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The Courier
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Visit Dundee in 1988 thanks to colour photos pulled from the archives
Welcome to Dundee in 1988. The images, captured on colour reversal film by DC Thomson photographers, were actually part of a modernisation process at the firm. These were part of a recently discovered stash which has been digitised. They show red post boxes in the City Square and vanished views of the bottom of the Hilltown before the demolition of buildings opposite the Little Theatre. Big crowds at Samuel's Corner greeted the floats at the Dundee Festival. The RRS Discovery and the Unicorn were berthed in Victoria Dock and fresh mussels and pheasant were on the menu at Miguel's in Broughty Ferry. This retro photo gallery captures life in Dundee as it was back in 1988. What will you remember? Barnhill Rock Garden looking resplendent in the sunshine in 1988. The garden occupies the site of the former nine-hole golf course at Barnhill. It rose from modest beginnings as a rockery display at the starter's box in 1964. People feeding the swans at Broughty Ferry Harbour in 1988. The seagulls joined the Ferry's resident swans in looking for bread. Let's hope nobody went overboard. Scotland's National Bard sitting outside McManus Galleries in 1988. The Robert Burns statue was mounted on a pedestal of Peterhead granite in Albert Square and 100,000 people watched the unveiling in October 1880. The zoo at Camperdown Park has always been a popular attraction. In 1988 the public was given the chance to adopt every animal in the zoo. Among the residents in 1988 was Jeremy the Bear, who used to advertise Sugar Puffs. The Christmas tree in the City Square in December 1988. The civic decorations and lights were even more spectacular in 1988 thanks to a £3,000 cash boost donated by Alan Craig on behalf of the city traders. The big switch-on was conducted by the cast of Beauty and the Beast. A view of the bus stop at the Nethergate outside City Churches. A display of flowers from the parks department are behind the Mercat Cross. The cross was moved to the Nethergate in 1874. A view of City Square in the summer sunshine in June 1988. Two red post boxes can be seen in the foreground and the Caird Hall, in the background, was about to host the two-day Tayside Women's Health Fair. The event explored everything from diet and exercise to the menopause. Another view of the City Square in June 1988. These were the days when the fountains were actually filled with water. The sculptures represent fire, water, earth and air. The Loch Ness Monster and the Scottish Hydro-Electric float approaches Samuel's Corner on the High Street in July 1988 during the Dundee Festival parade. Dozens of floats and marching bands took to the streets in a gigantic parade. The first Dundee Festival took place in July 1978. This is an aerial view of Dundee Harbour. Ocean Odyssey took up temporary residence later in the year. The rig was declared an insurance write-off. The war memorial at the top of Dundee Law. After much debate, it was agreed the words on the memorial should read: 'To the memory of Dundee men who fell in the Great War, 1914-1918.' A foundry in Cheltenham completed the job. A view along Fisher Street in Broughty Ferry. The RNLI lifeboat station is on the left and the Ship Inn is on the right. The Ship Inn is more than 200 years old. Looking down Gray Street and over the level crossing in 1988. Do you remember Miguel's? In 1988 the restaurant was serving up a varied menu including 'pheasant, venison, steaks, pasta, fresh veal, crayfish, crevettes and fresh mussels'. Last orders at the Hawthorn and Top O' The Steps public houses. The buildings were condemned to demolition by Dundee District Council. The Hawthorn was formerly called the Rowan Tree and the Maple Leaf. A digger pulled down the adjoining buildings, which were deemed unsafe, in February 1988 to make way for Dundee's £14 million inner ring road. Hawthorn Bar mine host Tom McMahon was one of Dundee's oldest publicans. He mourned the loss of the iconic boozer. The approach to the Ninewells Hospital site in 1988. When it opened in 1974, hospital porters said they were having to walk 15 miles a day around the 230-acre site, while rumours spread that doctors and nurses were using roller skates and scooters to get around. Aerial view east along the River Tay on a beautiful day. The road and rail bridges shape the picture and prominent in the skyline are the Hilltown multis, Tayside House and Dundee Gas Works. Looking east along Riverside Drive. The stretch remains a popular spot for cyclists and joggers. Ariel view showing Dundee Law and the Tay Road Bridge. The bridge was designed by William Fairhurst, who was an accomplished chess player. David Annand won the public art competition at Dundee's Technology Park in 1986 and the leaping deer he created was greeted with public acclaim. Annand went on to complete a number of public sculptures including the bronze tribute to Formula 1 driver Jim Clark in the quiet Fife village of Kilmany. The Discovery and Unicorn were berthed in Victoria Dock in 1988. In 1992 the Discovery was moved to Discovery Quay where it is now in dry dock. Sailors take advantage of the good weather to sail their yachts at West Ferry. The Beach Club House at West Ferry is home to Royal Tay Yacht Club. The club was established in March 1885.
