THE PENCIL PENCIL CASE

Around the late 60's/early 70's, this novelty pencil case hit the shops and proved popular with school kids.
The big, rounded, soft plastic, pencil shaped pencil case had a zip near the top for access and you'd usually just end up tipping the contents out onto your desk, a common sight in class first thing in the morning. You'd also be considered quite cool if you had one, like a lot of fads.
I couldn't find an image of an original from this era on the net, so I knocked out this computer image of one, just as a reminder.
Before that, the normal kind of pencil case was like a big floppy purse, and before that it was the traditional wooden box with sliding lid, a creation which seemed to be on the go since the 18th century! That's probably why the big pencil design looked ultra modern when it first cropped up on the scene.
The late 60's/early 70's was also the era when school kids started putting gonks and rubbery monsters on the top of their pencils!

PLANT A TREE IN 73

Just to make sure the woodwork class didn't deprive the planet of too many trees, Craigie High was one of the schools who got involved in the national tree planting campaign in 1973.
Quite a few of us mucked in, with different classes allocated their own planting space around the school. Being a brand new school CHS had rather a lot of open ground just ready and waiting to be filled. The area where my lot planted ours was on the grassy bit of the school nearest to the Kingsway circle. Looking down at it now on Google Earth, 36 years later, I'm pleased to see all the trees in that area are now fully grown.
The images above are taken from a First Day Cover and show that they issued a stamp to mark the occasion.

CRAIGIE HIGH WOODWORK ROOM - 1970

This shot of the woodwork room at Craigie High School was taken in 1970, just before it opened it's doors for the first time, and being in with the first batch of CHS pupils in 1970, we got to try out all this brand new equipment before anyone else.

Some of the things I can remember making were - a pendant (with leather strap) - ornamental knife - cheeseboard (with formica surface) - tea tray - football rattle (tried out at Dens) - and a submarine. The submarine actually worked. It was painted grey, had a strong elastic attached to the propeller and it did indeed zoom under water!

I ended up ditching woodwork though to concentrate on Technical Drawing when the time came to choose our subjects for O'Levels.

The 2 main teachers for woodwork in my era were Mr Blyth and Mr Milne. Mr Milne's wife was also a teacher at CHS during this period, in the Science dept.

In 1974, some CHS bright spark came up with the idea of making their own electric guitar!!

Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG

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.