CRAIGIE HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE - 1981

Now some pages from a 1981 Craigie High School magazine.

This issue covers the period from the end of 1980 to the beginning of 1981, and because 1980 was the 10th anniversary of the school, the first couple of pages take a look back over the decade. It refers to things like the first 300 pupils to attend CHS back in '70 (my mob) and also has a reminder of the 4 Houses that were set up in the early 70's. However, for some reason, CHS didn't retain the House system for very long.

Also news about new teacher arrivals and a couple of retirements, including Mr Higgins, the art teacher who designed the school badge.

The next couple of pages are an interview with Radio Tay DJ, Graham Stuart, the chit chat conducted by Mandy McQuire & Karen Conway.

Lastly, it's party time at CHS - 3 different parties in fact - first being a Fancy Dress Disco for Hallowe'en, followed by their Christmas Masquerade Ball, complete with visit from Santa, and finally another good night was had at the St Valentines Day Disco.

A few photos of the pupils in costume too - just click onto the pages to view the larger size.

I can tell the DJ played The Gap Band's "Oops Upside Your Head" anyway!!

Thanks to Neale Elder.

LINLATHEN'S HIGH TIMES - 1989

A few more pages to read from the 1989 Linlathen's High Times mag.

Some of the contents include a visit to Gordonstoun, word about art classes, a new photo club, charity walks, a Shakespeare class, a Christmas Fayre, tree week, and many other bits & pieces.

Also a few adverts such as for - Clep-pers, Lilibets, Hotpot, Parky's, and plenty more - including a den that sold Opium!

Give the pages a click to enlarge.

Many thanks to Dave.

LINLATHEN'S HIGH TIMES - 1988

A little glimpse into what was going on at Linlathen High School in November 1988 with a dip into a few pages of their school publication, High Times.
Front page headline tells of a major flood in school caused by a fire hose that "mysteriously burst"!
Other contents include school prizewinners, a teacher retirement, an interview with a band called Love Cats, notice of a visit to France, and a basketball match between pupils and the teachies.
The bottom image is a poster for a charity Christmas Fayre that took place at LHS in December 1988 - with guest, DJ Graeme Adamson from Radio Tay.
Click onto the pages to read the enlarged version.
Big thanks to Dave.

HAPARANDA DEMOLITION - MID 70's

I have put up a couple of items on Retro in the past showing the buzz there was at the Haparanda in Arbroath Road - the haven for Dundee's fashionable youth in the 60's.

Well here below is some film footage showing the moment in the mid 70's when the building was demolished.

The shop to the right of The Hap was Grossett the butcher and Andrew G Kidd was the baker on the left of it on the corner of Baffin Street.

The area has of course since been rejuvenated into...er...a car park!

ALEX SMITHS AD - 1972

It was sale time at Alex Smith's in Commercial Street when this ad appeared in 1972.

For the gals there were things like skinny rib jumpers, mini skirts, mini jumpers and a clearance sale of satin & velvet hot pants (I didn't realise Smiths indulged!)

Amongst the guys stuff were car coats (remember them?), stretch nylon track suits, and it being '72 - good old Crombies!

Click on ad to enlarge.

GG IN WRANGLERS - 1973

Anybody who worked in the Levi factory, better look away - here's a picture of me wearing their rivals jeans - Wranglers.

This would have been 1973ish, having a game of shootie-in aroond the backies - meh turn to go in goal!

FASHION FOR TEENAGE GIRLS - 1972

Back in 1972 when this item was published, the Tele used to give the lowdown on the latest fashions each week, accompanied by illustrations like the one above.

The clothes in this particular article are described in detail along with the sizes available and the prices, however, despite the feature being called "In Dundee Shops", it doesn't actually say which shops to go to, to buy them!

Anyway, amongst the groovy gear on show here are things like a mustard sleeveless tunic, crimplene trousers, violet suede pinafore dress, suede jacket with yolk, skinny jumpers, as well as typical 70's details such as patch pockets, long collars, metal studs and suede ties.

Click on item to enlarge.

TAKE ME TO GOLDBERGS - 1970's

Staying in the Murraygate a little bit longer, here's a couple of adverts for Goldbergs dating from the early/mid 70's.
Goldbergs were quite trendy for a department store, especially for school kids, but unfortunately they haven't got a particularly inspirational selection to choose from in this ad.
I mean, boring old grey trousers (yawn).
Mind you, they do have cat-suits on offer which were pretty hip... but 75p... not likely to be like Suzi Quatro's then!
That advert is dated 1972.
The King Kong ad is dated 1974, and looks a bit like a Terry Gilliam illustration.
Their slogan was "Take Me To Goldbergs" which made it seem like everyone was chauffeured there!

