Uncle was village sports hero

Memories forged in a small corner of the Carse of Gowrie in the middle of the last century are regularly surfacing at the moment.

The latest contributor to reminisce over a favourite playing field located close to the Firth of Tay’s north-west shore is Willie MacFarlane.

The retired police officer, who has recently been settling into his new home in Buckie, Moray, following a flit from the Perthshire village of Balbeggie, tells Craigie: “I have been following the various articles from Ian Wallace – a former colleague, I believe! – regarding Memorial Park at Invergowrie.

“During the early 1950s my great grandparents Tom and Helen MacFarlane moved from their thatched cottage in Station Road, Longforgan, to one of the newly built pensioners’ flats in Johnston Avenue, Invergowrie, which faced on to the Memorial Park. I think the idea was so that they could live closer to their daughter and son-in-law, Helen and Dick Peebles, who at that time ran the local garage, Invergowrie Motors, in Mylnefield Road.

“Uncle Dick, as a boy, I am told, lost one of his legs following an argument with a cricket ball, but this did not stop him leading a full and active life. Indeed I am told that he refused to wear a proper artificial leg, preferring instead to use one of those peg legs that you often used to see in pirate films of the ’50s and ’60s.

“I am also told that he was quite an accomplished player on the bowling green. Perhaps some of your older readers will remember him.”

Mr MacFarlane continues: “In days gone by, just like many other kids, my brother and I were expected to accompany our parents on visits to all the many aunts and uncles – this being a time when children were expected to be seen and not heard.

“Visiting Invergowrie was never a chore, however, as following on from the customary pleasantries my brother and I would nip across the road to Memorial Park, where we would enjoy a happy hour or two on the swings and the chute – followed by an ice cream and a drink of juice from either the park keeper’s hut or the ice cream van.”

He ends: “Happy memories indeed, and please pass on my best wishes to Ian Wallace whom I last worked with in the Douglas area more than 30 years ago.”