Way back in the 1950's, I was friendly with a girl who lived in the Downfield area of the city. When the last tram of the day was coming near the terminus at Downfield, the driver used to give quite a few rings on his bell to let everyone know, and you had to run like mad to get up to the terminus to catch it back to the city. Happy Days!
I lived in a close in Bernard Street in 1958 to 1960. I went to Hawkhill School and my mum worked in a wood shed over the backs. I worked for them on a Saturday selling bunches of kindling. I was only ten at the time. We also had an air raid shelter in the close which we all used to play in and make fires in. Health and safety eat your heart out. I remember we had a street party in 1959 or 60 but can't remember what it was for. We then moved to Menzieshill farm which was taken over for the hospital and housing estate. I have a lot of very happy memories of living in Dundee.
I was born in 1930, within a cottar-house on Milton of Craigie Farm, long gone, but B & Q and ASDA are sited there. I think 1930 was the year of the darkest day in Dundee, when some people thought the end of the world had come. Read more......
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......
The name Bank Avenue keeps alive Baldovan, owned by Scrimegours Viscounts of Dudhope and Baldovan. About 1680 it passed to one of the Nairne's of Sanford (now St Fort), Fife. David Wedderburn of that ilk was proprietor in 1710 and the estate was then called The Bank. Read more......
I was told that it was called Peep O' Day because when the sun came up you got the first 'peep o day'.