THE BROUGHTY FERRY TRAIN

There doesn't appear to be much of a difference with the view along Douglas Terrace nowadays and when the above photo was taken - the mid 70's.

This is one of my brothers snaps and you should be able to notice he managed to catch the moment a train went whizzing past Royal Tay Yacht Club.

So just for a bit of fun, I thought I'd accompany the image with this piece of film below - the same scene, but from the train drivers viewpoint.

The footage is from inside the drivers cab, and is the full, uninterrupted trip from Dundee Station to Broughty Ferry Station, passing places such as the Docks, Stannergate, Grassy Beach and of course this stretch here in the snap.

Duration? - 4 minutes.

"ALL ABOARD!"

GREENIELAND - 1973

An amusing postcard from Greenieland...or is it the North Poly...either way, it's aroond the backies at my old hoose in Craigie, 1973.
The main feature is the snowman my wee brother made which, if you look closely, ended up with a polar bear's head! Pot luck by the way, but quite appropriate.
This was taken from Kemnay Gardens looking over towards Douglas Road. The fir trees are the ones on Douglas Road at the Electricity Sub Station.
Back then, most of the back greens still had an open plan look with "imaginary" borders. These days however, everyone has their own individual space partitioned off and so the area in the picture doesn't bear any resemblance to how it looks now.
You can see at the corner of the house on Douglas Road the old style metal bins we all had - remember the corrugated design with rattly lid!
Why they should have THREE coal bunkers is a bit odd though. Maybe winter that year was quite a severe one and they decided to stockpile their fuel!
Having said that, the son of the family who lived there may have been inspired by the snow because he went on to live in Norway, and the last I heard, still lives there with his own Scandinavian family.

TIMEX - END OF AN ERA

When your time's up, it's time to depart, and Timex's time at Milton of Craigie ended in the 1980's after around 3 decades of having a presence there.
This photo taken at the tail end of the 80's, shows where the Timex factory once stood, looking over the barren ground to Douglas Road, with Longtown Road to the left.
Shortly afterwards, it was ASDA's turn to keep the area ticking over!
Big thanks to Ecky.

DOUGLAS ENTERTAINS MARYFIELD - 70'S

This is Douglas Primary School's concert party entertaining the old folks up at Maryfield Hospital around the 1970/71 period.

The picture would be difficult to do a proper "from left to right" identity name check, so I opted for a second image with numbers to make the ID easy.

I can name 3 for starters...

#2 is Grant Roberts with the guitar, who kept his musical side going, playing in local clubby bands in later years.

#26 is Ralph Milne, yep the same one as yesterday. Dundee United superstar and gambler!

#27 is Craig Methven, who ten years later would be fronting the Scrotum Poles.

And what cheery tune do you think the Douglas troupe chose to play for the pensioners to sing along to?

Well it was one of the chart hits from back then - McGuinness Flint's "When I'm Dead And Gone"...!!

Big thanks to Craig

BALERNO PRIMARY PANORAMA

Although this photo of Balerno Primary School was taken in the 80's, it looks exactly the same in the picture as it did when I was there in the 60's.
The headmaster in the 60's was Mr Elrick, and the jannie was Mr Bowman.
One thing I can remember about Mr Bowman was when I was helping him out delivering the milk around the classrooms one day in 1968. When I was picking up the milk bottles outside his jannie's room, he had the radio on, and a newsflash came on about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. He told me to go tell all the teachers. So when I went around all the classes with the milk, I also had to deliver this gloomy news!
I can't recall where I was when the famous JFK assassination took place, but I always remember his brother's!
The school was demolished in the 90's and now has housing built on the site.
If you want to zoom into a bit of detail, click on the image to enlarge.
Photo by DC Thomson.

LAND O' CAKES IN CRAIGIE

This was probably one of the lesser known Land O' Cakes shops in Dundee - the Craigie one in Huntly Square. These shops were built in 1962/63 and Wallace's were one of the first to move in.

The top picture was taken in December 1963 and as you can see, shows the full window display. However, it was a very short lived stay because by September '64, when the other picture was taken, it had a "Closed Down" sign on the window and nothing but empty doilies inside.

The sign also informs everyone that the nearest branch can be found in Baluniefield Avenue, but they meant Baluniefield Road!

Photos by DC Thomson.

MYSTERY SCHOOL PICTURE #2

This photo was taken in November 1972, when the new Craigie High School subway at Monymusk first opened for use.
However, after a wee bit of detective work, I reckon these kids are not from Craigie High. Here's the clues -
1- I don't actually recognise anyone (I was at CHS in 72).
2- That's not a CHS blazer.
3- The boy on the left is wearing short troosers (highly unlikely at secondary).
4- They have carrier bags which I'm guessing contains wet towels.
So my theory is that they are from a primary school in Douglas on their way back from a swimming session at the CHS pool.
Hopefully, someone may be able to spot which school/class they are from.
To help with the face ID, click on to view the large version.
Incidentally, easy to see the subway is brand new - no graffiti.!! By 1974 the whole place was covered!!
Photo by DC Thomson.

Since writing this caption above, the mystery has been solved. The class is from St Andrews Primary School in Banchory Road, Craigie. You can read some of the pupils names in the comments.

MID 70'S AIR SHOT - DOUGLAS

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!

CRAIGIE HIGH SCHOOL SUBWAY - 1974

The CHS subway at Monymusk Road was constructed in 1972, 2 years after the school opened. The photo above of the pupils painting it was taken in June 1974. The object of the exercise was to fight fire with fire in an attempt to camouflage the graffiti being daubed on the walls. I remember we each had to design our own individual graphic in art class first for the teacher to permit it being painted full size. Each class involved was given it's own patch of wall.
This picture of the 4th year pupils was taken around the time of the O Levels which meant there was quite a bit of spare time in-between exams. This was probably one of the last things this lot did together as a class before leaving Craigie High School for good in July. Most of the faces are hidden, but I do recognise some in the class - Graeme Morrison, Ally Stewart & Gail Phillips are there, and that is the art teacher in the pink jumper, however I can't recall her name. If anyone can identify any of the others feel free to drop it in the comments.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.