DOUGLAS ENTERTAINS MARYFIELD - 70'S

This is Douglas Primary School's concert party entertaining the old folks up at Maryfield Hospital around the 1970/71 period.

The picture would be difficult to do a proper "from left to right" identity name check, so I opted for a second image with numbers to make the ID easy.

I can name 3 for starters...

#2 is Grant Roberts with the guitar, who kept his musical side going, playing in local clubby bands in later years.

#26 is Ralph Milne, yep the same one as yesterday. Dundee United superstar and gambler!

#27 is Craig Methven, who ten years later would be fronting the Scrotum Poles.

And what cheery tune do you think the Douglas troupe chose to play for the pensioners to sing along to?

Well it was one of the chart hits from back then - McGuinness Flint's "When I'm Dead And Gone"...!!

Big thanks to Craig

DRYBURGH PLAYGROUND - 1972

Dryburgh Primary School in Lochee, was visited by local journalist David Phillips in 1972.
He was informing the youngsters what kids from his childhood got up to for fun, including demonstrating the Gird & Cleek, a metal hoop toy that never made a comeback with later generations!
The school headmaster at the time would either be Mr Soutar or Mr Harvey, not sure of the exact year in the early 70's the change took place.
Same goes for the jannie, so it would either be Mr Kidd or Mr Simpson.
I have no names for the pupils, but I'm sure someone out there will recognise one or two!

BALERNO PRIMARY PANORAMA

Although this photo of Balerno Primary School was taken in the 80's, it looks exactly the same in the picture as it did when I was there in the 60's.
The headmaster in the 60's was Mr Elrick, and the jannie was Mr Bowman.
One thing I can remember about Mr Bowman was when I was helping him out delivering the milk around the classrooms one day in 1968. When I was picking up the milk bottles outside his jannie's room, he had the radio on, and a newsflash came on about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. He told me to go tell all the teachers. So when I went around all the classes with the milk, I also had to deliver this gloomy news!
I can't recall where I was when the famous JFK assassination took place, but I always remember his brother's!
The school was demolished in the 90's and now has housing built on the site.
If you want to zoom into a bit of detail, click on the image to enlarge.
Photo by DC Thomson.

MID CRAIGIE SCHOOL - 1960

This image of Mid Craigie School comes from an advert for Bett Brothers, the builders, dated 1960.
In the 60's, the school's head teacher was Norman Reid, and the jannie was Mr Taylor.
The last time I looked, the school's windows were all boarded up, although I don't know if it was about to be done up or demolished!

A VISIT TO ST. COLUMBA'S - 1970'S

This image is of a travelling museum visiting St. Columba's in Kirkton. I'm guessing it must have been some kind of trailer that toured the local schools. It appears to be displaying items about Scottish history.
The photo was taken around the mid/late 70's.
So those of you who have good memories - feel free to fill in a few details about it.

PRIMARY SCHOOL PLASTICINE

One of the first materials we used in primary school when it was time for "arts & crafts", was plasticine. At aged 5, we usually just enjoyed rolling it out into as long a snake as possible, sometimes ending up like a 2ft piece of string if the didn't snap during the rolling!

However, I can remember the very last ever arts & crafts session I had there. Now aged 12, and in my final week at primary, which would have been June 1970, I set about making the World Cup trophy. It was approximately the same size as the real one, but in 2D rather than 3D, flat with sculpted details. It was then sprayed gold and mounted onto white card, similar to my wee recreation above.

The World Cup back then was called the Jules Rimet trophy, and just like Brazil who got to take the real thing home for keeps that year, I too got to take mine home.

When I went to secondary school, the material used in art class had changed to "modelling clay". So feeling a bit older at this stage (7 weeks!), the opinion had become - plasticine was for bairns!

70'S AIR SHOT - ARDLER MULTI'S

The last time I was up at Ardler, this is how it looked. I don't think I'd know my way around it now!

The school on the left of the picture is Blackshade Primary School. Around the time this photo was taken, they had a head teacher called Miss Brodie. Not Jean, but Doreen!

The other 2 primary schools nearer the centre of the picture are St Fergus, who's head teacher was J.Kirkwood, and next door was Ardler, who's head teacher was A.M.MacLean.

Get a load of those bare patches on the playing field. These are where the goal posts are. Obviously seen plenty of futba action!

At the back of the multi's is St Mary's, and beyond that you can see Clatto Reservoir.

Click the image to view the large version.

Unfortunately, this is the last picture I have in the set, and sorry if your place didn't crop up on any. Lots more comments have been added to some of the previous 70's air shots I put on in 2009, so still a few more memories to catch up with.

BUZZ BLADES

This is something I'm sure everyone did when primary school age.
Get a large blade of grass, trap it in between the length of your 2 thumbs, then blow through the narrow slit between the thumbs. It makes a pretty good buzzing noise.
Best not to use sand-dune grass though. I tried it at Monifieth once and slashed my fingers trying to snap a blade off. As sharp as a Samurai sword!!

MY 60's NECK-WEAR

Here's 2 examples of neck-wear I used to have as a primary school kid back in the 60's.

