Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Andrew Duff of Dundee: Retired newspaper compositor who also covered football matches dies

He spent most of his career on nightshift and, at weekends, reported on junior football matches for the Sporting Post and Sunday Post.

Two photographs of Andrew Duff beside the Meadowside building of DC Thomson.
Andrew Duff had a 48-year-career with DC Thomson in Dundee.

Andrew Duff, who worked in the Meadowside caseroom of publisher DC Thomson for 48 years, has died aged 94.

He spent most of his career on nightshift and, at weekends, reported on junior football matches for the Sporting Post and Sunday Post.

Andrew (Andy) Paton Duff was born on August 21 1928 in Benvie Road in Dundee.

He was the middle child and only son of Nina and David, who both worked at Westfield Laundry off Perth Road.

One of his earliest memories was accompanying his father on his horse and cart during the school holidays, delivering and collecting laundry from establishments in the West End of Dundee.

Wartime evacuation

Andy was educated at Mitchell Street Primary and Logie Secondary Schools but had a spell at primary school in Scone when the Second World War broke out, being evacuated to a great aunt’s house.

His early teenage years were spent like many of the youths of that generation, cycling, youth hostelling, The Boys’ Brigade and the Air Training Corps, where his fascination for all things military began.

His long association with DC Thomson & Co. Ltd began in 1942, first as an office boy then as an apprentice linotype operator/compositor.

Andy was called up for National Service in 1946 and served as a corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals where his dexterity with a typewriter came in handy.

Linotype operators in the Meadowisde caseroom in January 1958.
Linotype operators in the Meadowisde caseroom in January 1958.

He was stationed with the British Army of the Rhine in Hanover and Celle until 1949 when he was reunited with his girlfriend, now to be fiancee, Mary Durie, with whom he had corresponded with every day while abroad.

Andy and Mary were married in March 1951 in a joint wedding ceremony at McCheyne Parish Church with Mary’s sister, Alice, and her fiance, Robert Alexander, who also worked for DC Thomson after he was demobbed from the army.

For the next eight years they raised three of their five children in a low-door tenement with two rooms in the Hilltown and were overjoyed to qualify for a soon-to-be-built house in the new housing scheme of Charleston/Camperdown.

Church commitment

Andy, who had been a deacon in St Peter’s Church, joined the new church at Camperdown whose congregation first met in Charleston School, then in 1961, the new church building was consecrated and he was ordained as an elder thus starting a long and happy association with Camperdown Parish Church which was only broken by his recent death.

He served in various posts; newsletter editor, clerk to the board, treasurer and, finally, as session clerk, receiving two long-service awards from the Church of Scotland.

Like many men in Dundee in the 1950s and 1960s he attended Dens Park one week and Tannadice the next, but his real joy was watching junior football in Tayside.

When he was not working or reporting on games, Andy could be found at Thomson Park watching Lochee United.

World travel

Andy and Mary loved to travel and had many happy holidays in Britain towing their caravan, but once they got the cruising bug, that was that. USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand were all visited as well as the Norwegian Fjords and the Mediterranean.

Despite their travels they were both doting parents, grandparents and great grandparents, attending school sports, swimming galas, cup finals, passing out parades, graduations and other events.

With five married children, 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren there was never a dull moment in their new home in Broughty Ferry.

Sadly, Andy was widowed in 2014 and in 2017 his second son David passed away suddenly.

He died peacefully a month short of his 95th birthday and is survived by his son, Ian, a retired pre-press manager with DC Thomson, Sheena, a retired obstetrician, Alison a retired police superintendent and Fiona, who works in finance.

You can read the family’s announcement here.