Bygone News - Christmas

Remember..

lynne.davidson — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 09:20:44 +0000

Who if anyone remembers sugarellie water? The Happy Hillock shop at Mid Craigie, The Arcade where you could buy almosy anything on a Saturday especially scraps. Playing boxes with a shoe polish, tin penny dainties, fireside tartan, the belt provident cheques, an orange and apple at Christmas, homemade paper, Christmas decorations, making calendars using old Christmas cards at school. The joy of it all never to be forgotten.

Hilltown Days

lynne.davidson — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:13:14 +0000

I happened across this site featuring the Hilltown by pure chance and just had to contribute. My parents lived at 62 Carnegie Street when I was born in 1943 at the DRI. Very shortly thereafter my parents separated and my sister Violet and I moved in with my Grandmother who lived opposite the blacksmith in Kirk Entry - just off the Wellgate. I must have been six or so when we moved to our first house (an attic) on the Hilltown, it was on the west side between Ann and Alexander Street. Time spans are hard to remember but I'd say a year or two later we moved a little farther up, it was a long narrow close next to (possibly) Wullie Cook's bar? It led to the back land of a complex where we once again had an attic. It was there on Xmas eve 1951 that I have my first memory of my family - we had one sister and three brothers much older than us. The reason for the reunion was because our father had just died. The next boy older than me was 16 or so and the image of him crying will stay with me forever (I couldn't understand what could make a boy cry). Read more......

Standing Only

lynne.davidson — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:47:35 +0000

It was December 1951. I had just been discharged from hospital where I had undergone an arthrodesis of my right knee which rendered it unable to bend; locking it in a straight position. I was sitting on a tram on the lower deck where there was a long seat on either side; the passengers facing one another. It was leading up to Christmas and a lady boarded the tram laden with parcels up to eye-level. She did not see my leg stretched across the alleyway and before I could move she had tripped over my leg, her parcels scattering everywhere. Read more......

The Christmas Tram

lynne.davidson — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:52:44 +0000

I came back from America aged about seven and lay in bed, barely containing myself, for the decorated tram which would come along Perth Road. An open topped tram with Santa Claus driving it, decorated with holly. It was magical. I had remembered it from before I went away aged about four and here it was again? A decorated tram on the single track outside our house in Springfield. It was part of the joy of Christmas and Santa Claus. There were no trams in America.

Tram Times

lynne.davidson — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:46:12 +0000

My first recollection of the trams in Dundee was when we live in Lochee and I would watch them from our window. During the General Strike in 1926 my mother took me downtown in a tram. She said it was driven by blackleg drivers (all the transport workers were on strike). I went to the front of the tram to see these 'blacklegs'. However the driver was in a civilian suit with a policeman sitting beside him. Read more......

Tramways Treat to the Bairns

lynne.davidson — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:41:49 +0000

To qualify for the Tramway Treat to the bairns at Christmas time, children were picked from local schools. I remember ripping my jumper and being chosen. The Treat was in the Breakfast Hall in Constitution Road where every one got some food and we played games. I think I would have been about 7 or 8 years old.