The top one is of course, my old Balerno school tie.

I remember 3 variants that used the black & yellow stripes theme - the one above, then a black version of it with thin yellow diagonal stripes, and there was also a chunky horizontal striped version, resembling a bumble bee!

The other item, a Paisley pattern cravat, I didn't wear at school, this was only for after school hours and weekends.

I felt like a pop star with it on at the time because many of the groups on Top Of The Pops wore them!

You had the choice to wear it tucked into your open necked shirt, or have it dangling out as a scarf, like the 60's Mods did!

A WORD IN YOUR EYE...

Sometimes, what was on the outside of your school jotter was more interesting than the content inside.
We used to scribble our favourite pop groups and football teams in various styles. I can recall 3 lettering styles in particular we used in the late 60's at primary.
The top one has balloon-like letters, each one slightly hidden behind the next. They were often used in hippie designs such as albums & badges, or crop up in pop magazines like Fabulous 208.
The middle style needed a bit of working out. You started with blank squares - 6 in this example - then you'd fill them in using just a simple straight line to represent the gaps in letters. Some letters were pretty tricky to do though - T, P & Q - I didn't like them! This grid system was also used as a puzzle in some comics, like in Beano's "Teaser Time".
The bottom technique with the words bursting out from infinity, was seen in pop graphics too, such as The Beatles "Help" poster and a more psychedelic version in the Magical Mystery Tour film.
As for remembering the stuff inside the jotters - DUHHH!!!!!

MID 70'S AIR SHOT - DOUGLAS

To end part one of the aerial photo sequence, we now fly over one of my old hangouts, Douglas.
Another 2 schools on show here that haven't survived the passing of time. Bottom right is Balerno Primary, my school. The wee hoose to the left of the school in Balerno Street belonged to the Janitor, Mr Bowman. He was a friendly chap. Always good fun when he picked you out to help carry the crates of milk around all the classrooms.
The other school, centre right, is the old St Pius.
At the middle left of the photo, you can make out the flat roof of the shops in Ballindean Road. Been on top of there a few times, mostly to get our ba'. Borzoni's chippie was one of the shops we most visited.
Although I lived in Craigie, a lot of my schoolmates lived in Douglas, and one quirky thing I can recall from Douglas in the early 70's when we were secondary school age, was Dundee's "Magic Circle..!!". A mob would pick out a victim (usually a mate!), the mob would encircle him...and then commence to rough him up. The victim wouldn't get his head kicked in, but he would be on the end of kicks up the backside, dead legs, knuckles on the head, that kind of treatment. Although it ached, the victim would accept his fate without a fight, then once the ordeal was over, he would dust himself down and join back in with the mob. I've been on the receiving end and have dished it out. Organised bullying, with no damage done!

MID 70'S AIR SHOT - KIRKTON

The basic layout of Kirkton is the same now as it was back here in the mid 70's.

Today most changes to it would be more noticeable from ground level than the air, however, a couple of obvious changes from this picture are the schools.

The one at the foot of the photo I'm fairly sure is Gillburn Primary School, which if it is, then it has since been demolished. The other blue/grey building to the left of Balgowan Avenue I'm pretty certain is Kirkton Nursery School, which I also reckon no longer exists. Kirkton High School which has survived, albeit with a new name, is just visible top left in the hazy distance.

You can also make out the shops near the centre of the photo no problem.

A piece of trivia from this era of Kirkton I can add is that, back in 1979, the place was featured on BBC TV.

This was a show called "Roadshow Disco".

The quirky thing about it was that when the show visited other cities around UK, they all had the programme broadcast from proper discos and nightclubs, but when they came to Dundee, they ended up doing the show from Kirkton Community Centre!

As well as the local disco dancers that were filmed, Dundee funk act, Rokotto, were the band supplying the dance grooves.

BUBBLES, WINDMILLS AND SPARKLERS

A variety of things on sticks can keep young kids entertained for ages.

A matter of simple but effective.

This is me (yes it's GG) playing aroond the backies in Craigie in the 60's.

I put it on view not because of me but because of the bubbles container. Notice, no product packaging, no logos, no manufacturing details, and yet that's how they were sold in shops. Just the plain tin with the stick inside. As basic as that.

Windmills too were as basic as it gets. A wooden stick with 4 plastic petal-like blades. The fun was derived running around pretending to be an aeroplane or attaching one to your bike. Then at the end of the day when you were puggled, you would plant it in the garden and pretend it was a flower!

Sparklers, however, well they were more of a luxury stick! Only allowed to indulge one week a year!!

I couldn't resist animating the photo (see below).
A circular breathing technique was needed to do this!

