IT'S THE JIF LEMON TREE!

Well Peter Ustinov may have written a play called "Halfway Up A Tree", but halfway up this tree was a strange fruit that I mentioned on Retro back in April - plastic Jif lemons!
We weren't hallucinating after all - here is the evidence from 1974.
Photo by DC Thomson.

CENTRAL WATERFRONT AREA - 1980's

This aerial photo is from the late 80's and shows the familiar layout of the central waterfront area our generation will remember it by.

Yes it soon will only be a memory as it's time to say ta ta to Tayside House, the Leisure Centre and other surrounding features because the zone is currently in the process of being redesigned and modernised with a flashy new look that's gonna dazzle us all!

BRIDGE DAY - THE CROWD - 1966

Down at the scene where all the action was taking place on 18th August 1966, here's the crowd scattered all around the bridge area, waiting patiently for the grand opening.

The top image has quite a lot of folk gathered around the Dock Street bridge approach section, and you can make out the masses away in the distance over at the enclosure where the official ceremony was going on.

The middle picture catches the moment the Queen Mother's car drives up onto the the bridge, with plenty of flag waving as she passes.

The last snapshot shows the initial excitement over with some of the spectators choosing to depart, while most of the others hang on to watch the royal wheels return.

I can remember being driven across the bridge on this very day, only in the evening - along with thousands of others who decided to cross it on opening day!

Photos from Gordon C.

BRIDGE DAY - ANGUS HOTEL - 1966

Here's a couple of photos from completely different vantage points, but both captured at around the same time.
The Royal entourage were in town for the opening of the Tay Road Bridge in August 1966 and stopped off at the Angus Hotel, inevitably drawing a large inquisitive crowd.
Although the photographer in the crowd was suffering from a touch of camera shake, you can see the 3 cars are in the same position as the image above it.
Quite a coincidence that these are the only photos I have of this moment, and the two of them appear to have been taken almost simultaneously!
In addition, I have film footage of the moment the Queen Mother departs the Angus Hotel and gets into a waiting car.
The "doorway crowd" footage is very wobbly, but you can make out what's happening.

BRIDGE DAY - CITY SQUARE - 1966

They brought out the Royal banners in order to tart up the city square, the day the celebrations for the official opening of the Tay Road Bridge were taking place - so these photos were taken on 18th August 1966.

The top image is from the city square looking over at the old Overgate. Quite rare to see photos of the original Overgate in colour. The construction of the 2nd version of the Overgate (the concrete one) was well underway in '66, but you can't see any of the building work that's taking place, in shot.

In case you're wondering, the ad on the side of the red van is for Fish Fingers.

The middle picture is a similar view, but from slightly further down the square.

A nice array of classic 60's cars on display, as well as a wee reminder of the VG van.

The bottom image shows more banners, this time from the other side of the square - and judging from the eye catching black car in the foreground, it looks like they invited Batman!

Click onto the photos to enlarge if you want to have a look around.

Photos from Gordon C.

HRH AT THE GALLEON - 1966

Well I may not have had the exact year when the previous 4 photos on Retro were taken, but this one here is easy - 18th August 1966.

The car is whizzing along Dock Street with The Galleon in the background, the pub being on the corner of Dock St/Whitehall Crescent.

The VIP in the back of the car is Her Royal Hatness the Queen Mother on her way to the ceremony podium to give the speech that officially declares the Tay Road Bridge open.

Photo from Gordon C.

THE 70'S LEMON TREE PRANK

In the mid 70's, someone came up with the bright idea of attaching plastic Jif lemons to a tree in the landscaped garden area next to the Tay Road Bridge.
A few folk I've spoken to have a hazy memory of it, but none of us can remember if the idea behind it in the first place was an April Fool stunt, or if it was just a general practical joke.
If it was supposed to be an April Fool then it went way beyond it's one day of glory, because the plastic lemons remained there for a few years.
A photo of it did appear in the local papers, so maybe it started off originally as an April Fool played on us by DC Thomson's.
Anyone know a bit more about it?

COURIER'S DISASTER SUPPLEMENT - 1979

On the 28th December 1979, the Courier brought out this special 4 page supplement to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of the Rail Bridge disaster.
The top photo tells you a bit about the technical details of the bridge design, the enquiry verdict and the evidence the court missed.
The remaining 3 pages consisted of facsimiles of the Courier's original coverage dated 29/30/31 December 1879.
It also tells of other damage in town caused by the hurricane - chimneys crashing down, roof tiles flying off, trees being uprooted etc.
Also published in 1979 to mark the occasion, these 2 cartoons cropped up in current affairs magazines.
The first one depicts the train driver as a bit of an Evel Knievel type character!
The second one shows a stereotypical mean Scottish reaction over the sad loss of return tickets!
You may also recall, in Anniversary year (1979) another train disaster occurred just along the road in Invergowrie, resulting in a few deaths and carriages falling into the Tay.
Spooky!!

