Area’s rich history

A reunion of former pupils of Whitfield High School in Dundee – now Braeview Academy – takes place next month. Here, Joe Morgan, formerly depute head of Whitfield, tells how the design of the school badge came about.

“The badge has four main features – the rose, the gryphon, the key and the castellations,” he says.

“When we opened the new school, we were serving a modern housing estate, yet the school was situated across the peripheral roads, and at the top of a hill, effectively separating it from the estate. It was like Janus – looking both to the housing area and also to the hinterland which was rural. It was to this hinterland’s rich history that we looked for inspiration for the badge.

“It has its main origins in the coats of arms of the ancient families who once had their castles in the immediate neighbourhood of the school (in 1976).

“The coats of arms of the Fotheringhams of West Powrie, the Wedderburns of East Powrie,and the Lovells of Ballumbie provided such insignia as the Gryphon and the Rose, and the castellated features on the badge symbolised the many castles in the area. The symbolic ‘Key of Knowledge’ and the blend of colours were of the school’s own design.

“These features were chosen because it helped a new school look to the past for its roots. The school lay between the Fithie burn and the Dighty burn, and in the 18th Century, it would have been a site of mills and bleaching works.

“The pupils learned that the Gryphon stood for a sense of adventure, freedom, love of the outdoors, and aspiration, that the rose stood for culture and physical grace, and the ‘key of knowledge’ stood for the worth of education as an end in itself. The castellations echoed the sense of history which the nearby castles inspired.

“These were all more than just fanciful notions,” says Joe. “The school had a proud reputation in the areas of sport and outdoor adventure, music, drama and art.”

Former pupils are invited to attend a ceremony at the school at 10am on Saturday, October 22, when a plaque will be added to the monolith, termed the “Wullie Stone”, in the grounds of the school and a tour of the present school will be available.

Later that day there will be a reunion to mark 40 years since the opening of Whitfield HS.

This view of Mains Castle, Lochee, is taken from a postcard with a 1904 postmark. It is in the collection of Susan Skene, Glenesk. It was addressed to James Lowden, Twin Lodge, Aldbar, by Guthrie. The signature is unclear but might have the surname...

The badge of Whitfield High School, explained above.