LOGIE SCHOOL EVENTS - 1970'S

Logie Secondary School was in Blackness Road, and in 1974, as it reached the end of it's life, it put on an exhibition called "Life And Times Of Logie School 1929 - 1974". It was basically a wee commemorative show looking back at the history of the school and area.
The top 2 items are the front cover and introductory page of the exhibition booklet.
Next is a ticket for a different event - the Logie Fair - which took place on 21st October 1972. The school even managed to get TV celeb, Jimmy Spankie, to open it.
Not sure who the showbiz contact in the Logie staff room was but around 1971 they got the Bay City Rollers to play in their school hall for an end of term do. This was way before their world domination days in tartan of course, and back then would have looked a little like as they are in the above photo, posing in their cosy cardie's!
Logie school eventually closed down in 1975, and along with it went it's nickname - The Penitentiary!
The headmaster in it's final years was Peter Murphy.
Many thanks to Yvonne.

CATCHHAND ADS - 1970's



The top ad is dated 1973 and the one below it is from 1977.

Catchhand and 1973 went together well. Their shop in Kirk Style was doing a roaring trade with certain urban types who liked to be seen wearing Ben Sherman shirts, Sta-Prest trousers and Harrington jackets. A young teen street-wise crowd in fact.

I think they were struggling a bit with their slogan mind you!

If you were "With It", it meant you were trendy, up to date with the latest fashions - but the way they've worded it does seem rather clumsy.

Anyway, you get the gist of it.

1977 next and time to grab a bargain in the sales with their £3 reduction offer on Brutus and Jet jeans.

STABLE BOUTIQUE - 1970'S



Here's a fashion shop you may have forgotten all about - The Stable boutique in Commercial Street.
The photo was taken in the mid 70's.
Top ad is dated 1973 - so this was the era when guys were wearing their long shirt collars on the outside of their jacket lapels - the chosen image of countless clubby bands!
The Stable was where, in 1975, I bought myself a smart blue velvet formal jacket, then proceeded to wear it along with ripped jeans!
The other ad dates from 1977, although judging by the attire in the image, they appear to have chosen an illustration from 1973 to accompany it.
Crazy maaan, crazy!!

DUNLOP ADVERT - 1966

Dunlop managed to pass on some cycling advice in this ad of theirs from 1966, explaining how to overtake a stationary vehicle safely.
I don't think they were so concerned about dishing out driving instructions in their car tyre ads though because I was once knocked off my bike by a car overtaking me.
The car was towing a caravan but didn't leave enough room as it passed and so when it banged into me, I went flying!!!
You may need to click onto the ad to read it.

HALFORDS ADVERT - 1968

Off we go cycling in the 60's now for a few days, this being an era when the only safety gear used was bicycle clips!
Starting with this 1968 ad for Halfords in the High Street, a shop that was probably Dundee's most well known stockist of bikes.
Other bicycle dealers who were on the go in the late 60's were -
CUTHBERTS - Hawkhill
PT JACKSON - Victoria Rd
LINDSAY BROS - Victoria Rd
JR NICHOLSON - Arbroath Road
ROBERTSON BROS - Strathmartine Rd
JAMES A RODGER - Tannadice St & Clepington St
WESTERN CYCLE DEPOT - Hawkhill
WOOLER'S - Lochee High St
I can remember looking in the window of Nicholson's shop quite a lot around this period as a schoolboy, staring at the rack of racers they had on display and thinking to myself..."maybe one day"...but nope, never did get one!!
(cue quivering bottom lip!!!)

THE WRONG STRIP - 1970's

 

One of the quirky things about being part of the very first intake of pupils when Craigie High School opened was that we had to start our school sports teams from scratch.
Teams for football, netball, hockey etc obviously didn't exist at CHS which meant we were the ones who had to start them up first.
When the time came to form a CHS football team, a bunch of us went to an after school meeting with a couple of teachers with the agenda of getting a team up & running.
As we neared the end of the meeting, one of the teachers suggested that it would be a good idea to design our own strip, and told the pupils that if we come up with any such ideas, feel free to present them, and the best design would be chosen.
This was just the kind of thing that I liked doing, so when I arrived home I grabbed my sketch pad, got busy and did, not one, but around a dozen football strip designs.
The shirts, shorts and socks all various designs but all done using the school colours of green & orange.
So I handed them in to the teacher and they went into the pot for consideration.
A couple of weeks went by, during which team trials had taken place until they finally chose which players were to be selected for the team.
Soon after, when this newly formed team started playing together, they were given school football strips to wear.
Much to our amazement, they were not the green & orange of our school colours, but were yellow..!!
Not only that, they were rugby shirts..!!!
Even then, it was just the shirt - the pupils had to supply their own shorts & socks, all of which varied..!!!!
Yes this was what Craigie High's school football team had to wear playing against other schools when they first began.
How could our team display school team loyalty wearing someone else's colours whilst in attire representing a different sport?
Very much an own goal by the teachers.

