Not everyone saw the need for all these ‘abominations’ back in 1940

For people unlucky enough to be too far from their Anderson shelters in a raid, there were public shelters.

These ranged from trenches dug in local parks to brick blockhouses on street corners.

For those living in tenements – where there was no garden space – an Anderson shelter was no use.

Building enough air raid shelters was a huge task for Dundee City Council as it required the full co-operation of the population.

In September 1940, the city engineer identified the basement at 26 Seagate for use as an air raid shelter.

It would give refuge to people from an adjoining tenement as they had nowhere to go during an air raid.

Despite the urgent need for a shelter, the owner was reported to be “unwilling to allow his premises to be used for this purpose”.

The proprietor said he felt there was a “great many of these abominations in this neighbourhood”, which were a “waste of money”.

This, despite an air raid 17 days earlier that killed two people at 19 Rosefield Street.

After much delay, the basement was finally requisitioned on January 28 1941.

The Morrison “Table” Shelter was introduced in March 1941, for people without gardens.

Made from heavy steel, the Morrison was effectively a large metal cage which could also be used as a table. It was named after the wartime home secretary, Herbert Morrison.

It consisted of a hefty iron frame with a sheet steel ceiling screwed together with several chunky nuts and bolts.

Underneath was a crude wire mattress. Like the Andersons, the Morrison shelters were supplied flatpacked for DIY assembly.

But with more than 300 parts, it wasn’t easy. Around 500,000 Morrison shelters were used by the public.