AMMONIA SPILLAGE ACCIDENT - 1973

My brother captured this accident that happened in Arbroath Road near Kingsway circle in 1973.

A trailer full of ammonia overturned and burst, spilling the contents all over the road.

The powerful odour was so strong, it made it difficult to breathe when the fumes drifted over the Craigie area.

It took place at lunchtime and I recall folk in Craigie having to close their windows.

We school kids used it as an excuse to return to Craigie High School late that afternoon, complete with watery eyes and hankies covering the face.

At least the firemen only had to nip down the road a few yards to attend!

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!

CRAIGIE HIGH SCHOOL HOUSE BADGES - 1970's

It wasn't until around 1973 that Craigie High School introduced "Houses".

They were all named after Scottish "Firth's".

So it was PENTLAND - MORAY - DORNOCH - SOLWAY.

I was in Pentland, but the team to beat were Moray, who dominated years 73/74.

We had enamel badges made too, as above.

CRAIGIE HIGH SCHOOL UNIFORM - 1970's

Craigie High School's uniform didn't appear on the scene until many months after the school opened it's doors in 1970.

It was actually a team of teachers from CHS Art Dept who helped design it.

We got to see the school badge artwork develop as "work in progress" during its design stage.

I remember head art teacher, Mr Higgins, explaining that the school badge image consisted of the Law Monument to represent Dundee's highest point, the River Tay, representing Dundee's lowest level and both connected by an abstract "Tree Of Knowledge".

There were also 2 different shades of green used for the blazer - a dark version which was the more deluxe option, and which tended to be worn by kids who used a briefcase rather than a schoolbag.
The example above was the economic version, and although it was a more lurid green, it was the most common.

The uniform wasn't compulsory back then and I reckon less than half of the pupils chose to wear it.

The clash of colours was interpreted light-heartedly by pupils at the time as Green for Catholics and Orange for Protestants.
Back then it was a mixed religion school and we all got on fine.
Then they built St Saviours in Whitfield and so triggered an exodus of Catholics.
Religion not being part of any learning process!

BUILDING CRAIGIE HIGH SCHOOL

Being in with the first batch of pupils at CHS when it opened in 1970 had its advantages and disadvantages.

On the plus side, all the classrooms had brand new equipment, all the desks & chairs, science gear, sports stuff and so on - all newly installed - and we had the honour of trying everything out first.

One of the disadvantages was that when CHS opened it's doors to us, some parts of the building were still being built and so these areas were out of bounds. For example, we had to wait many months before the swimming pool was finished and ready for use.

Behind the scenes, they had to have all the staff at the ready as well of course, and here is the original advert for a rector, dated January 1970, which had Mr Scott answer the call!

The picture shows CHS under construction in 1969.

Photo by DC Thomson.

CRAIGIE HIGH SCHOOL - 1969

I was in with the very first group of pupils who attended Craigie High School when it opened in 1970.

It was great having the whole place to ourselves without there being any older kids around. However, it did mean we had to start everything from scratch, for example setting up the first football team, hockey team, etc, etc.

Needless to say, living in Craigie brought about the fact that we used to actually play in the area where CHS now stands, when it was just fields and wasteland, so we saw the school being built from scratch too.

This is a picture of it under construction in 1969.

 

Photo by DC Thomson.