TIFFANY'S AD - 1970'S

Here's a typical ad for Tiffany's, the kind that would crop up in the Entertainment pages of the Tele regularly back then, this one here being from 1972.

I see their Tuesday private function was on till 1 o'clock in the morning, while their normal weekend business hours stopped at midnight or earlier. Strange!

And who were Force 6 - a local band?

THE "ARE YE DANCIN'?" BOOK

Following on from yesterday's post - here's a great wee book that embraces the same subject, called "Are Ye Dancin'?".
It came out at the tail end of last year, and although it covers the full historical span of Scottish dancefloor action, it's the 60's, 70's & 80's which uses up the largest chunk of the book, hence me bringing it to your attention.
Here's a descriptive paragraph from the book itself to give you a flavour of the content -
*"Are Ye Dancin'?" is the unique inside story of "the dancin'" in Scotland in the 20th Century. It's a frank, hilarious account with anecdotes from the people who lived it - the bands, cashiers, stewards, promoters, entertainers, managers and the dancers themselves.*
Needless to say, Dundee struts it's stuff and gets a good mention, which also includes material from the Retro Dundee archives.
It was written by Eddie Tobin & Martin Kielty and is great insight into our own jiggin' years, with plenty of laughs along the way.
So boogie on down to your local book shop and go grab a copy for a tenner...before it becomes an expensive collectors item!

DUNDEE'S DANCING YEARS - 1989

Many of you will be familiar with the work of Maureen Reynolds who has written lots of Dundee based books since the 90's.

What we have here is an early example of Maureen's writing, published in the Scots Magazine in February 1989.

It's entitled "Dundee's Dancing Years" and is all about the dancehalls & ballrooms that were scattered around town, covering quite a few decades.

Just about every-place gets a mention - Robbies (West End Palais) - Continentale - Palais - J.M. - Empress - Locarno - Kidd's - Chalet - Star... and she tells stories like when locals had to take their gas masks with them when they went dancing during the war years, then goes on to recall her own dancing days at the Palais where the lassies had a perfume machine!

It goes right up to the 70's & 80's with the Barracuda - Sands - Samantha's & Buddies being name-checked, an era when they changed from old style ballrooms to discos for the "strobe light generation" as she describes it. Yeah, that sound like us lot!

Plenty photos and adverts to accompany the article too.

I've scanned in all 9 pages actual size - so if you fancy a wee read, just click onto the items to view the large versions.

THE FIRST DUNDEE EXTRA - 1986

18th January 1986 was the date of the very first issue of the Extra.

It was free and was shoved through 60,000 letterboxes each week.

Not much news in the first edition to be honest, mostly adverts for car showrooms and furniture shops. It did have David Phillips "Meh Dundee" mind you, continuing on from the defunct Journal.

Click on image to view large version.

THE LAST PEOPLE'S JOURNAL - 1986

11th January 1986 was the date of the very last issue of the Journal.
It was, however, only the Dundee edition that disappeared from the news stands, all the other editions around various parts of Scotland remained.
The Journal was replaced the following week by the Dundee Extra.
A reminder that you can catch up with a selection of articles from the Journals past history in the "Dundee Bygone News" link down the left side of the Retro layout.
I put the photo up large sized, so if you want to read the cover the best way would be to click onto the image to get the enlarged version, then right click to "Save picture as..", download it onto your own pc, and zoom in.

3 DUNDEE DAIRY ADS

Top ad - A.R. Sherrit, School Road - 1981.

Mid ad - Kennerty, Mains Road - 1974.

Low ad - George Bathie, Shepherds Loan - 1968.

I had a wee stint on the milk in the early 70's when I was at secondary. It didn't last any longer than a fortnight though because I was just standing in for my mate. It was slightly different to the usual kind of milk round because I delivered milk only to schools & nurseries. Nae trekkin' up closies for me, just dropping the crates off outside the gates was all that was involved. The best bit was standing on the back of the lorry, whizzing along the streets with the wind in the hair!

An earlier primary school milky memory I have is when we used elastic bands as catapults - looped around the thumb and index finger. Folded bits of paper were the main pellets we'd fire at each other, however, the most painful ones were folded tinfoil milk bottle tops. OW..!!...they really stung yer bare legs! Made boys cry they did!!

