My parents Ella and Bill Scott lived at 132, Dunholm Road, Charleston from 1959-64, they were the first people to live in the house. My dad built the rockery in the front garden, it was still there in 1979. I went to Charleston Primary school from 1960-64 then my family moved to New Zealand. The 3 Thompson children often played with myself and 2 younger sisters, Ann Yvone and Frankie Thompson. Some childrens names I went to school with; Alison Leach, Elizabeth Baird, Alan Low, Martin Smart, Ruth Matheson, Lyn Hackney, Rhona Miles. Read more......
I went to Mitchell Street school from 1966-68, primary 6 and 7 classes. My parents lived my mum's parents at 70 Polepark Road after coming back from New Zealand. Miss Joan Drumond was my teacher lovely lady and some of my classmates names; June Campbell, Marion Foy, Marion Finnie, Hazel Stuart, Flora Mcrae, Harry Knapp, Betty MacIntosh, Kevin Fyfe, lots more but don''t remember their names. Catherine Cvjetkovic nee Scott. Western Australia.
To rekindle nostalgic memories of Dundee and Broughty Ferry, I worked here in 1966, a 24 year old East London Sassenach but staying in St Vincent Street, Broughty Ferry. Loved the city, the people, the atmosphere. Used the Sliding Tackle pub, (Dear old Bobby Cox, the pub manager), John(?) the Locarno (?) ballroom) the Chalet along the seafront, and a hotel on a Sunday with a fab band, on the banks of the Tay river on Broughty Ferry Road. Weekday dinners at the Timex factory canteen, suggested by friendly locals. Happy days.
I remember the royal arch in the early 1960s nobody in Dundee at that time liked it. It was like most buildings in the town centre covered with black soot generated by the smoke from all the mills and domestic fires in the town centre. This was before the clean air act was applied in Scotland. It was covered in black soot which was contrasted with the white bird droppings deposited on it. Dundonians were happy to see it go.
The pong of the bins, nappies, endless nappies on the line in the “backies”. Elvis on the radio from upon verandas and beer bottle Andy with his long black sack collecting last nights booze refuse. Bumble bees in jars with clover stuffed inside and chalking boxes on the pavements while the green nurse passed by. Read more......
I also went to Jean Pringle at the foot of King Street - I think round about
1960. Linda Penman who lived in Albert Street also went there and a girl
called Ria or Lea who was from Charleston Dundee. I absolutely loved it. Jean
looked every inch a ballet dancer and my weekly lesson couldn't come quick
enough for me. Hopefully I will hear a bit more from some other pupils from
that time.
I was born in 1932 in Dundee Royal Infirmary. My first school was Ancrum Road School but I cannot remember much about it. As my parents were both English we had to live in lodgings until the start of the Second World War. We eventually got an upstairs three roomed house at Pitkerro Drive. There were four houses in the block. I learned to cycle through the leggy as we called [it] on my father's bike. Read more......
My grandfather's unmarried sister, Georgina Scott lived in Eden Street for many years and her parents before her. She died in approximately 1960. Our family stayed with her for a holiday a few years before she died. My sister can remember a bed in the living room. I remember the man in the corner shop could smoke his cigarette backwards i.e. with the lit end in his mouth.
So many memories of Dundee in the sixties ... being a teenager at that time was brilliant ... going to the Marryat on a Saturday night was the highlight of the week. Dancing to the likes of the Beatles, The Searchers, Swinging Blue Jeans and many more - then leaving there to stand and blether to your pals before getting the last bus home along the Perth Road because if I wasn't home on the last bus then woe betide me because my father would be waiting for me and I would get a lecture that would last for 15 minutes or more. Even before that I remember my grandma taking me to nearly every picture house in the town. The first one being the Wizard of Oz at the La Scala then going home on the tram. Oh how I loved the journey along past the Seabraes where I could look across the water - great days that stick in your mind forever. Read more......
My childhood in Dundee was brilliant, Mid-Craigie to me was the grandest place on earth, for me it was home and may I say in all the places I have been to since - nothing compares - that isn't sarcasm - it's heartfelt. The Swannies was my best place to be and Baxter Park in the summer was a joy. I remember skating on the ponds on a few or more cold cold winters, but you never felt it till you got home. Singing like a banshee in the park at the competitions and never winning apart from once. I am talking late 50s/early 60s when life was easier and safer. Read more......