July 1987
Dundee Prepares for a Tourist Invasion
Dundee is standing by for a tourist invasion following the arrival of the luxury cruise liner Astor, which was due at 3 a.m. today.Over 500 tourists will come from the 21,900 tonne Mauritius vessel on the first of the ships visits to the city. Tayside’s ports and tourist authorities will lay on the red carpet treatment for the ship during her brief stay in Tayside – the Astor will set sail again for Hamburg at 3 p.m. – in the hope of boasting the tourist trade.
Mr Jack Nicoll, of Dundee Tourist Board said “We’ll have people down at the docks for 7 a.m. handing out information packs, and organising buses to and from the station to Edinburgh and to the airport.
“The new customs hall has been newly decorated at the port with posters all about Dundee and a guided tour has been laid on for anyone who is interested” he added.
While the Astors arrival in Dundee is important for the tourist trade it is also significant for the port authority whose efforts to upgrade the harbour’s passenger ship facilities seem to be paying off.
The Astor is the first vessel to use the new passenger terminal at the King George V. Wharf and, according to Mr Quentin Goldie, the port authority’s commercial manager, the liner will be back twice later in the year.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into marketing Dundee’s port and the advantages it has which could appeal to cruise line companies – easy access, no lock gates to contend with and the added fact that Dundee is an ideal touring centre”.
The Astor’s ten decks house such luxurious features as an outdoor swimming pool, conference centre, disco, nightclub, bars, jogging track, indoor pool, beauty salon, shopping centre, numerous lounges and even a medical centre.
If this sounds like a good future holiday, then perhaps the prices may put you off. A top of the range self-contained suite with all mod-cons and the best hospitality on board will set you back £29,500.
Bridge Celebrations May Attract 100,000
A crowd of 100,000 is expected to gather in Riverside Drive, Dundee, on the evening on September 12, to watch the Tay Bridge centenary celebrations, which will include a spectacular fireworks display from a train crossing the bridge to Dundee and on the bridge itself.
The crowd estimate has been made by the Dundee Project.
There may be a display of laser lights, and the whole spectacular will be visible throughout the Tay Estuary area – but the angle of the bridge means that the best viewing positions will be along Riverside Drive.
Holo-Krome buy Dundee Plant
A major engineering company in Dundee has reaffirmed its commitment to the city by buying its production plant from the Scottish Development Agency.
Holo-Krome, who employ 160 people, have leased their 118, 000 square foot plant on a prime seven-acre site at Kingsway West since 1964.
The company, who are a subsidiary of the Danaher Corporation of Washington, manufacture precision socket screws and their keys for a wide range of uses worldwide – from computers for I.B.M. to larger-scale mechanical processes for British Coal.
Lord Roberts Workshops
For The Disabled
Manufacturers of Tables for
Riverside Restaurant
Scott Street Works
Scott Street, Dundee.
Patrons:- Her Majesty The Queen, H.M. Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.
Visitor Number 10,000
The astounding success of the James McIntosh Patrick exhibition which opened ten days ago at the McManus Galleries, Dundee, was marked yesterday morning with the presentation of one of the artist’s print’s to the 10,000th visitor.
Mr William Smith, of Fettercairn Drive, Barnhill, was the lucky recipient of the beautiful signed and framed print and described his feelings as “just like winning the pools”.
Waterfront Plans
Open Meeting
Our last chance?
Meeting to consider possible adverse effects on
Dundee of present Waterfront Plans and to
examine appropriate action.
Frigate Unicorn
Monday, July, 20, at 7 p.m.
No charge. All Welcome.
Waterslide Complete Before End of Holidays?
Scotland’s biggest waterslide, under construction at Dundee Swimming and Leisure Centre, should be operational by the latter end of the holiday season.
The £494,000 slide, designed by Blackpool firm Splashdown Waterchutes Ltd., was originally intended to have been ready for the start of the Dundee school holidays.
Teething troubles on and off site, however, now mean that the opening has been set back by a month. The two 90-metre fibreglass “hydrotubes” are almost complete and in position, following a delay in their construction.
The Dutch-based firm which supplies component parts had a fire at their premises earlier this year. Other small problems during the construction work, which is being overseen by two specialists from the Netherlands, have resulted in further delays.
“Warm Up” in Norway
Dundee United head back to Scandinavia, where they finished their UEFA Cup journey last season, before season 1987-88 gets underway at home.
This time it is Norway rather than Sweden’s Gothenburg, though, and it is a three game ‘warm-up’ before the serious business starts on August 8.
The tour will be from July 20 to July 26 and the games will be July 21 v. Lillestrome; July 23 v. Tromsoe; July 25 v. Mjoendalen.
Manager Jim McLean warns, “The pool of players which makes the trip won’t be what has come to be thought of as the normal one. Young players like Brian Welsh and Gordon McLeod and newcomers like Alan Irvine and Hamish French come into consideration and I can tell already that it is going to be difficult to select the final 18 for the trip”.
Welsh was massively impressive in his one senior outing last season – against Hearts at Tynecastle on May 11 in the last league game of the season.
Gordon McLeod has often threatened to break though, but injury has always seemed to hit him at precisely the wrong moment.
In both cases the talent is there to mount a serious challenge for first team places.
Irvine and French are new and must be tested of course.
They young Dundee United players were back in action yesterday with the first team following up next Monday, although one or two might start their build up within the next couple of days.
Milne Makes it a Double
The Royal Tay Yacht Club’s offshore race from Anstruther at the end of East Coast Week was a fast passage with some very good times being recorded.
First boat home in 3 hours. 48min. 40 sec. was the winner of Class 1 in East Coast Week, Harry Scott in his OOD 34 Outlaw.
Only 28 minutes behind and well ahead on handicap, was John Milne’s Shipman 28 Jomora. This made it a double for John, who won the race to Granton the previous weekend.
Entertainment
Witch’s Blood at Dundee Community Festival
Saturday and Sunday July 18 and 19, 8 p.m. nightly
Dudhope Park.