Rob Boag reckons he is at an age when he occasionally dives into the twilight zone of my memory to drag lost histories into the light.
In his latest offering, he sent in a photo.
He also was very kind with his words in relation to this column.
“Look at this photo, probably every Dundee family has one similar lying at the back of a drawer, in an old shoe box, or a battered envelope,” he opened.
“I thought this photo was lost, and then my cousin Mary Bruce recently sent it to me.
“Taken in 1915, a family portrait arranged by the lady in the centre and sent to her husband, who was with the Black Watch in France.
“The lady is my grandmother, Mary McBrearty Boag, and the boys are my dad Robert, uncles Joe, Dickie, Martin, and my aunt Annie.
“In later years, the boys became sportsmen who gained the recognition and respect of their peers for their involvement and performance in sport.
“The photo is a microcosm of Dundee life, of Dundee families and of that generation’s engrossment with sport.
“Even as recent as the 1950s – my generation (it seems recent to me, and probably a few BwB readers) – I can, without pause or blink, name families whose sporting prowess was acknowledged by their peers.
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“These include the Gilfeathers, the Brannans, the Greers, the Parkes, the Crolls, the Duncans.
“The Duncans were a very talented sports family, indeed a football academy all to themselves.
“I still feel privileged that I had the friendship of Alec and Peter Duncan.
“In BwB – that magical portal which provides its readers with access and insight into Dundee’s admirable sports history – tales have been told and photographs published of early 1900 teams and families who participated in one way or another with football and boxing.
“One of the rewards for a follower of BwB is the appreciation of stories told about the past that are an act of homage to those who came before us.
“Have a look for old photos, and drag their lost history into the light.”
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