50 YEARS AGO Splashes in Crieff and crashes in Braco

One of Crieff’s famous landmarks was making a splash: “Another new sight in Crieff is the fact of the Murray Fountain actually founting. For the first time in over 21 years the fountain was turned on for the holiday crowds in town for Easter.”

Elsewhere in town, new street signs were causing consternation: “Workmen are busy putting up the new standard road signs in Crieff, occupying large vertical areas of view from motorists’ eye level, providing another hazard for the pedestrian to dodge round, whether pushing a pram or not and bewildering local pups with a profusion of poles.”

On the roads, a trio of traffic accidents occurred on the same day between Muthill and Braco. They involved four vehicles and injured eight people.

Two miles on the Crieff side of Braco, a car driven by a 23 year- old school teacher from England left the road and plunged down a six foot embankment, somersaulting over the fence and into a field. The driver and passenger were taken to Stirling Royal Infirmary, where the passenger was detained with head injuries.

Then about 45 yards on the Braco side of the Middleton road another car also landed in a field after it skidded and crashed through the fence. The driver’s wife and three children suffered slight injuries and bruising.

And less than a hundred yards from this accident, a car was in collision with a bus on a corner. Two people were taken to hospital with head injuries.