Amelia's photos with the keyword: Dundee

From here one gets a view of the Tay Road Bridge in the distance. When I was a child living in Fife in the 1940s and early 50s, and requiring dental treatment in Dundee at the Dental Hospital, I had to catch a bus from St.Andrews to Newport Fife, then take the ferry over the river. I then walked to the Dental Hospital, all by myself from the age of eight years old. One would never allow this in this day and age. The Tay Ferries, known locally as the "Fifies" they were the main means of crossing the Tay with a vehicle until the opening of the Tay Road Bridge. The first regular scheduled steam powered ferry was the "Union" which started service in 1821 and ran six days a week with up to 11 crossings per day. Only a short while later in 1839 pleasure trips over the river became available and were an affordable day out for many Dundonians working in the City industries. The ferries could typically take around 10 vehicles at a time. Today the Tay Road Bridge is crossed by 26,000 vehicles per day. The same day as the Tay Road Bridge was opened on August 18th 1966, the Ferry "Scotscraig" made it's final crossing.

Sculpted by Angela Hunter these five penguins, located on the wall of the Steeple Church, have become a firm favourite with the Dundee public and are Dundee’s answer to Glasgow’s Duke of Wellington statue. I hardly think that this is a fair comparison. ;-) The penguins are regularly dressed to join in city occasions from graduation to charity fundraising events and from Christmas celebrations to Royal visits. Dundee has actually been associated with penguins for a long time – hence the group of them getting some exercise in the city centre. www.facebook.com/DundeePenguins You’ll perhaps know a bit about the RRS Discovery, the beautiful ship now located at Dundee’s waterfront. Its first ever mission was to the British National Antarctica – which just happens to be, the home of the penguin.

www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=150043477328800 Slowly growing the forest with a 171 trees donated . Thank you for all you support for STORM "Vision Mechanics created the STORM grove to mark the amazing journey of a 10m Sea Goddess who walked across Scotland. Thousands of families came to see her, many more watched her journey online. Every tree planted holds a promise to tackle climate change and re-wild Scotland. Join this project to plant trees and watch them grow into a beautiful forest. Let's grow a future for our children ."

www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=150043477328800 Slowly growing the forest with a 171 trees donated . Thank you for all you support for STORM "Vision Mechanics created the STORM grove to mark the amazing journey of a 10m Sea Goddess who walked across Scotland. Thousands of families came to see her, many more watched her journey online. Every tree planted holds a promise to tackle climate change and re-wild Scotland. Join this project to plant trees and watch them grow into a beautiful forest. Let's grow a future for our children ."

The Tay Road Bridge crosses the Firth of Tay, linking Newport in NE Fife with the City of Dundee. At 2250m (1.4 miles) in length, this was the longest road bridge in the UK when it was opened on 18th August 1966 by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900 - 2002). It carries the A92 Trunk Road into the heart of Dundee, replacing a ferry service affectionately known as the Fifies. The bridge consists of 42 spans with a navigation channel located closer to the Fife side. During the construction of the bridge, 140,000 tons of concrete, 4,600 tons of mild steel and 8,150 tons of structural steel was used. The bridge has a gradient of 1:81 running from 9.75 m (32.0 ft) above sea-level in Dundee to 38.1 m (125.0 ft) above sea-level in Fife. The bridge took 3½ years to build at a cost of approximately £6 million. When I was a child living in St.Andrews (Fife) in the 1940s and early 50s, we used to travel by bus to Newport and then cross on the ferry into Dundee, either to visit relatives or to attend the dental hospital there. The biggest excitement was when the paddle steamer was working and my Dad used to take me into the engine room to watch the massive pistons working the ferry. Three vessels operated the service, namely the B. L. Nairn (a paddle steamer built in 1929); the Abercraig and the Scotscraig (diesel powered, fitted with Voith Schneider propellers and built in the Caledon Shipyard in Dundee). The paddle steamer was only used when the other ferries needed maintenance. www.britishpathe.com/video/tay-bridge-has-royal-opening en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Road_Bridge When the road bridge was opened the paddle steamer was scrapped while the Scotscraig and Abercraig ended their days in Malta. The road bridge is convenient but the magic is lost. These days we still visit Dundee as one of my granddaughters is now working as a dentist there, having studied at the aforementioned Dental hospital.

