West Fifer Robert Remembers Dunfermline

A former architectural designer with the literary touch hopes his poem on old Dunfermline will spirit fellow West Fifers down memory lane.

Robert Sclater, who has lived and worked locally all his life, has submitted ‘Remember Dunfermline’ to the Scottish Book Trust’s My Favourite Place project. The former pupil of Blacklaw, Woodmill and Queen Anne Schools did so on the recommendation of a tutor, after attending a creative writing course held in Carnegie Library and in East Port’s Music Institute.

If accepted, ‘Remember Dunfermline’ could be published in a book or broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland.

Though he is now retired, Mr Sclater’s long career has included redesigning the visitor maps in Pittencrieff Park and working for the well-known architects James Shearer and Annand, where he began his apprenticeship alongside Pete Agnew of Nazareth.

Below is his submission to the Scottish Book Trust:

Remember Dunfermline

Can you remember the cobbled street
Where the tram-lines ran but could never meet
Where people met to chew the fat
Can anyone remember that?

Do you remember Christmas time
When all the children stood in line
At the ‘Kinema’ a film to see
For a bag of sugar or a packet of tea?

School Gala Days, oh what a lark
Marching to The Glen from the Public Park
Down the High Street back to back
With Rampant Lion and Union Jack.

Can anyone of you recall
Queuing at the ‘KB’ for the Midnight Ball
Then adding months to your birth star
Just to gain access to the upstairs bar?

We’re older now and that’s no lie
But memories still go flooding by
‘The Auld Grey Toon’ was where it was at
Can anyone remember that?