Bridge’s mystique grows as creation revealed

IT IS still an awesome bridge now, but somehow it seems even more astonishing when you see it under construction.

The Forth Rail Bridge took eight years to complete, and was opened by the Prince of Wales in March, 1890. It was the first major structure in Britain to be constructed out of steel, at a time when the Eiffel Tower was being built with the inferior product, wrought iron.

Not only were critics concerned at the time that steel was unproven, but they even thought the cantilever style was also a risk. Time has proven them resoundingly wrong.

For years people used the phrase “It’s like painting the Forth Bridge” to refer to something that never ends, however, five years ago, new products and techniques were used that means it will not need painting for another 15 years.

Magnificent as it is, there was tragedy. There were 4,600 workers on the construction project at its peak, and over the eight years, 73 lives were lost – 38 due to falls, and others through being crushed, drowned or struck by falling objects.

Now, though, it is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and an iconic symbol of Scotland. A BARREL of whisky is being meticulously checked and measured at Oban Distillery in 1949.

Our imagination is suggesting the worker on the right, with the string tied around his waist, is surreptitiously putting a bit of weight on the barrel to compensate for the whisky he has drained away for his own consumption. But I’m sure we are wrong.

Not only does the distillery, still in operation, make one of Scotland’s finest malt whiskies, I’ve always thought there is a hint of the salt air from the sea in it, but it is easily accessible as it is in the centre of town, and now attracts 35,000 visitors a year. The two pot stills only need seven workers to produce the whisky, which means the visitor centre employs more people than the distillery. LOOK at those sideburns – I’m guessing it’s the seventies.

Yes this is the 1977 Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park, when referee Bob Valentine was brave enough to give Celtic a penalty after Rangers’ Derek Johnstone was alleged to have handled the ball on the line.

Johnstone, captain John Greig and goalkeeper Stewart Kennedy are wishing to chat to the ref about his decision, but he was not for changing his mind. Andy Lynch, who had only taken two penalties before and missed both times, volunteered to take it – and scored the only goal of the game.

Was it a penalty? The Herald’s esteemed sports reporter Jim Reynolds wrote: “I feel that the referee was correct.”

That’s good enough for me.