After 21 years in the post of Chair, George Robertson stood down at the Society’s recent AGM, held in May 2017. He then took on a new position of Honorary President, the third time in the Society’s 47 year history that such a post has been occupied. The Secretary, Cherry Allan, highlighted George’s history with the Society which is summarised below. “It all started in June 1996 when the Chairman of the day stood down at the AGM with immediate effect, after 14 years of service, leaving the committee and members in something of a quandary. To resolve the situation the previous Honorary President, Mr Andy Lawrence (one of the original founders of the Society) proposed a new Society member and friend of his, one Mr George Robertson, as a prospective Chairman, since his interest in local history made him a likely candidate. George considered the proposal and agreed to take on the role and so began his 21 years at the helm of the Society. It wasn’t long before new developments were taking place to increase awareness of the Society in the following ways: A Society logo was commissioned, designed and produced DHS began an annual presence at the October Hobbies and Recreation exhibition DHS became a member of the Scottish Local History Forum The post of Publicity Officer was created to report the Society’s activities in the local press In September 1997 the Society moved to larger premises in the Pittencrieff Suite in the City Hotel and so began a steady increase in membership…
Obituary, John Amos, 1929 – 2017
When John Amos passed away recently, Dunfermline lost one of her ain, and a special one at that to those of us who love exploring the history of this old town. John McDonald Amos as born in St. Leonard`s Street Dunfermline on November 8th 1929. John`s parents were Valentine and Christine Amos and he had two older sisters. The family moved to Priory Lane and later to John Street and John attended Commercial Primary School and then Queen Anne Junior Secondary. When Commercial School was billeted during the war John received part of his schooling at a private house in Priory Lane. His family later moved to a house in Izatt Avenue with a view of the Abbey and the Dunfermline skyline On leaving school John became a messenger boy, then a postman, finally signing up with the RAF and serving eight years, a time he remembered with fondness. Unable to become an RAF electrician as planned, because of colour blindness, John was reassigned as a driver and obtained his HGV licence. On leaving the RAF, John became a driver at the Rosyth Royal Dockyard, where he stayed for 16 years. On his 29th birthday in 1958, John married Dorothy Innes at Canmore Congregational Church and they went on to have three children, Mark, Jacqueline and Christopher. In the early 1970s John`s life took a totally different path. He returned to education at Kirkcaldy Technical College where he achieved O grades and Highers, including English, and went on to Moray House, Edinburgh, for teacher training. It…
Lost Village in the Press
Last Sunday’s “Scotland on Sunday” (15/1/17) featured an article on the history of the lost village of Lassodie. Alison Campsie covered the history of the village, and touched on the stories of other abandoned villages, such as Binnend, near Burntisland. She quoted George Robertson, the DHS Chairman, and included material from some of George’s interviews with former residents, used in his articles about Lassodie. Good to see our website enabling further discussion of our area’s past.
FAMILY/LOCAL HISTORY FAIR – SATURDAY 8th OCTOBER
On Saturday 8th October the Society had a stall at the Family and Local History Fair which was held at the Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline. The stall was manned by the committee and a couple of members of the Society who volunteered to help. There were stallholders from all over Scotland – mostly Family History Societies – and a number of these Societies display and sell booklets and CDs on family history in their area. Dunfermline Historical Society does not produce booklets for sale but we feel our stall was colourful and attractive and not only gave an insight into what the Society does, but showed some of Dunfermline’s past in the form of old photographs. The taking of a stall at the History Fair had a twofold purpose. Firstly, to let people know about Dunfermline Historical Society and what we do which could attract new members. Also, to enable us to network with Societies from Fife and beyond. Both of these purposes were fulfilled as we had a lot of interest from members of the public and interesting discussions with other Societies. It has been many years since Dunfermline Historical Society took part in such an event but the success of this Fair will hopefully lead to our taking part in future similar events.
Obituary, John Crane
JOHN CRANE OF SALINE, 1942-2016 by Dr Jean Barclay When John Crane passed away in June after a three year battle with cancer the people of Saline recognised that they had lost a wonderful supporter of the local community but how many knew what a first-rate local historian he was. John Robert Crane was born in Sheerness, Kent in 1942. As a MOD (naval) civil servant, John`s work took him all over the country, including to Greenock, Barrow-in Furness, Bath and London. Even when he was finally based in Rosyth from 1977, John did a great deal of travelling, much of it abroad including to the Falkland Islands. At home in Saline, with his wife, Marie, and his daughters, Fiona and Morag, John worked endlessly on behalf of the local community, starting with the PTA in the late-70s, then the Horticultural Society, the Saline Environmental Group and the Community Council, of which he became chairman. In 2005 he was influential in setting up the West Fife Exhibition of Art and Photography, which he managed for eight years. In 2014, John was awarded a British Empire Medal for his `services to Saline Parish`. All this time John followed his interest in history and joined organisations for like-minded people in Dunfermline and Saline. A pleasant easy-going man, John was always generous in sharing his knowledge, sometimes obtained through hours of work, with fellow researchers. People and places in the Saline District interested him most and from this came two books, `The Saline…