Robert Blackley has another take on Floyd Patterson’s visit to Dundee housing scheme Beechwood, as featured in BwB on November 25.
“As you can imagine, there was great excitement around the St Francis ABC with the expectant arrival of former world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson,” said Robert.
“I was also there that day and it was a brilliant day.
“There are also another couple of good stories which emerged.
“I was there because my father Bobby was a coach with the club.
“Dad was also a boxer early in his career and fought and trained with the Dudhope club under the legendary Jim Brady.
“There were some members of the public there as well and there’s a good story about one elderly gentleman.
“Floyd was quite late in arriving at the club and this elderly gentleman had waited quite a few hours on his arrival. Eventually, he gave up and went back to his house which was a ‘closie’ on the other side of King’s Cross Road.
“When the great man eventually arrived, he went about the duties he was there for, meeting club members, officials, Lord Provost and other dignitaries.
“He was then told the tale about the elderly guy who had queued up for ages.
“Floyd himself then suggested that he went to visit him in his house.
“As I’ve said, it was just across the road, and the heavyweight champ, my dad, Frank Hendry and others trooped across the road.
“My dad said they knocked on the door and it was his wife who answered, and quickly ushered them into the house.
“The old guy by this time was sleeping on a chair in front of the fire and was absolutely gobsmacked to wake up to find the legendary world heavyweight boxing champion standing over him.
“He was genuinely startled, then quickly uttered to his wife . . . ‘Put on the kettle for a cup of tea’.
“It wasn’t just a cup of tea that Floyd sampled that day, as biscuits also came out, along with a tray of mince rolls . . . a real Beechie delicacy!”
By the way, I can personally vouch for that ‘Beechie delicacy’, the mince roll.
Almost all of my family on my mum’s side were brought up in Beechwood and a pot of mince was always simmering in my grannie’s (Annie Bird) house at 5 Lundie Place.
Do you have any memories to share with John? Email: jbrown@dcthomson.co.uk
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