Memory Lane: Looking back at Lauder College

The photographs in this week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane look at the history of the school that later became the present day Fife College.

The original building in Priory Lane, which has since been converted into residential accommodation, can be seen in our first photograph.

The person who spent his life campaigning for the educational establishment was Andrew Carnegie’s uncle, George Lauder who articulated the reasoning behind his desire to found a technical school.

He explained: “I was a persistent advocate of technical education. When I found myself at the age of 25 with a deficient education for the trade I had got engaged in, I resolved that every youth that came under my influence would get a good technical and literary training."

Despite Lauder’s long vigorous campaign to have such an establishment built he was unable to gain enough support in Dunfermline to fund his vision and he eventually had to turn to his nephew Andrew Carnegie in Pittsburgh to provide the funding.

At the opening ceremony Carnegie acknowledged the role his uncle had played in the following extract from his speech in front of the 500 assembled guests.

 “I could not trust myself to begin to tell you what this man has been, not only to me, but to many young men," he said.

"I have a wish lying very near to my heart. It was born the day that I begged my uncle to take £10,000 to build this school. I wish to ask nothing in regard to this school.

"I never interfere with any gift I give. But it would give me, and it would give Mrs Carnegie, genuine pleasure if you would approve of calling this technical school the ‘Lauder Technical School’ so that the man who is really the spirit which produced this school may have his name go down in your annals forever as a citizen who in his day and generation has done the town some service.”

Demand grew for what Lauder Technical School was offering and our next image shows it expanding on to the New Row in a building that became known locally as the ‘Red Tech’ due to the colour of the stone used in its construction.

The 'Red tech' Lauder College building on New Row. (Image: Contributed)Part of the façade of the building was retained when it ceased to be used for education and it is now residential accommodation.

In 1951 ‘Lauder Technical School’ became ‘Lauder Technical College’. Our next image shows some apprentices in training. The college moved to its current location in the 1970s.

A group of apprentices in training at Lauder College. (Image: Contributed) The name of the college was changed to ‘Carnegie College’ in 2007 and later merged with Adam Smith College in 2013 to become Fife College.

A new campus is currently under construction which will be located beside the new St Columba's and Woodmill high schools.

Our final photograph is of joinery students around 1964.

Joinery students at Lauder College in around 1964. (Image: Contributed) 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.