CAMPERDOWN PLAY PARK - 1985

One day in 1985, I went up to Camperdown Park with my camera with the intention of snapping some of the colourful autumn foliage on display. On my way there I passed this kids play area that I'd never seen before which seemed to be half adventure complex, half public art space.

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.

DUNDEE GOLF COURSE PRICES - 1971

The amber ad from 1971 shows Dundee as the centre of the Scottish golf universe with 3 local courses on offer while reminding everyone that there are plenty more to be found in the surrounding area.

The 3 Dundee courses referred to in the ad are Caird Park, Camperdown & Downfield, and under it are their prices for the same year.

CAMPERDOWN'S ALF ROBERTSON

Alf Robertson was Conservation Officer at Camperdown Park from the late 60's to mid 80's.
Many of you around my age group will remember Alf from your school visits up to Camperdown Wildlife Centre. He used to do a guided tour around the various sections with one of the highlights being Alf with the golden eagle.
He wasn't only a wildlife expert, he was also an artist and timber contractor, so when combining all 3 talents he ended up personally designing and building, what went on to become, the Camperdown Wildlife Centre and zoo.
When he retired in 1985, he famously sculpted a highland cow out of wood which was presented to Dundee's twin town, Wurzburg.
Alf was born in Lochee, went to Harris, then Duncan Of Jordanstone, and died quite recently in 2009.
The above photo is from around the late 60's / early 70's period.

BRUCE, THE PARKS HORSE - 1980'S

Bruce, was the Parks Departments cart horse during the 80's.

He wasn't just a novelty showpiece, he did actually do everyday work, although being the fine Clydesdale that he was, always attracted attention wherever he went.

The top photo is Bruce and co up at Camperdown stables in 1984.

The picture under it was taken in 1986 when the City Chambers kitchen was undergoing refurbishment and Bruce was called upon to cart the old kitchen equipment away. Before carrying on with his job though, Helen Smith, who was in charge of the kitchen, seized the opportunity to have her picture taken with him.

As a sideline, Camperdown also sold bags of dung as garden compost, and printed on the bags it had - "I Found It At Bruce's"!!

INSIDE TIMEX - 1980'S - #2

7. THE MACHINE SHOP.

8. CELL ASSEMBLY.

9. HEAT TREATMENT.

10. PLATING PROGRAMMED CONVEYOR.

11. FINAL INSPECTION.

12. THE TOOLROOM.

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Another half dozen images from the 80's brochure I featured on yesterdays post.

Click on the pictures if you want to view the large versions.

1000's on the dole quite a hefty price to pay for affordable watches!

Thanks to Ecky.

INSIDE TIMEX - 1980'S - #1

1. NIMSLO 3D CAMERA ASSEMBLY.

2. COMPUTER CIRCUIT BOARD ASSEMBLY.

3. TIMEX WATCH ASSEMBLY.

4. PRESS SHOP.

5. CHUCKING LATHE DEPT.

6. GEAR CUTTING DEPT.

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After a mass of redundancies in the early/mid 80's, many of the departments in Timex factories around Dundee lay idle. To try and attract alternative use for the machinery available, Timex printed hundreds of brochures in various languages to see if they could entice other companies to make use of what the factories had to offer. However, despite the desperate effort, it was all too little too late and they eventually closed their doors for good with the factory contents having been auctioned off.

The above pictures are from these 80's brochures and show a variety of departments when they were still in full flow.

The 3 main Timex factories were at Camperdown, Milton of Craigie and Dunsinane, which in their heyday employed many thousands.

A local saying back then was "Everybody in Dundee knows someone who works in Timex".

So on that basis, there are bound to be some of you out there who will be familiar with the departments in the pictures, or maybe even recognise a friend or relative.

If you need a closer look, click onto the image to view the large versions.

There will be more tomorrow.

Big thanks to Ecky.

ERASMIC SUPERFOAM - DONKEY RIDING

Formed in 1981, Erasmic Superfoam had a base above the Tav in Hawkhill where they practiced their post punk mash-ups of well known tunes.
After their debut gig at Art College, and a couple of tweaks to the band line-up, they got themselves over to Wilf Smarties studios in Edinburgh to lay down this track "Donkey Riding", the traditional kids song. It doesn't sound anything like how we used to sing it in primary school mind you, what with it's spiky, fragmented guitar going on, in a Gang Of Four kind of style. In fact, you could say it quite literally kicks ass!!
The trio making the wonderful noise are - AL STRAKER guitar/vocal - JOHN BUTLER bass - DAVE FEHILLY drums.
The track did attract the attention of John Peel, and almost got them a record deal, but sadly, much to our loss, it wasn't to be, and the band all rode off into the sunset!
The B&W picture above was taken in the 70's at the donkey rides in Camperdown Park.
Thanx to Craig and The Captain.

JEREMY THE "SUGAR PUFFS" BEAR

In the 60's, Jeremy the bear was used to advertise "Sugar puffs" on tv, until a few years later when they replaced the real bear with a cartoon one. As a result of Jeremy becoming unemployed, it was kept at Camperdown Zoo, from around 1970.

Jeremy was actually a female, and she died in Dundee in 1990.

Photo by The Scotsman.