CHS DOMESTIC SCIENCE - 1970

Well here's a Craigie High School classroom I was never in - the Domestic Science room. I haven't even got a clue who the teachers were. In fact, this image is the first time I've seen inside the place.
The photo was taken on 17th August 1970, just before the school first opened, hence the bare look.
What's the "Science" in it refer to anyway? Learning how a can opener works?!!
Photo by DC Thomson.

EVELYN SMALL - MORGAN MAGAZINE - 1974

I have a few arty items I thought I'd cobble together over the next few days to present a wee showcase of amateur and professional art associated with Dundee.

So to get the exhibition started, here is the 1974 Morgan Magazine, a school publication made by the pupils. The mag's content is an assortment of poems, graphics, short stories and academic updates. Although there is a wide variety of work to choose from, I've plucked out one contributor as an example to use here, namely, Evelyn Small, who as well as being the mag's Art Editor, also designed the cover and supplied many of the illustrations inside. Her graphic above, of an abstract burst of ink accompanies a neat little piece of creative writing by Alan Stewart.

The magazine's material does display a surprising maturity for school kids, so much so, it got me wondering if any of the pupils from this era went on to make a living as artists or writers?

You may need to click on the bottom image to read the large version.

PRINCE OF WALES GEAR - MID 70'S

A certain elite group of Dundee gang members (ie - those who could afford it!) indulged in wearing the above Prince Of Wales check pattern in their clothing. Suits, jackets and Crombie style coats mostly. They were expensive because you got them made to measure from places like Hepworth's in the Murraygate.

I can remember only a handful of Douglas guys at school who wore them.

It was a rather short-lived phase though, on the go in 1973/74, and then that was it.

I'm fairly certain this was just a Dundee thing, and not a fad that was wider spread, unlike the previous boot boy look which was a scene found all over UK.

It is a good example of posh cloth being hijacked by a young crowd and being turned into urban streetwear.

A more recent, and longer lasting example was the casuals with Burberry.

HARRINGTON AND CROMBIE - EARLY 70'S

If ever there was a look that reminded me of my secondary school years (1970 to 74), then it would have to be the Harrington and Crombie wearing urban bovver boy style.

This was as much seen in school as it was out of school.

The most common sight was when the coats were worn smartly with Ben Sherman shirt, Levi Sta-Prest trousers and Doc Marten boots, as in the top image.

A slightly rougher/tougher look was when they were worn with jeans and gang jersey.

In the middle picture, the 2 charming chaps in their Harringtons are wearing exactly the same gear Billy MacKenzie is wearing in the photo of him aged 14, I put up a few days ago!

The guy on the left of the shot has a dress blazer, clip-on braces and a rather severe razor parting in his skinhead! He must have went to Sweeney Todd's!!

The Crombie was often topped off with a red hankie poking out the top pocket!

Yeah, the 70's boot boys...they were everywhere!!

SKINNERS AND BRACES - EARLY 70'S

Around the 1972 to 74 period, Skinners ultra white parallel jeans were worn as an alternative to stone white Sta-Prest. Like the Sta-Prest, they were usually worn halfway up your shin to show off your Doc Martens or hooped socks.

There was a bit of a thing going with some gangs who wore Skinners to get a Clockwork Orange look.

The ad above is dated June 1973 and shows they were available in blue denim and white, and it was the white ones that were most popular. The girls wore them as much as the boys.

Around the same time, I remember buying white braces out of McGills. The most common type were the clip-on design, I however, got the button-down variety, as above, but it wasn't until I got home that I realised none of my jeans or trousers had any buttons on the waistband, so I ended up sewing some onto my Skinners just so I could wear the braces!!

DENIM POCKET PICTURES - EARLY 70'S

I forgot all about this fad until being reminded of it when I saw this feature in an old 1973 Popswop magazine I have.
Embroidered pockets on jeans.
I have a vague memory of it being a trend the older teens indulged in as I can't recall anyone from my age group (14/15) going about in these back then.
Anyway, some of the embroidered images shown are - a Monte Carlo scene, Camel Cigarettes, flowers and a Miami scene.
Click item to enlarge.