June 1987

Tay Bridge Foils the C.N.D. Supporters

A bid by hundreds of Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament supporters to form a human chain across the River Tay on Saturday was foiled by the sheer length of the Tay Road Bridge.From all over the country, anti-nuclear campaigners travelled to Dundee for a demonstration on the theme “Disarm the Seas” – coinciding with a number of similar events taking place all over the world.

The idea had been to link hands right across the road bridge, but at 12.30 link-up time it became clear that the hundreds who had arrived were not enough to span the entire length.

Never the less chanting, singing – and in some parts busking! – they stretched out well towards the halfway point. A rough estimate put the total number at over 500, with some supporters having come from as far as from Ayrshire.

The demonstration was called by C.N.D against a background of what they describe as “growing concern” that Scotland’s waterways may soon be put to further use by Nato for sea-launched cruise missiles.

It was only one of a series of demonstrations taking place in every country with a seaboard on the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans and North and Mediterranean seas – from San Francisco to Galway Bay, Mauritius to Copenhagen.

Awaiting the protesters at the bridge were some 300 anti-C.N.D. stickers and a banner proclaiming “K.G.B. loves C.N.D.,” which had been placed there in the early hours of the morning by a Tayside anti-C.N.D. lobby group.

Group Leader, David Cooper, chemistry student, said afterwards “We just want to bring to public attention the fact that there is an alternative viewpoint and not the whole of Dundee is pro-C.N.D.

Later the C.N.D. gathered in the Caird Hall for a special rally and festival.

Dundee Directors Remain Undecided

A decision on the future of Dundee Football Club is still awaited. Although there was no specially convened official board meeting yesterday, the directors are understood to have met informally last night to discuss the proposals of shareholder Angus Cook who is attempting to assume control of the club.

They have promised the 41 year old business man a reply by lunchtime on Friday and it seems unlikely their decision will come much before then.

Cook, a member of the group of shareholders which unsuccessfully attempted to implement major changes at Dundee’s annual meeting last December, plans to inject £150,000 into the dark blues if successful in his bid.

The money would be more than welcome for Dundee who despite selling Ray Stephen and Robert Connor in the last 12 months, remain around £300,000 in debt. However the terms which accompany Mr Cook’s offer may be harder for Messrs Thomson, Gellatly and Speedie to accept.

Meanwhile Secretary/General Manager Dave Johnston is asking for season ticket holders to show a little patience. “We are attempting to replace the card, previously issued to season ticket holders, with a more professional book which, of course take more time to produce”, he commented. “We do hope, however to have the season tickets issued by the first week in July.

Certificate for Wellgate Centre

A total of £2250 thrown into Dundee’s Wellgate Centre fountain has won the centre a certificate of merit from the Tayside branch of the Fire Service Benevolent Fund.

The total encompasses all the donations made from the centre’s fountain collections to the fund in the last nine years, and is only a relatively small part of the thousands of pounds worth of coins tossed into the water since the centre opened.

1987 Dundee Highland Games

City of Dundee District Council
Come and join the fun at the
1987 Dundee Highland Games
Caird Park Stadium
Sunday, July 5, 1987
Official opening at 1 p.m.

Featuring…
Tomnavulin-Glenlivet Scotch Whisky
Heavyweight Competition
British Tug-o’-War Championship
Novice Tug-o’-War
Professional athletics
Professional cycling

Plus…
Pipe bands, side exhibitions, highland dancing and stalls.

The Canon & Ball Show

Caird Hall, Tonight (Saturday) at 7.30 p.m.
Tickets £6.50, £5.50 from the Central Booking Office, 6 City Square, Dundee
Telephone 23141 (Ext 4288) and at the door.

Mains Castle

The Place to be in Dundee
Restaurant Wine Bar
Make in Mains
Caird Park, Dundee 456797.

Planting Summer Bedding

City of Dundee District Council
Arts and Recreation Division
Parks Department.
Duntrune Demonstration Garden
Duntrune Terrace, West Ferry.
The Gardening Topic Today is Planting Summer Bedding.
Demonstrations start at 2 p.m.
All members of the public are welcome and admission to the garden is free.

Work Gets Under Way in City Square

The contractors who are to carry out the £520,000 upgrading of City Square, Dundee have begun setting up their operations.

For the next eight months or so work will go on to transform the appearance of the square. Mackenzie construction, of Glasgow moved on to the site yesterday in preparatory work, which will include some bore testing.

About a third of the square has been cordoned off and the company will initially be working on the area at the south end of the site.

The work to be carried out includes re-slabbing of the square, the provision of improved access for the disabled to all district council buildings and the construction of two fountains; these will be inline with Reform Street.

Dundee Rep

7:84
The Scottish People’s Theatre
The Gorbals Story
By Robert McLeish
Directed by David Hayman
Tuesday 9-Saturday 13 June
Nightly 7.45pm. Sat matinee 3pm.
Dundee Rep
Tay Square, Dundee
Box Office 0382 23530.

Tay Bridge Exhibition

One of Dundee’s most impressive exhibitions to date is to be staged in the Wellgate Library. The “Tay Bridge Centenary Exhibition”, which is being organised by Dundee District Council Libraries Department, will run for four weeks.

The exhibition features a great number of photographs showing various aspects of the construction of the existing bridge as well as several of the Tay rail bridge disaster of 1879.