Author: roderick

Joint event with Dundee Historic Environment Trust (details TBC)

The Port of Dundee – Its Contributions and Challenges, by Andrew Blake, Harbourmaster

Thursday 21 January 2027 will also be our annual joint event with Dundee Heritage Trust and will be introduced by DHT Chairman, David Henry.

Dundee has grown up around its harbour which has always played a central part in the city’s development.  Andrew Blake, employed by Forth Ports as Marine Manager Dundee, but better known as the ‘Harbour Master’, will give a fascinating and wide-ranging talk about the port of Dundee, covering on its history, its current footprint and planned activities.

 Andrew was born into a maritime family in Hampshire and has always had salt-water in his veins. He completed his schooling in South Africa, ha emigrated there with his family. After school, he joined the South African Navy (SAN), spending a considerable portion of his career at sea and rising to command three ships of three different classes. In his final five years he was responsible for the acquisition of a core mine-warfare capability for the SAN. During this period he also undertook the duties of standby naval harbourmaster and pilot.

In his quest to get closer to ships and the sea, Andrew chose to look to his country of birth with its strong maritime heritage in order to best utilise his skill set. His love for island living immediately attracted him to the position of port marine safety and counter pollution manager in 2015 in the Orkney Islands. In August 2017, Andrew was appointed Ferry Services Manager overseeing the day to day operations of the internal ferry services.  After four years in this role, especially with the stresses of the Covid 19 pandemic, Andrew sought to return to the ports environment and accepted a position with Forth Ports as the Marine Manager Dundee. This role sees him responsible for the marine team, pilotage service and all marine safety aspects of the port.

Over and above this role and following on from his training and tonnage in Simon’s Town, Andrew became a licensed marine pilot in the port of Dundee in 2024, the first employed pilot in Forth Ports.  His tonnage continues to mount with the diverse and regular shipping traffic in the port. 

The talk will take place as usual in Dundee Arts Society Roseangle Gallery, starting at 7.00 pm.  Visitors are always welcome and there is our usual invitation to chat afterwards over a glass of wine.

Graeme Hutton RSA is an Architecture Professor and photographer. He was formerly Professor of Architecture and Deputy Dean at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, where he worked for 26 years. Considered a ‘Pracademic’ by his colleagues, he has always married his work in education with a commitment to creative practice. As an educator he has used The City of Dundee and comparator European cities as contexts for speculative design projects. His close association working with the city led to him being central to the procurement of the V&A building and the new Dundee House city headquarters.

As a practicing architect, his rural houses with LJRH Chartered architects have been recognised by various awards, including RIBA & RIAS, Scottish Design Awards, Dundee Institute of Architects, Angus Building of the Decade as well as being shortlisted for Grand Designs House of the Year. As a photographer his work has been showcased by Leica UK and exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy and V&A Dundee.

Graeme has lived with multiple sclerosis for over 30 years and has been a wheelchair user for more than 10 years. He says:

“As a wheelchair user with a progressive illness, I use photography to explore the whole of my physical self in various contexts. I am now completely reliant on the chair, such that it is an extension of me, and I try to capture this situation in different contexts and in inventive, even beautiful ways. My sense of being at one with my disability is enabled through my creative practice. It is something over which I have complete control, now in a future that is less certain.”

Graeme’s illustrated talk, ‘Obstacles, Opportunities, Observation’ will explore the interconnections between these thematic topics as they pertain to our public realm, and their importance in helping shape rewarding creative work.

This will be our joint event with Dundee Institute of Architects and talk will take place as usual in Dundee Arts Society Roseangle Gallery, starting at 7.00 pm.  Visitors are always welcome and there is the usual opportunity to chat afterwards over a glass of wine.

We restart our Winter Evening Talks on Thursday 17 October 2026 when Matthew Jarron will tell us about “The Origins of Dundee’s War Memorial”

The war memorial beacon on the top of Dundee Law recently celebrated its centenary. For over a hundred years it has been one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, yet its location and its distinctive design were the subjects of considerable debate and controversy in the years immediately following the end of the Great War. In this talk, Matthew Jarron relates the complex saga of the memorial’s design and creation.

Matthew Jarron is Curator of the University of Dundee Museums, comprising over 35,000 artefacts, artworks and specimens displayed in a variety of venues including the Tower Foyer & Lamb Galleries, the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum and the Tayside Medical History Museum. Matthew is also Secretary of the Abertay Historical Society, co-ordinator of the Public Art Dundee project, a former chair of the Scottish Society for Art History and the author and/or editor of several books including Independent & Individualist: Art in Dundee 1867-1924.

20 April 2023:  Bruce Keith, “Bridgescapes”

Author Bruce Keith will discuss his book ‘Bridgescapes’, which is a personal journey through history, celebrating Scotland’s bridge building heritage. Amply illustrated by a young Scottish photographer, Lewis Matheson, this will prove to be a thought-provoking, enlightening and engaging evening.  This talk has been several times delayed by Covid so we greatly look forward to finally hearing Bruce and seeing the photographs. 

The talk will start at 7.00pm at Dundee Arts Society Roseangle Gallery and non-members are, as always, welcome.  A glass of wine is provided to encourage conversation afterwards.

15 December 2022:  John Gray, “Forty Years of Public Art in Dundee”

Planning Officer John Gray will describe the development of Dundee’s wide-ranging public art, starting with the Blackness Public Art Programme which he came to Dundee to join in 1982.  Since then, Dundee has become well known for its extensive and varied public art and design, and this talk will challenge us to consider how this has affected the character of the city.

17 November 2022:  David Powell, D C Thomson Archive Manager “A Menace in the Archives:  The Collections of DC Thomson.”

The archives of DC Thomson have accumulated over the past 250 years as both the titles and business have evolved.  As well as being a valuable business asset they have a wider value to the communities who worked for, contributed to, featured in, or consumed, our products.  This light-hearted tour through the collections will show their breadth, influence and use and will perhaps spark a few memories.