Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, A few years ago, on a visit to Broughty Ferry, I wanted to visit the McManus Museum but found it closed.
Since then I have again visited, only to be slightly disappointed with the displays in what is now a magnificently refurbished building.
Several of the displays are pedestrian to say the least. Several media pods were out of use.
A delicate and rare Jacobite flag is displayed in full light when most museums display textiles in low light to minimise damage.
I feel that the opportunity to display what the city of Dundee has has not been taken and some of the captions on the displays are extremely simplified to the point of patronisation. The media timeline pod was, I felt, the most
patronising of all as it told the story of only four periods in Dundee’s history.
If the museum wishes to encourage more young visitors it will have to try harder to retain their enthusiasm.
Dundee had one of the last remaining medieval city centres in Britain which lasted long into the age of photography.
The city has a great collection of photographs available to draw on, yet this resource and the magnificent model of the old town (which dates from 1933) are not used to their best advantage.
Miniature cameras could have been used to “walk” along the streets of the model and the resultant film could have been displayed alongside the model with photographs of the period and descriptions of the people of the time.
(This material relating to Dundee is available – I have some sources in my library at home).
The Victorian picture gallery was wonderful. The media pod relating to the Tay Whale was also very well done.
Gavin R. Whitelaw.17 Trafalgar Court,Marine Drive,London.Money saved will help the elderlySir, As the vast majority of elderly residents in Fife care homes live in non-council establishments, Mr Barlow (August 20) does a grave disservice, not only to those residents themselves but also their families and the members of staff, in suggesting that the standard of care in Fife privately-run homes is any less than that in the council ones.
It is simply not the case, as he implies, that council care is good and private care is bad.
There is absolutely no evidence that there is any difference, nor that the “recent reports” to which he refers about the commitment of managers and the standard of workers, have anything to do with homes in Fife
Let me clarify what is proposed. For each council home, a replacement will be built as near as possible and the residents will then move together into their new home. This is quite different from what happened when the Labour administration in the late 1990s closed two council homes in south Fife.
Fife Council will continue to purchase the care packages from these replacements, just as they currently do for the majority of their clients who are in privately-run homes, including those run by charities.
The money saved will be able to fund much-needed care home places for up to 100 extra patients, thus reducing bed-blocking in hospitals, which is surely good news.
With the increased need for residential care for elderly people with complex needs, it may well be that this is one service best delivered by specialists.
Jane Ann Liston.North East Fife Liberal Democrats,5 Whitehill Terrace,St Andrews.Madness songs were top rateSir, We attended the Dundee Schools Music Theatre senior group Back to Back performing the wonderful musical “Our House” by the superb band Madness, and what a brilliant show it was.
The acting, singing and the music were fantastic, the talent on display was out of this world. They wowed us as well as the rest of a packed house.
I hope some day many of these talented youngsters make it in whatever field of entertainment they go into. Well done to every one of them, and of course well done the stage crew and the superb dedicated people who coach them.
In my opinion the musicians should have taken a well-earned bow at the end of the show.
I am sure Suggs and the other members of Madness would have been proud of the way their music and songs were performed.
Tom & Pete Cunningham.8 Mid Street,Kettlebridge.Silver arrow saved from auctionSir, Archibald Lawrie’s letter (August 22) about the silver seal of the burgh of Anstruther being auctioned reminds me of another silver item, an arrow that was put up for sale at Sotheby’s by the laird of Rattray, Perthshire, with a value of £60,000. That was back in 2006.
The villagers of Rattray however had other ideas. They successfully argued that the 400-year-old artefact was in fact the property of the community, and was a common good asset.
It was therefore not the laird’s to sell. The sale and purloining of common good assets, both moveable and heritable, has been going on a long time.
Sadly, if those tasked with stewarding this unique Scottish heritage the councils that succeeded the burgh councils continue to fail in their legal duty to record and protect the common good, there may one day be no common good heritage left to pass on to future generations.
Tom Minogue.94 Victoria Terrace,Dunfermline.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.