SUMMER SANDALS IN THE SIXTIES

Every kid in the 60's knew when summer had arrived - when your parents told you it was time to put on your sandals. As you can see, they were as common as muck! I think I wore a pair the same style every summer up till I was about 10.
The photo was taken in June 1962 when I was 4. That's me (GG) on the right with my wee brother on the opposite side. The star of the picture though is the little cutie-pie in the middle, Susan, looking dead Scottish in her tartan troosers. She also had ginger hair, completing the - dolly from a tartan souvenir shop in the Royal Mile look!
We are sitting on the kerb in the culdee of Kemnay Gardens by the way.
Another amusing aspect is - see the togs I've got on, well if you forward-wind 20 years to the early 80's, I was wearing similar shirts fastened at the neck without a tie along with similar shabby breeks, when it was a post-punk kind of fad. Then I'd be sitting on the pavie outside the Tayside Bar 10 o'clock at night, lighting up a joint!!
A case of fashion going full-circle!
Changing the subject for a moment, an additional observation in the photo is that the 2 doors in shot are their original dark brown colour they'd have been when Craigie was first built. However, later on in the 60's, a team of council decorators came along to repaint the entire scheme. Some of the lucky ones had their doors painted pale blue, but we were one of the unfortunate ones who got theirs done in pink!
Anyway, got lots of Dundee related fashion items to pop up over the next few days. Some toppers in fact!

POWER PLANT A TREE IN '73

Last year I put an item up on Retro about the time I got involved in the national "Plant A Tree In 73" campaign at Craigie High.
Well here's another tree from 1973, our family Christmas one.
It was a bit on the puny side compared to today's standards, but at least my brother managed to make it look brighter than it was with the aid of lens filters on his camera. You may recall we had power cuts in winter 73 during a period of industrial disputes, so there may have been a bit of topicality behind the reason for the photo in the first place.
Our corny wallpaper seems to be rather Christmassy too, with what looks like baubles incorporated into the design. Never noticed that back then mind you!
So what did I get for Xmas that year? Well I can't recall with precision accuracy but being 15 I was too old for toys, so it would have been mostly made up of clothes, albums, art materials, books and if all went well, a couple of selection boxes!

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.

WASHING CLOTHES IN THE 60'S

LUX - OMO - TIDE - FAIRY SNOW - OXYDOL - DREFT... just some of the washing products that were popular in the 60's, but now I think all have disappeared.

I have 3 items relating to the subject here, so starting first with the photos above.

These are some of the greenie poles aroond the backies in Kemnay Gardens where we lived. They were standard council installations that everyone in Craigie had in the 60's. However, none of the ones in the snaps exist anymore. All the garden areas have been partitioned off from each other and everyone uses whirligigs now.

With old style tenements, many had pulley systems outside the windows on the upper floors which were attached to a large main pole that held many clothes lines.

Which brings me to the 2nd item. Some examples of these pulleys crop up in a short film I have (below), the footage of which was taken around various locations in Dundee in the 60's.

But before we go on a retro tour of the backies, item 3 is a wee reminder of how washing powder was advertised on tv in the 60's, with the one below being for Fairy Snow, who's slogan some of you may recall... "Forces Grey Out - Forces White In!"

GOING GUISING IN THE 60's

I remember going guising twice.
First attempt there was a big squad of us and so once the money was split we only made a few shillings each.
Next year, there was only 2 of us and we ended up making a few quid!!
The second year was the most interesting too because I took my guitar along with me. Although it was only me and my mate, we weren't a double act, we both sang different songs separately.
I chose a pop hit that was in the charts at the time - "Zabadak" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. This was in 1967 when I was 9. The song started with a percussive intro, so to do that I played "bongo style" on the back of my guitar, and when the time came to burst into the music bit I quickly flipped the guitar back over to its normal position and proceeded to strum along!
My mates party piece was "Nobody's Child", going for the sympathy vote there!!
Anyway, a couple of hours around the block in Craigie and all that loose change became pounds by the end of the evening.

Should anyone be curious, here is a link to Zabadak - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEBFH9R3cg4

And if anybody wants to hae a wee greet, here's a version of Nobody's Child -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ_j3FATQeo

As regards the night shot photo, well that's a view from my old bedroom window - 1973ish. It's Kemnay Gardens in Craigie looking over to Huntly Place.

CRAIGIE'S PLAY PARK IN THE 60'S

This was the play park we went to as kids in the 60's. It was in Kemnay Gardens opposite Crathie Place. It was a regular stop-off for us on our way to and from Balerno Primary School. We actually just referred to the whole area as "The Swings" but it also had a chute, 2 sets of swings, 2 roundabouts, a climbing frame and these monkey bars, above.
I had an accident on these very monkey bars around 1966. You know those somersaults kids do where you'd climb to the very top, lie on your belly grabbing the outer frame and birl around until you end up dangling - a move I'd done dozens of times before - well on this one occasion, I lost my grip, fell flat on my face and burst my nose! I ended up being taken home by the Parkie, surrounded by about 20 kids and my shirt covered in blood. I was rushed up to DRI for a check-up but there was nothing broken. Came back with a topper of a swollen nose and a couple of keekers. That'll teach me to show aff! Did get a few days off school mind you.
The Parkie's door in the photo was designed like a stable door, an upper half and a lower half. He would usually have the upper half open and lean on the closed lower half to keep an eye on things.
The shelter in the picture we'd use when it rained and played 2 touch, headers, truth-dare and so on.
The above image was taken in the 80's, and by the 90's, using the current method of creative thinking, turned the whole area into a car park.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG

SOUNDS LIKE THE 60'S - #2

I remember when I was aged 9, waking up early one morning at our home in Craigie while the rest of my family were still asleep.
This was just total instinct, no alarm clock needed because I had a special little something running around my mind from the days building up to it.
So I sneaked out my room, tiptoed downstairs to the living room and quietly turned the big radiogram on, as in the one shown above.
Reason..??
It was Saturday 30th September 1967 and time to find out what the first ever record to be played on Radio 1 would be.
Turned out to be one of my favourites back then.
Here below is what I heard...

SOUNDS LIKE THE 60'S - #1

Being schoolboy age in the 60's lead to my generation having a superb music soundtrack to accompany that particular decade. Not only was there all that superior pop music on radio, but even when arriving home from school, switching the tv on to watch kids programmes had an amazing amount of memorable music on offer too. Whether it be catchy classical tunes on "The adventures of Robinson Crusoe" or the jazzy grooves of "Vision On", none of the music presented for school kids sounded infantile or patronising. 
Here below, is another 60's music genre that sounded great, a touch of experimental electronica from BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. The show is "Bleep & Booster" which was shown on Blue Peter in the late 60's, with nice cartoon artwork by William "Tim" Tymym.
The photo above is my wee brother laughing along with David Jacobs on TV, so it may have been Jukebox Jury that was on at the time.
It's as if he wants to grab a card with "Hit" or "Miss" on it..!!

FUTBA IN THE CULDEE - 1960's

This is the cul-de-sac in Kemnay Gardens where many a football game was played as a lad in the 60's. Usually it was 2-touch or shootie-in, depending on how many there were.

Three doors along from me was a house which was an official Guest House connected to Dundee Football Club. This was the 1960's to 1990's period, and out of town players would reside there for a spell until they got their own place.

One such player, in the mid 60's was, George Ryden.

I remember on a few occasions when we were having a kick about in the culdee, George would join in and teach us a few keepy-up skills & tricks. He even managed to do all this fancy footwork wearing winkle-pickers.

I was always half expecting him to burst the ball with those pointed boots of his!