TRAINEE CHEFS AT KINGSWAY TECH - 80'S

Thought I'd pop this picture up of trainee chefs trying out their recipes over at Kingsway Technical College, sometime around the early/mid 80's - just on the off chance that one of you can spot someone you know.
This was the place to go for further training in your chosen profession - or for the unemployed to have a bit of a skive - this was the era of the YTS Scheme after all!
Wonder how many of the cooks in shot went on to have a successful career in the trade?
Anyway, the other reason for the photo was to lead in to a couple of days worth of food related material.
Tasty old adverts - yum yum!

VIEW FROM MONTGOMERIE SQUARE - 70'S

The map is to help you out with the area mentioned in this item.

Montgomerie Square was located on the Kingsway in a patch of ground between Milton Of Craigie Road and Longtown Road.
There used to be a huddle of old prefabs there in the 60's that were still lived in, but by the time they reached the early 70's, they had all disappeared.
The photo above was taken in the mid 70's and you can just make out the remains of one of the corners of Montgomerie Square in amongst the wild growth (bottom left).
The main focus of attention is the Kingsway East Fire Station which was built in 1972.
Sandwiched in the middle of the shot is the car park used by Timex employees - but later in the 70's, Timex extended the car park further up and in doing so, covered up the grassy area above with tarmac.
So now Montgomerie Square has been lost forever in the mists of time(x)!

OLD ICE HOCKEY GAMES

The advert on top cropped up in the Tele in January 1972.

Two Sunday games taking place up at Kingsway Ice Rink, one featuring a cup match - Dundee Rockets v Paisley Mohawks - and the other a league game - Dundee Meteors v Murrayfield Raiders.

It wasn't only local ice hockey teams Kingsway Ice Rink hosted, from time to time International games took place too. The photo above is one such encounter, a match in the early/mid 80's involving Great Britain v Canada.

It'll be interesting to find out if anyone has the results for any of the matches mentioned.

Incidentally, former 80's Dundee Rockets player, Rob (Bob) Breskal, has dropped some comments recently on some of the older Rockets/Ice Rink posts on Retro and says if anyone wants to get in touch with him, you can contact him at - robno103@hotmail.co.uk

INSIDE KINGSWAY ICE RINK

The top image is a wee reminder of how the entrance area to Kingsway Ice Rink looked - complete with curling stone and skater inlays.

The other image is a wee reminder of how the skaters at Kingsway Ice Rink looked - complete with mid 70's fashions.

You can tell it's 1974/75 by the high-waister jerseys that were all the rage at the time.

I've even spotted someone in the centre of the crowd wearing a "6 bander" - the cuffs went right up to your elbows and the waistband reached your chest. Classic!!

2 ICE RINK ADS - 1972 / 81

Some of you may have spotted the old Kingsway Ice Rink in yesterday's aerial shot from the 60's...well here's 2 ads from the other retro decades.

The top ad will be very familiar to a lot of you because the same one cropped up on a weekly basis in the Tele throughout the 70's - the one here being from 1972.

The ad below it was a one-off and is dated 1981.

DC THOMSON'S XMAS PARTIES - 1976

Another 2 DC Thomson Xmas parties, this time a decade later in 1976.

The top one captures some of the throng at the festivities at Kingsway.

Still wearing tank tops in 76?!

Underneath are the Xmas celebrations going on at their West Ward Works.

Looks like they even made a grotto for that one. 

DC THOMSON'S XMAS PARTIES - 1966

Many companies organise kids Xmas parties each year.

Some hire rooms, and some are put on at their own work premises.

DC Thomson's having a few properties dotted around town, end up having a handful of parties spread across various locations.

The 3 examples above all took place in 1966.

The top photo is one of the parties held at Kingsway. I say one of because they actually had to split the '66 do into 2 parts. The one above being the 5 to 14 year olds section.

The middle picture is the party gathering at Lindsay Street.

The bottom photo is the kids tucking into their Xmas banquet in Bank Street, with one of the invites having a bit of trouble with their hat!

DUNDEE ROCKETS - MID 80'S

Also in May 2009, I posted the only picture I had of the Dundee Rockets, dating from the early 80's, which was a poor quality monochrome image.

Well here is a proper one of the team from the mid 80's, in full colour and autographed!

Thanks to Stuart Betty.

KINGSWAY ICE RINK - 1989

The previous picture of the old Ice Rink I put up last year (May 2009), didn't have the main entrance in the image. So to make up for it, here is a cracker of the doorway taken on 3rd March 1989.
Photo by Neale Elder

70'S AIR SHOTS - 2 KINGSWAY SEGMENTS

The top section of the Kingsway has Maryfield Hospital, bottom right of the image.

The central area is Caird Park golf course with the Kingsway Tech next to it.

Off into the background is Kirkton & Downfield.

The second image is looking in the opposite direction, with the golf course at the bottom.

The main road off the Kingsway, to the left, is Graham Street where you can make out St Michaels School.

And in the distance, top left, are Tannadice and Dens.