Finally, don't forget there is also a book out called "On The Milk" by Willie Robertson, telling the tale of life as a milk boy in Dundee in the early 60's.

That's all the moo items I have at the moment - time to put the empties on the doorstep.

2 THOMAS GUILD ADS

2 ads for Thomas D Guild of Stannergate Dairy.

Blue one 1979.
Orange one 1981.
 

We Dundee fowk called them Guildies of course... and talking about dairy names...my mate, Tam Hughes, left Dundee for London in 1980, and after a few years started up his own dairy business in the capital. Now, probably 99 out of 100 would do what Thomas Guild did and call their business after their proper name, but Tam, amusingly, opted to keep his Dundee moniker and called his "Tams Dairies". Doing great biz too.

Incidentally, one of his delivery customers is original Madness nutty boy, Lee Thompson.

So milking the theme a for a bit of fun, I think a Madness remix is due - howsabout "Milk Float To Cairo" - "Sour House" - "Door Step Beyond"...!!

DUNDEE PASTEURISED MILK CO

Dundee Pasteurised Milk Co, or as it was more commonly known - the DPM - had premises all over town in the 60's and early 70's. I remember we used to go to their Dairy corner shop at the Craigiebank shops quite regularly back then. In fact, it was very similar to the one in the above photo which was located on the corner of Lochee High St & Bank St.

The picture was taken around 1970ish when DPM had their HQ in Mains Road.

They also had a garage in Strathmartine Road and shops in Reform St, Dura St, 2 in Perth Road, Dundonald St, Princes St, Fintry Road, Union St, Blackness Road, Arbroath Rd & Lochee High St - with the one in Reform St being a cafe.

By 1974, the DPM had completely disappeared off the map!

The advert with the crappy drawing is dated 1968.

DUNDEE PINTA PEOPLE - 1960'S

In the early 60's, the Milk Marketing Board had a very catchy advertising slogan on the go that went - DRINKA PINTA MILKA DAY. It was used on TV, bill boards, magazines etc and in fact, the actual word pinta has since gone on to become part of everyday language.
The photo of the city centre above dates from the early 60's too, the entire square being used as an outdoor cafe, complete with wooden chalet and serving area, and on top of the stripy canopy it has the very same slogan.
As the 60's progressed, so did the advertising concept, developing variations on the pinta theme such as introducing Pinta People (Pinta Girls, Pinta Men), the idea being that if your were one of the Pinta People you'd be healthy, cool & trendy, in keeping with 60's swinging London!
They later came up with a similar slogan to the original which can be viewed in the TV ad below, which dates from around the mid/late 60's. This time they have it as - A PINTA PER PERSON PER DAY.
Photo by DC Thomson.

BABES IN THE WOODLANDS - 1967

This was a DC Thomson shindig that took place at Woodlands Hotel in 1967.
Bit of a twist to the Bring Your Own Bottle idea, but their "Feed The Baby" game seems to have been popular regardless.
I have all the names of the contestants participating, but no idea who's providing the entertainment in the background.
Acker Milk?

CAMPERDOWN'S ALF ROBERTSON

Alf Robertson was Conservation Officer at Camperdown Park from the late 60's to mid 80's.
Many of you around my age group will remember Alf from your school visits up to Camperdown Wildlife Centre. He used to do a guided tour around the various sections with one of the highlights being Alf with the golden eagle.
He wasn't only a wildlife expert, he was also an artist and timber contractor, so when combining all 3 talents he ended up personally designing and building, what went on to become, the Camperdown Wildlife Centre and zoo.
When he retired in 1985, he famously sculpted a highland cow out of wood which was presented to Dundee's twin town, Wurzburg.
Alf was born in Lochee, went to Harris, then Duncan Of Jordanstone, and died quite recently in 2009.
The above photo is from around the late 60's / early 70's period.

BRUCE, THE PARKS HORSE - 1980'S

Bruce, was the Parks Departments cart horse during the 80's.

He wasn't just a novelty showpiece, he did actually do everyday work, although being the fine Clydesdale that he was, always attracted attention wherever he went.

The top photo is Bruce and co up at Camperdown stables in 1984.

