The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
City stay changed life forever
Dundee 70 years ago was a safe and happy place for the young Gordon Anderson, who – with his sister Mary Firth and cousin Alison Gibson – is keen to share his memories of a childhood in the city’s east end.
The Dunkeld resident writes: “I lived at 124 Ellengowan Drive, in the houses nearest to the Arbroath Road, and close to Dalkeith Road, from November 1948 until April 1952.
“I was six and my sister Mary was one year, nine months when our parents moved into our ground floor house at number 124.
“My father, Charles Ramsay Anderson, was a teacher at Dundee High School. He got his job there about a year before our family came to live in Ellengowan Drive, after demobilisation from Army service.
“My mother, my sister Mary and I were living previously in a small village, Balnaguard in central Perthshire. Coming to Dundee was a big change for us, although I remember visiting Ellengowan Drive on at least one previous occasion.
“The three of us travelled by train from Balnaguard to Dundee, where we arrived at the West Station. I remember the only thing I was carrying, as well as my school bag on my back, was a square wooden box which contained my toys – a few small cars, some dominoes and some building bricks.
“Starting a new school was a big change, having come from a tiny school in Grandtully. My father enrolled me in Dundee High primary school, where the classroom was a hut just inside the school’s boundary, beside Euclid Terrace.
“Travelling to and from school was easy and enjoyable even for a small boy new to the city. My father and I would leave our
house and walk to Dalkeith Road to the bus stop where we would catch a 5 or 7 bus to either the Wellgate or Commercial Street.
“One rather disturbing sight visible from the bus, which was a reminder that the Second World War had ended not long before, was a bombed building which had not yet been rebuilt. The front of a tenement had been wiped out, leaving a pile of rubble below, and various floors of the building could be seen like an open dolls’ house.
“I remember soon after we moved that my parents bought their first refrigerator. I recall being excited when we discovered that my mother could make ice-cream in it!
“Mary remembers chimneys often going on fire – and the smell from these chimneys. She also remembers the coal bunker which was located near the front door – it was still there many years later when she made a nostalgic visit back to Ellengowan Drive.”
Gordon continues: “No one in Ellengowan Drive in our time had a car. The narrow pathways around the houses were not suitable for cars, but a lady called Miss Alexander took her small horse and cart around the houses to sell vegetables.
“Ellengowan was totally safe for young children. We played frequently with other children in the communal area with the washing lines. It was a safe and friendly community, and very clean.
“I can remember enjoyable walks which my father would take me quite frequently. One was to visit Dundee docks – quite a long walk for a little boy of six. We normally walked to the King George V wharf, where we would watch dock workers unloading jute from big ships from India and Pakistan.
“I can remember the workers had special trolleys for carrying the bales of jute across the quayside from the ships to storage sheds, and someone saying to me that the engine which was retrieved from the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879 was still working somewhere in the Dundee docks.
“The Caledon shipyards were busy at that time, and I once watched a ship being launched, which was an exciting experience.
“I also walked up Dalkeith Road to the Stobsmuir Ponds, between Pitkerro Road and Clepington Road. I can remember watching men racing model boats against another club from Cellardyke in Fife. There was also a putting green near the ponds.
“Another walk was to Baxter Park, where our family used to attend church every Sunday, and I went to Sunday school there.”