70'S AIR SHOT - CRAIGIE / CRAIGIEBANK

The main focal point in this picture is the Kingsway circle.
Branching off from it is Arbroath Road going up to the 12 o'clock position. Running parallel to the plane's wing is Douglas Road & Greendykes Road, and cutting across the middle of the image, right to left, is the Kingsway & Strips Of Craigie Road.
Tucked away at the very bottom right of the photo is Kemnay Gardens cul-de-sac, where I used to live.
The square roof nearest to the roundabout is where Scott Fyffe Motors is.
Aaahhh, but is it?! I have a couple of old photos that show it spelt as Scott Fyfe, with NO double-F, yet their website has a photo with the double-F variant. To confuse matters, my old Dundee Directories have BOTH spellings, as does Google. So come on guys, what the F is going on?!
Moving further up Arbroath Road to the rectangular roof sitting beside the corner edge area of the cemetery, that became a supermarket called Presto.
On the far left of the picture at the end of Greendykes Road is the church I used to go to when I was in the BB in the late 60's. I'd be about 10. I only stuck it about a year though as I wasn't quite so keen on the formal marching stuff. I much preferred playing in the football team and helping out at their jumble sales!

80'S KINGSWAY GRAFFITI - JIMBO

This piece of work is by the AUA (Ardler United Artists).
The fact that it's part of a Kingsway flyover means it would be a pretty tough venue to get this done, having to avoid the volume of passing traffic. A couple of night-time commando raids needed to accomplish it no doubt!
The graffiti was put down around 1984/85, but after all that effort, in the end, the artist got busted for it!
Big thanks to Lyken.

OH FOR FOX SAKE...MORE 80'S GRAFFITI

Still up at the Kingsway flyover - mid 80's - and the Ardler United Artists with Fox On The Run.
"Scarper, it's Vixen of Dock Green!" (an old school joke!)
Thanx to Lyken.

THE ICE RINK - KINGSWAY

My first visit to the Ice Rink, ironically, didn't involve any ice! It was for a 5-a-side football tournament that took place in the mid 70's. Both Dundee and Dundee United were in with those participating, however, I'm afraid I can't recall any details as to the outcome of the event. The place was filled to capacity though and there was a great atmosphere.
I did manage to venture up later to catch some ice hockey games in the early 80's. The Dundee Rockets were a top notch team back then and they won numerous championships, so it was a great time to go see them play.
The Ice Rink also occasionally put on a variety of other functions such as live gigs, discos ( called Dice-cos, featuring the sounds of Vital Spark), and obviously you could go skating, try curling, then visit their restaurant.
I never did get around to sampling the skating sessions mind you.
In the above photo, the main entrance to the rink is just out of shot to the left. The Ice Rink finally closed down around 1993.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

DUNDEE AT WORK #1 - VALENTINES

At one stage in their history, Valentines were the biggest producer of greetings cards in Europe, with 100 million cards per year being made.
In 1825 James Valentine started off as an engraver then around 1860 went into postcard production, and now you can see all those ancient postcards cropping up for sale on EBay, some making big bucks. So it can be said that after all that time, Valentines are still doing good business!
Around the late 70's Valentines became part of card giants, American Greetings, handing over control of the business. At the time of the handover, another one of the Valentine family founded Andrew Valentine Ltd in order to keep the family name going in card production in Dundee, but eventually, they too were to become part of another USA company, the American Ziff Corp.
The ad above dating from the early 80's has the slogan "Make everyday a Valentines day!" and shows snapshots from their Kingsway factory.
Below is film footage going back to 1965 and also shows scenes from inside the Dundee factory.
So if you knew anyone who worked at Valentines in the mid 60's, you may even be lucky enough to spot them in the film clip!

DC THOMSON - KINGSWAY - 1974

This is DC Thomson's retouching department based in Kingsway. Picture taken in 1974.

They worked on the negatives as part of the pre-printing preparations.

The guy in the photo is working on a page called "Linda of Nursery Rhyme Land" which I think may be for Bimbo.

Needless to say, nowadays it's all done on computer rather than by hand.

Photo by JDG.

CLEAREX ASTRAL BLAZE - 1963

 

I remember this fire very well despite the fact that I was only 5 years old at the time.
It was on a Saturday in December 1963.
The Clearex Astral factory was based at Craigie Industrial Estate, in an area of factories between Longtown Road, Douglas Road and Milton of Craigie Road.
We just called the building The Astral, and it made components for fridges.
As you can see on the photo, the smoke was quite dramatic and seemed very close to us because we lived nearby in Craigie, where we were watching it from the back garden.
There were always lots of chemical drums at the factory location and a couple of them exploded, blowing part of a roof off which caused injuries to a couple of firemen while others had a narrow escape.
It took 10 fire engines to deal with it and eventually get the blaze under control.
I also remember my older brother ran to Douglas Road to get a closer view as there were lots of spectators.
The result of that was he ended up in one of the images published in the Courier - he was photographed running along Douglas Road.
We cut the article out and kept it as a souvenir, so that's probably why I recall the event clearly.
The different photo above is from one of the Sunday papers.

AMMONIA SPILLAGE ACCIDENT - 1972

My brother captured this accident that happened in Arbroath Road near Kingsway circle in February 1972.

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 around 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!

Click the cutting to read the report.