A large collection of sporting memorabilia much of it involving Dundee FC and which adorns the walls of a popular Broughty Ferry pub is to go under the hammer to raise funds for charity.
Dozens of items collected by the late John Black, former mine host of the Fort Hotel including a signed photograph of Dee legend Bobby Cox are to be auctioned off before the bar is gutted and refurbished.
John Black Jr, who now runs the hotel, says the collection was put together over the years by his father, who was a staunch Dundee supporter and former board member at Dens Park.
”We’re gutting the whole public bar and everything that’s on the walls is going,” he said. ”Apart from the Bobby Cox print, there’s a signed Scotland rugby top from 1983. It was donated to Ian Bett of Bett Brothers and dad bought it at an auction years ago and paid silly money for it over £1,000.
”There’s also a signed Tiger Woods print from when he was at Carnoustie for the open, a bottle of Manchester United FC wine from the 1980s and a whole load of Dundee FC stuff.
”We also found a couple of really rare pictures of Dundee players from years ago up in the attic, so they’ll go in the sale too. There’s even a photo of Jim McLean with a Dundee strip on, which is pretty unusual.
”Three quarters of the money raised will go to the Maggie’s Centre. It’s a good Dundee charity and I don’t think there’s a single person who hasn’t been affected in some way by cancer. We all know the valuable work they do there so I thought it would be good to donate the money to them.
”The other quarter will go to the Broughty Ferry DFC Supporters Club. Their bus leaves from here to go to away games, so we wanted to give them something. Hopefully they’ll come down and want to bid for some of the stuff and raise a lot of cash.”
One of the more unusual and popular items is the pub’s original projector and giant screen which John Sr paid £18,000 for to ensure he was first in the area to cater for live football matches.
”It all works, the remote is there and it was definitely the first in the area,” John Jr said. ”It would maybe do some youth group or boys’ club or something like that and I’m sure somebody will want it.”
The public bar at the Fort will be closed for around six weeks for refurbishment, John says, which will see a mix of the old and the new in terms of the bar fixtures and fittings.
”We’re looking for a classic pub design, kind of like The Trades House but with the latest technology in terms of big screens and sound system.”
The charity auction takes place at the Fort Hotel from 8pm on Sunday February 12.