THE FIRST photograph in this week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane is a view of Woodmill Road from around 1965 looking east, near its junction with Shields Road.
The school house of the recently completed Woodmill High School can be seen on the right.
At that time the roadway was little more than a muddy tree-lined country lane with open fields to the left where the Touch housing estate would later be created.
Dalvina Malaquita remembers the area: “I lived in Touch when I was a wee baby until just before I started primary school and I remember it well.
"At lunch times when we were in first year at Woodmill we went through a stage where we were always down playing in that river or the swing park just at that junction.
"Every year we used to go to the big bonfire and fireworks display that they put on at the Scout Hall just along from there on Guy Fawkes night - to this day I still think they were the best ever.
"Loved standing round their big bonfire that we looked forward to every year.”
Fred Burst appreciated growing up in the area: “I used to live in the farmhouse on Woodmill Road. What a great place to grow up with the burn and forest at the back."
Sheena-Ann Brown also remembers the rural nature of that part of Dunfermline: “I remember walking there with my mum and dad.
"We were the first tenants at 4 Calais View and often went for country walks locally.
"Problem was, I was four years old and had a dolls pram that went everywhere with me.
"Dad often ended up pushing it home if I got tired! I got tired walking along this road and dad picked me up and put me in the pram with my doll and pushed us both home!”
The next photograph from around 1972 is of Aberdour Road looking east towards Pitcorthie Primary School.
Ryszard Muller remembers the day the school opened: “I lived directly across from the primary school in the wee farm cottage and was one of the first pupils marched down from Blacklaw School on opening day."
The photograph also brings back memories for Hazel Kettles.
She remembered: “We played in the fields, walked the farm lane and then onto Masterton where it was full of brambles.
"We picked them and put them into pails, then home to Don Road where granny dripped the berries overnight to make jelly using an upside down stool to hold the bag.
"Next day we had jam pieces from the fresh jelly - the smell brings those happy days back to me.”
Our next image is an aerial view of Abbeyview housing estate from around 1966.
With a rapidly growing population in Abbey View, Dunfermline Cooperative Society decided to have a major presence in the area by opening a store with an adjoining chemist shop, and our final photograph shows the crowds that turned out in 1958 for its official opening.
More images like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries as well as at facebook.com/olddunfermline
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