These images of Christmas past in Dundee from DC Thomson’s archives have been brought to life in colour for the first time.
They were enhanced and colourised using advanced AI technology and show everything from carol singers to Christmas lights and children sitting on Santa’s knee.
They capture a period of time generally only seen in black and white.
This is charm-encrusted, yuletide nostalgia like you’ve never seen it before.
A time before smartphones and Netflix.
Remembering ghosts of Christmas past
No matter how old we are, the best Christmases happened years ago.
Then, the turkey was bigger.
The tree was brighter, the flames on the plum pudding burned higher, the presents more exciting and toys were made of sterner stuff.
In those days, so the legend goes, the element of craftsmanship was higher.
Dinky cars, pushed on crash courses, survived accidents by the minute and lasted so long they went in for a respray courtesy of mum’s nail varnish.
Dinky aeroplanes, hurled into the wide blue yonder, survived countless crashes.
Knowing parents of a certain vintage hark back to sturdy, multi-purpose hoops and spinning tops that were handed on from the eldest sibling to the youngest.
Additionally, there was an atmosphere which, we are told, is absent now.
Family games and quizzes brought laughter, banter and the odd high-spirited tussle.
Musings along these lines are of a piece with such declarations that winters were colder, the service in shops more polite and public transport more pleasant.
City’s first tree arrived from Perthshire
In the past, Hogmanay was more widely celebrated than Christmas.
A Christmas tree was rare in the homes of ordinary people across the country.
The first-ever public tree in Dundee City Square appeared in 1952.
Dundee Rotary Club was responsible for the 300 coloured lights illuminating the large 42-foot Christmas tree which sprung up in front of the Caird Hall.
Seasonal music was played on an organ while a choir of Rockwell Secondary School pupils and former pupils sang “Unto Us a Son is born”.
The tree had come from the Duke of Atholl’s estate in Perthshire.
If you sent a Christmas card there’s a good chance it was made by Valentines.
One and a half million greetings cards were being produced before Christmas from the firm’s Kingsway West factory which employed 500 women.
The Christmas cards were decked in tinsel, satin bells, horse shoes and gold foil.
Turkey or chicken for Christmas dinner?
Dundonians were advised to place their Christmas order early.
Roger’s of Union Street was famed for years for the “pick of the birds”.
They also gave away free copies of recipes by Elizabeth Craig for inspiration.
Fancy a mince pie?
William Beattie’s bakery made the tartlets on Kings Cross Road.
The Dundee firm also staged an annual children’s Christmas party.
The food and presents were legendary.
For the great majority of people, the full celebration with all the trimmings only became a possibility when Christmas Day was finally made a public holiday in 1958.
It was then that all public services – such as the trains and the post – began to close down at Christmas as everyone expected to spend it with their families.
What would you have found under the tree?
The age of full employment, higher wages and the end of austerity brought Hornby train sets and expensive dolls within the grasp of the majority of the population.
Children could get excited about what might be in their festive stocking.
Christmas was the time for occasional elaborate rituals at Dundee’s grandest department stores, including Wilson’s on the corner of Murraygate.
Wilson’s was nicknamed The Friendly Store.
Its annual procession with Santa drew large crowds on to the streets of Dundee.
It was a white Christmas in 1961.
The city’s first carol concert was shown on Christmas Day on STV at 8pm.
Carols from 16 different countries were sung by 100 adults from the local Baptist churches, and by children from Lochee Baptist Church graded choirs.
The Lord Provost sent greetings from Dundee to the rest of Scotland at the finale.
Dundee was the fastest-growing city in Scotland when the illuminations strung up between the buildings made for a sparkling streetscape in December 1965.
James Bond’s famous Aston Martin from Corgi was the show-stopper in shops in 1965, alongside Doctor Who and Daleks toys, which arrived just in time for Christmas.
A huge selection of Corgi cars were on sale at the City Arcade in Shore Terrace.
It was also the place to buy garish decorations.
Christmas brought communities together
Christmas parties for children of workers at the jute mills were also big events.
It was a seasonal tradition with a visit from Santa Claus as part of the proceedings.
Everyone would get a present from the big man.
Christmas parties were also popular in Dundee housing schemes.
The community would gather together in festive sweaters for party games.
They were legendary in places like the Fintry Clubbie.
The Oor Wullie or The Broons annual was a Christmas tradition for many families.
In 1973 there was also Bunty, Diana, Judy and Mandy.
The Topical Times Football Book was another favourite in the stocking.
A blast of wintry weather heralded Christmas 1973 with youngsters willing to brave the cold and the wet to enjoy sledging or indulging in some snowball fights.
Finlathen Park and Lochee Park were packed with sledgers.
The joy of it all never to be forgotten.
Shopping for presents in John Menzies
There would have been no missing the bus to Dundee city centre.
The classic Routemaster buses were dressed up in Christmas décor to get shoppers in the festive mood before the trudge through the Murraygate to buy presents.
And what a choice there was.
As a child, before internet shopping took over, nothing felt as magical as a toy shop at Christmas, and the displays in some Dundee stores were a sight to behold.
A row of noses would be pressed to the glass.
Space hoppers, Sindy dolls, Womble toys and the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle.
These were among the hits of the 1970s, along with kites and Playmobil playsets.
Maybe you remember the magical toys in Draffens on the High Street?
Electronic games and radio-controlled cars were most sought after in stockings by the end of the 1970s alongside the very first Star Wars action figures.
John Menzies on the Murraygate comprised multiple levels and different departments.
The second floor sold toys including finger-flicking Subbuteo teams, Hornby model trains and Scalextric sets with cigarette advertisements adorning many of the cars.
Which could be taken home in the orange John Menzies carrier bag.
The glory days of John Menzies could rival Duncan’s Toy Chest in New York where Macaulay Culkin rocked up to the doors in a limousine in the movie Home Alone 2.
Toymaster stood in Commercial Street and was a Mecca for children from far and wide.
These household names have been confined to the history books.
It is the magic of Christmas that matters
Was Christmas better in the good old days?
The Courier summed it up best in the paper’s leader column in 1989.
“Sentimentality, with all its implausibility, is the enemy of magic, and it is the magic of Christmas that matters.
“It is more fun to imagine 10 lords a-leaping than it would be to see the real thing.
“Christmas, to be enjoyed fully, should be a mixture of both.”
- ALL IMAGES IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT OF DC THOMSON AND HAVE BEEN COLOURED USING ADVANCED AI. COLOUR REPRODUCTION MAY NOT BE 100% AUTHENTIC. UNAUTHORISED REPRODUCTION IS NOT PERMITTED.
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