A CELEBRATION of Syd Scroggie, one of Dundee’s most remarkable and inspirational sons, will take place in the city next month.

Mr Scroggie’s friends and family have arranged the service, which will take place at the University of Dundee’s Bonar Hall on Remembrance Day, as a fitting way to celebrate a lifetime full of achievement.

The date of the service is particularly poignant after Mr Scroggie lost a leg and his sight in the second world war.

Despite facing such adversity, Mr Scroggie went on to become a renowned hillwalker, poet, self-taught Greek scholar and honorary doctor of laws.

Syd spent 23 years working on the switchboard at NCR, was the subject of television programme This Is Your Life in 1964 and even found time to be blacklisted by a right-wing pressure group in the late 1980s.

Remarkably, he walked into work every day from his home outside Dundee and regularly went hillwalking with friends, or later his children, acting as guides.

Mr Scroggie’s cousin Don Bewick told The Courier last night that next month’s service would not be a memorial service but a celebration of an extraordinary life.

He said, “Syd was a remarkable man and the service at the Bonar Hall should be a memorable day.

“There will be a number of speakers, including Hamish Brown and Gavin Sprott.

“The service will run from 2 to 4pm with the first hour dedicated to speakers and the second hour giving everyone an opportunity to talk about their memories of Syd and his life.”

The Syd Scroggie service will take place on November 11 at the Bonar Hall. Doors will open at 2pm.