 

 

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

THE TUFTY CLUB

It's getting a bit on the rusty side now, but here's the original Tufty Club badge from the 60's.
The Tufty Club's road safety campaign started up in 1961. To help promote it they had Tufty teams visit schools, including mine, Balerno Primary, and dished out badges & booklets.
The Tufty Club has another link with Dundee, although not related, this being the name that was given to an under 14's disco they had in the early 70's at the JM Ballroom. I never heard of any kids being run over on their way to the disco, so at least all that 60's road sense paid off!
I remember even into the 80's when there was an under 14's disco at the Barracuda on Sunday afternoons, that too was referred to as the Tufty Club, but I think by then it was a patronising term spouted by older clubbers, rather than by those who went there.
And as a wee reminder of what triggered it all off, here's the original tv ad below.

WHAT'S THAT IN OLD MONEY?

Found these coins the other day.

It's the old £SD currency we used before 1971.

The top large one is One Penny.
The small silver one is Brian May's plectrum...er I mean a Sixpenny bit (tanner).
Bottom left is a Ha'penny (hupnae).
Next to it is a One Shilling (bob).
The brassy one with the straight edges is a Threepenny bit (thrupnae).

In the 1960's, these were the coins we got our pocket money in and spent on things like the penny tray and comics.

We'd play pitchy with them in the school playground too.

They also got chucked out of cars at wedding scrammies!

If something cost 2 Shillings it would be written 2/-, and if it cost 2 Shillings and sixpence it would be 2/6d.

I can clearly recall when I was in my last year at Balerno Primary school in 1969/70, we got lessons teaching us how to convert old money to the new Decimal currency which was on the horizon. Us kids got the hang of it pretty quick but the older generation struggled at first when prices in the shops changed from old to new. So when people were trying to figure out the prices when shopping after the transition took place, that's when you would hear the phrase "What's that in old money?".

The big change-over - "Decimal Day" - took place on 15th Feb 1971.

LOCHEE BATHS - ST. MARYS LANE

Lochee Baths is where I learned to swim. This was back in the late 60's when my primary class used to visit there once a week for lessons.
The entrance was up a wee side street called St Marys Lane, just off Lochee High Street.
The interior layout was very compact, in fact there was actually hardly any room to move around the edge of the pool.
When we went there it was only the girls who got to use the perimeter cubicles, us boys got chucked in the communal changing room around the back.
I remember we all started off using arch shaped polystyrene floats before any attempts at proper swimming commenced, but it didn't take long before the whole class could swim.
The upside to the trip was, because we attended Balerno school in Douglas, it meant a lengthy bus journey, so we kind of viewed the 3 hour day out as a bit of a skive from class, what with the all-round excursion using up a full morning.
The downside to it was, our class was booked during the winter months so I can also recall the miserable return journey when we were all damp haired, freezing and shivering waiting on the bus back.
Still to this day, anytime I happen to catch a whiff of bleach, I always get a flashback to the Lochee Baths!
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

THE TONIBELL MINIBALL

A novelty ice cream idea that was a big hit with youngsters in the 60's and 70's was the Tonibell Miniball - a plastic ball filled with ice cream. To tuck into the contents you removed the lid, and when the ice cream was all gone you just snapped the lid back on, then you could have a game of football, tennis and so on, with it. They were sold in various colours and they came with a flat wooden spoon.
This advert is dated June 1968 but I can recall when I was at Craigie High school in 1970-74, the 70's ones had either a gobstopper or bubblegum inside as an added extra feature. Needless to say we had many games of football in the playground with them too.
I've no idea when they stopped selling them, I don't have any memory of having ever seen them after my school days, but they were popular in their day, and one of the rare occasions when kids didn't get in trouble for playing with their food!

THE REP THEATRE - LOCHEE ROAD

When the old original Rep Theatre in Nicoll Street burnt down in the early 60's, this church in Lochee Road became the Rep's 2nd home. It was only supposed to be a temporary base, but it remained in use right up until the opening of their present theatre in Tay Square in 1982.

I can remember visiting the Lochee Road Rep in the late 60's as a special school treat when my class went to see a "marionette show".

Being primary school age, we were used to string puppets on TV with shows such as Thunderbirds, Stingray, Joe 90 and them all, so needless to say the show was a big hit with the kids.

They had to construct a small puppet stage onto the main stage for them to perform. All the drapery & cloth surrounding it was black, as was the puppeteer's clothing. This was to keep the puppeteers hidden during the performance of course, which meant we could concentrate on the puppet action better!

Read the 1968 article above for more details.

I also recall my parents going to see John Cairney do his show at Lochee Rep, a play about Robert Burns which was also very popular at the time.

On the final night of the performance, however, he created a little confrontation afterwards, which you can read in the above clipping dated 1967.

60'S WINTER COATS

Before the more popular quilted Anorak's and Parka's arrived in the mid 60's, the winter coats most often worn by kids in Dundee were - the black Trench coat and the navy blue Duffle coat. I never had both but I definitely had a navy Duffle with the inside of the hood tartan lined. I remember one winter when we were having a sna'ba' fight, I had my Duffle coat hood up when somebody threw a snowball at me and it shot between the gap at the side of my face and inside edge of the hood, got trapped in the back of the hood then ended up rolling down the back of my shirt! Brrrrr!
I wouldn't be surprised if Health & Safety have banned snowball fights now for being too dangerous!
Photo by the Scotsman.Tints by GG.