The picture under it was taken in 1986 when the City Chambers kitchen was undergoing refurbishment and Bruce was called upon to cart the old kitchen equipment away. Before carrying on with his job though, Helen Smith, who was in charge of the kitchen, seized the opportunity to have her picture taken with him.

As a sideline, Camperdown also sold bags of dung as garden compost, and printed on the bags it had - "I Found It At Bruce's"!!

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.

END OF THE LINE

As I bring the recent railway theme to a halt, I'm going to end it with the same topic I started it off with - the Lochee line.

The map section I scanned in shows Lochee West Station & Lochee Station, with the line then continuing up towards Downfield.

Before it reaches the Kingsway, another line branches off East to Fair Muir and Maryfield goods stations.

The aerial photo is from around the mid 60's and it too has the Lochee line visible on it.

The easiest way to spot it is - you see that small dark square clump of trees near the bottom right of the picture, well the thin grey track brushing passed it is the Lochee line, and in fact that is where Lochee West Station was located.

You can follow the line on the photo all the way along it's swooping curve through Lochee and up beside the Kingsway Ice Rink.

You'd probably be best to save the large versions onto your own computer and go back & forward between the 2 to match them up.

And just in case the obvious escapes you - the left side of the map corresponds to the bottom of the photo, so you'll need to twist the images around in your mind!

COURIER'S DISASTER SUPPLEMENT - 1979

On the 28th December 1979, the Courier brought out this special 4 page supplement to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of the Rail Bridge disaster.
The top photo tells you a bit about the technical details of the bridge design, the enquiry verdict and the evidence the court missed.
The remaining 3 pages consisted of facsimiles of the Courier's original coverage dated 29/30/31 December 1879.
It also tells of other damage in town caused by the hurricane - chimneys crashing down, roof tiles flying off, trees being uprooted etc.
Also published in 1979 to mark the occasion, these 2 cartoons cropped up in current affairs magazines.
The first one depicts the train driver as a bit of an Evel Knievel type character!
The second one shows a stereotypical mean Scottish reaction over the sad loss of return tickets!
You may also recall, in Anniversary year (1979) another train disaster occurred just along the road in Invergowrie, resulting in a few deaths and carriages falling into the Tay.
Spooky!!

GETTING THE SIGNAL - 1970'S / 80'S

Not exactly a brilliant picture this one but to be fair my brother was on board a train when he snapped it.

It was taken in the early 70's around the area between the rail bridge and the station.

To get technical for a moment - the WHISTLE sign was to warn of an approaching train shunting in the wrong direction over the up line.

The 2 signal arms on the tall post are shunting signals controlling one of the entrances to the goods yard.

What amuses me about the photo though is the reminder that back in the 70's my brother used to show his photos using a slide projector & screen at home, and every time this photo popped up on view, everyone in the room started to whistle!
 

Now this is a much better picture - this time one of Neale Elders.

You should recognise the view taken from the end of the platform.

The image was shot in December 1983, a year before these semaphore signals were replaced with a new coloured lighting system.

The signal boxes in the background are West Box & Central Box.
 

Another Neale Elder image here - the view along the rail bridge tracks taken in March 1986.

The "Push-Pull" train in the picture is another piece of history, and I'm pretty certain it has ScotRail on the side too!

If you need to delve deeper into the images, click onto them for the large versions.

2 BRITISH RAIL ADS - 1979/84

The top ad from 1979 has quite a lot of well known, but now long gone, BR services on display - Railfreight, Motorail, Red Star, Sealink etc - all of which have either been sold off, re-branded or closed down!

The 2nd one is a Dundee based ad for ScotRail dating from 1984.

The ScotRail name is still on the go - but minus the BR logo.

LOCAL RAIL TICKETS - 1980'S

Here's a nice wee collection of old BR tickets that were on the go in the mid 80's.
The large red & white ticket was probably the most common one in use back then for everyday city to city travel. Not only is the ticket a Dundee one, the machines that dispensed them were local too - the equipment being manufactured by NCR.
The white Excess/Travel slips were dished out by on-train staff in the days before they were given portable ticket machines for the job.
The wee pink ones were called Edmondson tickets and were issued at Broughty Ferry up until the station became unmanned in March 1985.
Big thanks to Neale Elder.