn't discover until I read a Dundee guide book some time later that they represented the "Battle Of Camperdown". I've no idea who the 2 sculpted characters are supposed to be in the foreground but they look a bit on the depressed side to be in a kids fun zone!
Guaranteed to bring a smile though, were the leaping dolphin sculptures a bit further along - a couple of decades before the real thing started to re-appear in the Tay.
the sculptures were by sight in site who were Chris Kelly and Chris Biddlcombe(sorry for the spelling CB) and an assortment of the WASPS crew, the pirate ships have been dismantled by the council and replaced with pay for activities which are crap, no idea if the sculptures are there.
ReplyDeleteI was up at Camperdown just the other week, all the boats are gone, all the sculptures are gone, where they used to be is scrubby land, then there is enclosed kiddies play area that isn't really suitable for anyone over 7. It sucks. I used to love going up Campy when I was wee, and helping out at the stables too.
ReplyDeleteThe boats representing the battle had to be removed under safety grounds. I worked in Campy from 1984 to 2004 & the local neds slowly destroyed them bit by bit until it was deemed they were completely unsafe. Was not unusual to find a burned out car ploughed into them, with the fire engulfing large parts of the climbing boats too. The "forlorn figures" were meant to be 2 shipwrecked souls floating on a random peice of wood.
ReplyDeleteHad some good em"trips"there back in the day.!!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't have many memories from back then. But those dolphins are one of my clearest memories of growing up there! I've been trying to find a picture of them for years!
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