GETTING THE SIGNAL - 1970'S / 80'S

Not exactly a brilliant picture this one but to be fair my brother was on board a train when he snapped it.

It was taken in the early 70's around the area between the rail bridge and the station.

To get technical for a moment - the WHISTLE sign was to warn of an approaching train shunting in the wrong direction over the up line.

The 2 signal arms on the tall post are shunting signals controlling one of the entrances to the goods yard.

What amuses me about the photo though is the reminder that back in the 70's my brother used to show his photos using a slide projector & screen at home, and every time this photo popped up on view, everyone in the room started to whistle!
 

Now this is a much better picture - this time one of Neale Elders.

You should recognise the view taken from the end of the platform.

The image was shot in December 1983, a year before these semaphore signals were replaced with a new coloured lighting system.

The signal boxes in the background are West Box & Central Box.
 

Another Neale Elder image here - the view along the rail bridge tracks taken in March 1986.

The "Push-Pull" train in the picture is another piece of history, and I'm pretty certain it has ScotRail on the side too!

If you need to delve deeper into the images, click onto them for the large versions.

RAIL STATION & GOODS STATION - 1983

The top photo is a nice reminder of how Tay Bridge Station looked before it became the design it is today. The one on top being a basic shoe box design - functional rather than eye-catching.

This is exactly how I remember the area when I lived in Dundee.

At the time the picture was taken (21st December 1983) the larger building next to it, the goods station, was being demolished, although obviously all the work was being done at the rear.

If you view the large version, you can see the rail station's Christmas tree.

The close-up image of the Dundee West Goods Station sign was taken on 22nd December 1983, and as you can see it was the depot of National Carriers.

Another relic from the past that's in the bottom shot is the guy wearing a Kestrel Marine jacket!

Photos by Neale Elder.

TAY BRIDGE OFFICIAL OPENING - 1966

And so we reach the moment the Tay Road Bridge officially opened.
The event, which was broadcast live on TV, took place around midday on Thursday 18th August 1966.
Below is a film clip showing some of the ceremonial palaver.

MODERN AND McGILL'S ADS - 1966

The last couple of ads has the Modern shop in Dock Street, getting a bit carried away with their sales pitch hype. According to them their shop was "One of the wonders of the Road Bridge Terminal", then go on to claim it is "The shopping experience of a lifetime".

Wow! Amazing!! Out of this world!!!

Bringing us back down to earth again, however, is McGill's - selling souvenir rugs for 6 quid!

LARG'S AND SMITHS ADS - 1966

Continuing with the adverts in the 1966 Bridge Souvenir Supplement - here's another 2.

I reckon Larg's missed a good opportunity to have a bit of fun with the wording in their caption, and could have related more appropriately with the images of the musical instruments.

They opted to say "The new bridge is another link in our chain of contacts...". To me, that makes them sound like ironmongers!

How about something like "Larg's - in tune with progress". Much better, and I won't charge a fee for that one!

Smith Brothers department store, on Murraygate/Commercial St corner, saw themselves as a city attraction that would get everyone flocking across the bridge to visit them!

They did have the Globe Restaurant I suppose.

Can anyone remember what their Mannequin Parades were like?

You'll need to click onto the Smiths ad to read the large version.

TIMEX AND WINTER ADS - 1966

Many of the adverts in the Souvenir Supplement I posted yesterday, incorporated the new bridge into their sales pitch.

Here's a couple of examples...

Timex manage to use the idea of "modern engineering and design" to relate it to their own product.

Winter's, in Shore Terrace, go for a bit of witty word play in their ad with the phrase "The Modern Approach To Printing" going along the side of the bridge.

Having all that machinery on the roof looks a bit dangerous mind you!!

Click on images to enlarge.

BRIDGE SOUVENIR SUPPLEMENT - 1966

To celebrate the opening of the Tay Road Bridge, the Evening Telegraph issued a couple of souvenir supplements.
The one above is the 2nd of them which came out on Wednesday 17th August 1966, the day before the official opening.
Inside it has lots of information about the building of the bridge, technical details, a bit about the guys who built it, the workers who died and an optimistic outlook for how Dundee would prosper in the future.
There are also loads of local ads, some of which I'll put up next.
The face on the front of the supplement is one of the men who worked on the bridge, Tony Curran of Inverkeithing.
It also features some of the Fifie workers who would be losing their jobs at Craig Pier's Ferries, but were given work on the bridge as toll collectors, patrolmen and so on.
You can see on the film clip below, some of the construction work being done.

