Amusement arcade

“I have really enjoyed reading all about the former businesses in Arbroath,” writes Thomas MacFarlane of Wolfhill. “As holidaymakers each year to the town, I remember that there was once an amusement arcade situated just opposite the kiddie’s paddling pool.

“It was run by an old chap who wore a grey dust coat and who appeared to be disabled in some way as he drove one of those 1960s style blue invalid carriages. He was there every year, heaps of keys around his neck and habitually smoking an old pipe.

“There was a fair assortment of slot machines within the arcade, but gambling back in the 1960s usually involved trying to win a KitKat bar by spinning a wee metal ball in such a manner that it entered the WIN aperture. I was rarely successful.

“In addition to a coin-operated football game, a horse racing contest and a first to empty the baby’s bottle machine, there was also a rather macabre glass-fronted exhibit whereby on inserting one old penny, a graveyard came to life with ghosts popping up from behind grave stones and other such eerie horrors.

“I can also remember that in Springfield Park there used to be an open air theatre with events such as the Jimmy Mather Kiddies’ talent show being held on a pink stage. I remember singing Westering Home one year and coming second in the competition.

“Uncle Bob Lyons also held his magic show there on a Monday morning, weather permitting of course.

“Arbroath always had plenty of attractions for the visitors and, if my memory serves me correctly, the burgh had its own entertainments officer – Mr Chisholm.