Tennis and SAS feature in latest Dunblane book
Author and historian Dr Bill Inglis has completed his third book on the history of Dunblane.
In two previous tomes, he traced the history of Dunblane from the Stone Age to the time of Mary Queen of Scots and from 1560 to 1919.
His latest book brings the Dunblane story up to date and focuses on the massive changes in the town brought about by people since the aftermath of World War One.
Dr Inglis said:“In the last hundred years the population of Dunblane has nearly tripled. In 1919 nearly all the people in Dunblane worked in the town but now almost everybody is employed outside the town across Central Scotland and beyond.
“The High Street is no longer primarily a shopping centre but a service provider, a place for a coffee, hairdressing and real estate agents.
“In the Second World War David Stirling, from a long-standing landed family in Dunblane, founded the first SAS in the world.
“Like everywhere else in Scotland its church congregations have shrunk but the town has bucked the trend with four new congregations and three new churches being built in the last 60 years.
“In 1919 Dunblane had a small three-year secondary school and now its high school has just won the Sunday Times state school of the year award.
“Fifty years ago, health care was provided at the home surgery with a doctor and his assistant treating patients in his own house.
“Today there is a health centre with teams of doctors and nurses. Then after the terrible event of March 13,1996, Dunblane led the Snowdrop Campaign resulting in the total ban of automatic handguns in the United Kingdom.
“And moving into the 21st century Dunblane is the town where two world -class tennis stars were reared.”
The latest volume is published by Jamieson and Munro of Stirling and can be obtained in a number of outlets in Dunblane.