The Courier
28-05-2025
- General
- The Courier
It started with a beached whale. Now it's a touring phenomenon, and it's landed in Dundee.
When more than 100 whales beached on Scotland's beaches within three weeks in 2018, Mella Shaw wanted to know why. 'No one really understood at the time,' explains Edinburgh artist and activist Mella, 47. 'But over the next couple of years there was a lot of research done, and it turned out more than half of the beached whales were this one species, the goose-beaked whale (or Cuvier's whale).' The goose-beaked whale, Mella explains, is the deepest-diving mammal on Earth. The beached animals showed evidence of decompression sickness or 'the bends', suggesting they'd returned to the surface too quickly for their bodies to handle. 'This was because something unusual was happening very deep down,' Mella explains. 'It turned out it was a specific naval exercise which had taken place over a period of a few days.' The sonar noise from the naval exercise, it is thought, disrupted the whales' ability to echolocate. Essentially, the whales got lost, causing the mass strandings. Similar effects can be seen from the use of sonar equipment to search for oil and gas reserves. 'When I first heard that, I was surprised,' admits Mella, who visited beaches on South Uist to see the stranded whales for herself. 'We often think of sea pollution in terms of plastic and sewage. 'But most people don't think of sound pollution in the ocean because when you're above the surface, you can't hear it. 'For the whales, they're evolved to feel that sound through their whole bodies. For them, it's like living under a railway station.' This discovery is what inspired ceramicist Mella to create sculptures using bone china – that is, whale bone china. 'When we talk about bone china, it's cow bones that are usually used,' she explains. 'Instead, I got permission from NatureScot to harvest the bones of one of the stranded whales, to create a whale bone clay.' After years of acquiring the necessary permissions, Mella received a delivery of humongous whale bones at her studio. She then had the task in front of her of sawing them, grinding them up, and creating the clay mix. Luckily, despite their gargantuan size, the bottlenose whale bones she received were 'very light'. 'The bones needed to be sintered to 1,000C and they wouldn't fit in the kiln whole,' explains Mella. 'I only had this little hacksaw and I thought it would be quite hard work to chop them up. 'But the whale bones are almost like honeycomb, they have this network inside that's normally full of oil. 'So they handled like balsa wood almost. It was like cutting through butter.' From there, Mella fired the bones and ground them to bone ash, which she added to her clay mix, making it 'short, almost like pastry'. Her final sculptures, large white shapes, are based on the sensitive, tiny inner ear bones of the huge mammals. In her exhibition Sounding Line, on now at Dundee's McManus Galleries, the sculptures are tied to the ceiling with maritime sounding line ropes. Real life sonar frequencies pulse through the ropes, and visitors can 'feel' the noise of the ocean, where such sounds can travel for miles. 'I want to take action, but statistics and images about these strandings can be brutal,' says Mella. 'This is a way I hope people can connect to this information without being overwhelmed.' And she's excited to bring the critically acclaimed exhibition to the Dundee museum, giving the city's deep-running relationship with the whaling industry – it was the last Scottish whaling port to close – and its ongoing connection with the marine giants. As a child, Mella spent a lot of time in the National Galleries of Scotland, where her father worked, staring up at the whale skeleton on display. She knows many of Dundee's children will have experienced the same connection with the Tay whale – a humpback harpooned in the River Tay in 1883 – on display at McManus. 'The McManus is obviously a museum that has a brilliant whaling collection which references the importance and the significance of whaling historically within Dundee,' she explains. 'It's reflected across the city in street names (such as East Whale Lane and Baffin Street) and the history of the Tay whale as well, which is obviously an animal that a lot of people have quite fond association with.' Before creating the finished exhibition, Mella dragged one of the huge sculptures, unfired, back into the sea at South Uist, using a maritime sounding line rope. There the sculpture dissolved, but not before creating a long, pronounced line in the sand. For single parent Mella, who is involved with Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, this is an apt metaphor. 'Enough is enough,' she says. 'When I started this project, my son was two. Watching him grow, and seeing the climate catastrophe getting so obviously worse and worse was a real call to action for me. 'Having the responsibility of bringing a new life into the world, you have to take that seriously. 'We have to draw a line in the sand.'