Dundee 2 was constructed by the Milnes Company in Birkenhead during the late 19th century and after ending its service days when the Dundee tram system was electrified the body was sold on for re-use. The car was later rescued but sustained severe fire damage to the top deck whilst in storage; however the remaining portion of the lower saloon was eventually cosmetically restored by members of the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society and was later transported back home to Dundee. The tram was then moved to Nottingham where it was modified to suit its new role as a street cafe at a cost of around £45,000. The original tram seating was re-used to create a suitable work area and the end platforms and dash panels were also recreated, whilst wooden boarding was added to disguise the roof line. I remember distinctly the green and cream colour of the Dundee transport system, (now all the buses are different colours), but I wouldn't have ridden on this tram because the City Corporation then replaced the steam and horse trams with electric traction between 1900 and 1902, and I'm not that old. ;-) We were in this district to meet up with my granddaughters who are both at Dundee University. (See PiP)

The lightship, built on the Clyde in 1933, was stationed off the notorious North Carr rocks, a mile and half from Fife Ness, until 1975, a crucial part of the life saving network operated by the Northern Lighthouse Board. In May 1976 the North Carr Lightvessel was sold to the North East Fife District Council, and in July 1976 it was used as a floating museum based in Anstruther harbour. We have seen it in Anstruther, looking in far better condition. Since January 2002 the Lightship has been based in Victoria Dock, Dundee and was used by the Maritime Volunteer Service (MVS) as a base for Unit meetings and training. But it has now been confirmed that MVS has sold the lightship for only £1 to Taymara, a Dundee-based maritime charity who plan to restore it. The lightship looks a bit shabby at the moment, but apparently it's just surface rust. I have my doubts.

In the background is the V&A art gallery Dundee, and the Tay Road bridge over to the Kingdom of Fife. Over to the right is the recently opened Urban Beach which is a glorified sandpit in my opinion. There were a couple of children playing in it, but most were playing in the fountains behind the 'beach'. www.dundee.com/news/urban-beach-opens

As Dundee is currently Scotland’s only Go Ultra Low City and it now hosts this institution that is built on the harbour front, Jaguar felt that the I-Pace was a fitting exhibition for both the electric SUV and its world-renowned head of design Callum. By incorporating all the main stages of the design process, the sculpture stitches together different segments to create the I-Pace, including a clay section and a finished front-end. Courtesy of: www.carkeys.co.uk/news/jaguar-unveils-unique-clay-model-for-scottish-design-museum

I think that these strips visible in the photo are electrified in order to deter birds, mainly gulls and pigeons from roosting on the architecture of the V&A in Dundee. Apparently there is also a sonic emitter in the archway to deter birds as well.

At the bottom of the staircase is a linotype machine ( "line casting" machine) used in printing. Along with letterpress printing, linotype was the industry standard for newspapers, magazines and posters from the late 19th century to the 1960s and 70s, when it was largely replaced by offset lithography printing and computer typesetting. This is a nod to Dundee's '3 Js', Jute, Jam and Journalism. DC Thomson is a Scottish publishing and television production company best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy, and Commando comics. Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Thomson

The McManus Galleries were originally dedicated to Queen Victoria’s Consort and named the Albert Institute. Conceived as a focus for literature, science and art, Sir George Gilbert Scott created a powerful Gothic icon reflecting the city’s contemporary confidence, wealth and intellect in 1867.

Thou Ling'ring Star . Words by Robert Burns, sung by Jennifer Byrne

HMS Unicorn, of 46 guns, was built for the Royal Navy in the Royal Dockyard at Chatham and launched in 1824. She is now the World’s last intact warship from the days of sail, one of the six oldest ships in the world and Scotland’s only representative of the sailing navy. HMS Unicorn spent her early years in reserve in the south of England and was brought to Dundee in 1873 to serve as the reserve training ship for the Tay. She carried out this function for nearly a century, and also acted as the headquarters ship for the Senior Naval Officer in Dundee during both World Wars. The building in the background is the Clocktower building and has been a landmark of the port area for over 130 years. It was built to show its clock face to any vessel within the harbour or on the River Tay. This category A listed building was successfully restored to provide nine luxury apartments and three double-storey penthouses. The Clocktower conversion Won the Dundee Civic Trust Award in 2009 and the Saltire Society Design Awards for renovations 2007-2009.