BEFORE THE BRIDGE WAS BUILT

During the early to mid 60's period, before the Tay Road Bridge had been completed, the Dundee public were given occasional glimpses into the future as to how the new bridge would look. Most often it would be artists impressions showing the slick design, other times we would be shown images of models like the ones above.

This item about the bridge comes from a 1964 DC Thomson publication called "Dundee and round about" and has on display, models of the twin columns and the inner ring road approach. This was 2 years before the bridge opened, so it was all looking very modern at the time of course!
These were the actual models that were used during the planning stage when it was work in progress, and you can see these very models crop up in the short film clip below, showing the bridge design team in action!
Click image above to read the enlarged version.
Thanks to Neale Elder for the above items.

THE ORIGINAL BOWLING ALLEY - 60's





When Dundonians of my generation talk about the Bowling Alley, it's usually on the subject of drunken nights out at the Tech Students Union disco, or discussing the bands we saw play there, but it's sometimes forgotten that the reason it was called that in the first place is because the premises was once an actual Tenpin Bowling Alley.

You can see in the photo above, taken in the 60's, that the original Bowling Alley premises was in the exact spot as the Students Union we used to visit in the 70's & 80's - the same doorway and stairwell on the corner of Guthrie Street.

The advert showing the interior, appeared in the Tele on 18th August 1966, a significant date because that's when the Tay Road Bridge opened, hence the references in the ad.

From the image, it seems to have been a popular place in its time, and although I have not been to this version of the Bowling Alley, I guess that it could be the same floor space which later became the disco dancefloor in the 70's.



SCOOBY DOO DEMO - 1971

Back in April 2009, I posted an item to do with a Scooby Doo protest that took place in Dundee in the early 70's.
I put it up as a pretend April Fool, but revealed it was an actual real event.
Although it generated lots of comments, all of us were a bit hazy as to how it came about and when it took place.
Now I have a few details about it.
February 1971 is when the city square / Tay bridge demo started up, organised by Jimmy Brown and his schoolmates.
It wasn't just Dundee either, word soon got out to the youngsters of Scotland and not only did big cities like Glasgow join in, many of the smaller towns got involved too, places such as Fort William, Keith and Lochaber.
The protests all ended the same way - sending petitions with hundreds of signatures, into the BBC.
2 months later, Dundee's Jimmy gets a message from the BBC - Scooby Doo will now be returning to the screens.
A rather satisfying victory for those pesky kids!
The article above was published on 8 April 1971.

CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS

Every so often, I like to put up the Retro Dundee email address for anyone who's looking to get in touch or send stuff. So feel free...

This photo (taken by my brother in the early 70's) reminds me of the time I got the Tay Road Bridge all to myself!

This was in the early 80's after a boozing session at my mate's in Tayport. When it was time for me to go home, I decided to walk back over the bridge rather than get a taxi. However, unbeknown to me, while I was merrily getting tanked up before then, behind the scenes the weather had made a drastic change for the worse, and had become extremely stormy. When I got to the bridge in the wee hours, they had the "Bridge Closed" sign up because of the high winds. If I was sober, I'd have turned back at that point and crashed out at my mate's in Tayport, but of course having a touch of Dutch courage, I dived over the barrier and stuck to my decision to walk it. I remember giggling to myself all the way across, especially when I was being shoogled aboot by the wind!

When I reached the Dundee end, the traffic police were parked there to enforce the closure, and when they saw me emerging out of the storm, one of them jumped out of the car furious, shouting something like "Where the hell did you come from, didn't you see that the bridge is closed?". I just made up something stupid like "Oh I thought that was only for traffic!". Anyway, it's not as if he was gonna send be back across for being a naughty boy was it, so he ended up shaking his head in dismay and doing the "On your way" routine!!

THE ORIGINAL TAY BRIDGE WALKWAY

The top photo was taken from the observation platform on Tay Road Bridge in the late 60's and shows the view along the original central pedestrian walkway.

In the picture below it, you can see that it was based on a chequerboard design.

This feature was devised by the bridge's designer, William Fairhurst, who just so happened to be an International Chess Master as well!

The pattern depicts a knight's move repeated in 5 different colours of stone.