THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

Dundee’s Red Cross workers were gratified yesterday afternoon to have the assistance of Mabell, Dowager-Countess of Airlie, in the city’s big effort in the great Scottish Week. The Dowager-Countess opened a cafe chantant in the Victoria Art Galleries. Her Ladyship, who was accompanied by Lady Mabell Ogilvy, wore a mother’s badge to signify that a son is serving, an idea which came from America. A year ago, between £12,000 and £13,000 had been collected for the Red Cross.

50 years ago

A 27-year-old Inverkeithing couple will set off for Brazil next week as missionaries to a tribe of Indians who killed the first missionaries to try and settle in their remote jungle village. They are Brian and Beryl Adams, who sail from Liverpool on the SS Dominic to start a four-year stay. The couple will spend the first six months to a year at Belern, in the Amazon basin, learning Portuguese and the language of the Kayapo tribe. “We then go almost as far as you can go into the Brazilian interior,” they said.

25 years ago

HMS Camperdown, the Dundee base of the Royal Navy Reserve, is likely to close next year following proposals for deep cuts in the reserve forces of the Royal Navy and RAF by Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind yesterday. The plans – if ultimately approved – will result in the loss of 4,000 jobs nationwide and severs a strong association between Dundee and the Tay Division Royal Naval Reserve that stretches back to 1903. Tay Division RNR is manned by about 200 reservists.

One year ago

Three youths forced the evacuation of hundreds of pupils from Perth High after a fire broke out at the school. Police Scotland confirmed they had been “detained” amid a probe jointly undertaken with Scottish Fire and Rescue investigators. Pupils and staff were forced to flee into car parks and playing fields from morning classes after flames took hold in the school’s gym hall. Smoke billowed through corridors, subsequently setting-off fire alarms and forcing a second evacuation.