Auld Lochee

Though many years have gone by, and I now live in Canada, there is still a soft place in my heart for auld Lochee. I was born at 16 Elder's Lane in November, 1929. One of six children.

My father was a "scaffie" and my mother a dairy maid. I attended Liff Road school then Rockwell School from 1941-44. When I left school at 14, I landed a job as a van boy with Beattie's Bread. At that time there was no Beattie's bakery in Dundee and the bread and other baked goods were shipped from Glasgow by rail to the Dundee West Station. We were at the station by six o'clock in the morning to load the vans. My route was in Lochee and my driver's name was Ernie Mitchell. Ernie was a very fine man who taught me the basics of driving, and introduced me to the works of Rabbie Burns

Had many friends in Elder's Lane and Heron's Lane, and played footie up at Lyndhurst Park. My early years in Lochee were happy years indeed.

Toward the end of WW2 we left Elder's Lane as a family and took up farm work on a farm just outside Invergowrie. That was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I have visited Lochee several times when on holiday, and must say I liked it the way it was back then. But places do change over time. I'll just hold on to the picture of my Lochee.