THE photographs in this week’s trip down West Fife's Memory Lane look at the history of Dunfermline College of Physical Education.

The college was founded in October 1905 by the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust. The trust outlined the rationale behind its setting up in their report in 1928: "The need for specially-qualified teachers became increasingly recognised but there was no institution in Scotland for the training of these experts. The trustees, having at their call a splendid gymnasium and swimming pond and the nucleus of a college staff, decided that they would establish a College of Hygiene and Physical Education and grant a diploma to students who successfully completed a two-year course of study thereat."

Our first photograph shows the building in Abbey Park Place where it first operated from, and that served as a dual purpose Hostel and College. In 1909, the college was recognised by the Scottish Education Department as "a central institution for the purpose of the Education Scotland Act".

Our next photograph shows some of the early students outside Abbey Park House. The building still stands today, just round the corner from the Alhambra Theatre.

In 1914, a new, purpose-built college was opened, situated beside the Carnegie Baths in Pilmuir Street.

Our next image shows this building, which is currently undergoing renovations and refurbishment to create residential accommodation, aptly called the 'Carnegie Apartments'. The college outgrew this site by 1950 and relocated, first to Aberdeen and then to Cramond, Edinburgh, in 1966. It merged with Moray House College of Education in 1987, and later with Edinburgh University in 1998.

Since its foundation, it was regarded as a national institution for teacher training and helped the profession of teaching physical education to become perceived as a respectable career for women, resulting in Dunfermline attracting sporting internationalists into PE teaching in a period when it was difficult to make a living as a sportsperson.

Our final photograph shows members of Dunfermline College Old Students Association handing over some of their records to Sharron McColl, the local studies supervisor at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries. Once these have been recorded and preserved, they will then be available to be viewed by members of the public.

Ms McColl was delighted to accept the archives and appeals to anyone with similar items to consider donating them to add to the collection: "It was a great pleasure to meet with the ladies from the Association and to receive such a generous donation of memorabilia.

"It would be wonderful to find out if anyone in Dunfermline, who perhaps had family members or ancestors who attended the college in its early days, has any items from that period. If that is the case, we would be delighted to add them to our collection so that future generations are able to access them in the Local Studies Department in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, situated as it is in the town that the college was founded in."

More photographs like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries as well as at Facebook.com/olddunfermline

With thanks to Frank Connelly.