Category: DCT-Events

19 January 2023: Iain Flett, “Garden to Eden”

Posted on | by Neale Elder

19 January 2023: Iain Flett, “Garden to Eden”

Former city archivist Iain Flett, speaking on a wide range of subjects, is a great favourite of Trust members. His January talk will look at how Dundee was one of the first Scottish burghs to embrace lighting by coal gas to improve the safety of its inhabitants by night. Initially supplied with coal by river and later by rail, production at the gas works ceased when piped natural gas took over; but gas storage would continue. Indeed, the gas storage tank would be memorably repainted as a giant birthday cake to mark the city’s octocentenary in 1991. The site, along with its gasholder, will now be the site of an Eden Project.

15 Dec 2022: John Gray, “Forty Years of Public Art”

Posted on | by roderick

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 Nov 2022: David Powell, “A Menace in the Archives”

Posted on | by roderick

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. 

20 Oct 2022: Kevin Frediani, “Over the Garden Wall”

Posted on | by roderick

Thursday 20 October 2022:  Kevin Frediani, “Over the Garden Wall”

Winter evening talks will restart on Thursday 20 October when Kevin Frediani, Curator of Dundee University Botanic Garden and Grounds will give a talk “Over the Garden Wall: celebrating 50 years of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden.”

The talk will explore how a space in the west end of Dundee became a special place for people and a home for some of the world’s rarest plants.  Kevin Frediani is now the fourth curator and he will describe the cumulative work to cultivate a living collection.  It will be the story of a garden coming of age, whose globally focussed past is helping inform a local landscape that is more resilient to the future over its garden walls.

The talk will take place as usual in Dundee Arts Society Roseangle Gallery, starting at 7.00pm (1900).  Guests are welcome and there will be the opportunity to chat over a glass of wine afterwards.

Annual General Meeting, followed by The Howff: The Dead Centre of Dundee

Posted on | by Neale Elder

Our Annual General Meeting will be followed (at 7.40 pm) by a talk by retired City Archivist Iain Flett, who is well known to many of our members.

Iain will outline the history of the ancient central burial ground, the Howff, which dates back to the sixteenth century.

Note this talk replaces our previously-billed event ‘A Menace in the Archives’, which has been postponed.

Thursday 21 April 2022, 7.00pm

Dundee Art Society Gallery, 17 Roseangle, Dundee, DD1 4LP

The Creation of Water’s Edge

Posted on | by Neale Elder

Dundee entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl will join us in May. In addition to his role as chairman of 4J Studios (developers of Minecraft), Chris co-owns Water’s Edge at Camperdown Dock. The transformation of these previously run-down transit sheds to a high-quality commercial development will be at the centre of his talk. Members may remember that Water’s Edge was one of the winners in the 2019 Dundee Civic Trust Awards.

Thursday 19 May 2022, 7.00pm

Dundee Art Society Gallery, 17 Roseangle, Dundee, DD1 4LP

The Dundee and Arbroath Railway: from Pioneering Line to Trunk Route

Posted on | by Neale Elder

When the Dundee and Arbroath Railway opened in 1838, few could have imagined it to be anything other than a local transport enterprise. The concept of a national rail network had scarcely formed; but in little more than ten years the ‘D&A’ was to become established as a strategically important main line.

Civic Trust member Neale Elder has worked on the railways for 35 years and takes a keen interest in the history of his industry. He will tell the story of the ‘D&A’ from its inauguration as an independent operation, through nearly 70 years’ stewardship by a joint board of two rival companies, to the ‘ups and downs’ of the late twentieth century.

Today, with improvements to the rail route between Aberdeen and the Central Belt in the course of development, this once pioneering railway has a promising future.

Thursday 17 March 2022, 7.00pm

Dundee Art Society Gallery, 17 Roseangle, Dundee, DD1 4LP

The Commonwealth War Graves

Posted on | by Neale Elder

Patricia Keppie, one of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s regional coordinators, will be accompanied by a local Dundee volunteer to outline the important work of the Commission and its educational charity, the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation.

This will cover the history of the CWGC and its ongoing work, including its early challenges, and will also take a look at the unique CWGC architecture and its conservation with an emphasis on our Dundee graves.

This will be our annual joint meeting with the Friends of Dundee Heritage Trust.

Thursday 17 February 2022, 7.00pm

Dundee Art Society Gallery, 17 Roseangle, Dundee, DD1 4LP

HMS Unicorn and the Dawn of Modern Naval Architecture

Posted on | by Neale Elder

The second of Dundee Civic Trust’s popular series of winter evening talks will take place on Thursday 18 November 2021 at our usual venue of the Dundee Art Society gallery, 17 Roseangle.

HMS Unicorn is well-known to Dundonians as the old ‘wooden wall’ in Dundee docks but her true international importance is still very little understood.  She is the oldest British-built ship still afloat but, far more importantly, the ship also illustrates an extraordinary story of the dawn of marine engineering which cannot be seen anywhere else in the world.

Unicorn is the only survivor of the very first system of shipbuilding to integrate iron and wood structurally within a ship’s hull, a system invented by Sir Robert Seppings who can be thought of as the Royal Navy’s ‘Brunel’.

Roderick Stewart has been associated with Unicorn his entire life and will describe the ship’s design background as a warship and explain her important place in the history of marine engineering and naval architecture.

20-Minute Neighbourhoods

Posted on | by Neale Elder

A talk by Dr Husam AlWaer

Dundee Art Society Gallery, 17 Roseangle

After the loss of the 2020-21 season, we plan to resume our programme of evening talks on Thursday 21 October 2021.

Dr Husam AlWaer’s presentation will challenge us to consider the benefits of living locally and will examine the need to redesign how we live, in the face of climate crisis and in the wake of Covid. Can you easily get everything you need within 20 minutes of where you live? The concept of the 20-minute neighbourhood is a way to radically reconsider space; and the idea offers many solutions.

Dr AlWaer is an architect, planner, urbanist and award winning author. He is currently Reader in Sustainable Urban Design at the University of Dundee and has a focused interest in the past and future of sustainable places, neighbourhoods and cities.