Bazaar exceeded its goals

The photograph on the right has been provided by Dr Kenneth Baxter of Dundee University who says: “The attached might be of some interest to Craigie readers.

“It is the cover of a prospectus produced in connection with a bazaar organised by the students of University College, Dundee, and held in the Caird Hall in November 1922. The three-day event aimed to raise £5,000 to £6,000 so as to place the college’s new playing fields at Downfield on a secure financial footing.

“The playing fields had been opened six months earlier by JM Barrie – the rector of the University of St Andrews – and Earl Haig, who was then the chancellor at St Andrews. The bazaar was opened at noon on Thursday November 2 by the Duchess of Atholl, who in 1923 would become Scotland’s first female MP.

“In her speech she stressed the importance of recreation to improve the physical fitness of the nation, but also noted that the Great War had shown ‘the great value of the mental and moral qualities’ that games teach people.

“The second day was opened by Sir William Robertson, Lord Lieutenant of Fife. His speech was notable for saying he hoped there would not be a football pitch on the girls’ part of the playing field as women were ‘not meant’ for football.

“Unfortunately, there is no record of how this remark was received, though it clearly went against the college’s proud history of treating male and female students equally.

“Ultimately, the bazaar exceeded its goals, with it being estimated to have raised over £7,600, and plans were made to give some of the surplus to benefit the unemployed in Dundee.”