For the second of our Flashback Friday films from the University Archives we are heading to Queens College Dundee. The original University College Dundee became Queens College in 1954 and to mark this the Queen and Prince Philip visited the campus in 1955. The Royal couple were welcomed by the Master of Queens College, Professor Dow, and the principal of St Andrews University, Thomas Malcolm Knox. Queens College was at that time part of St Andrews and the students in the film are wearing the university’s traditional red gowns.

The campus in the 1950s was surrounded by jute factories and worker’s housing although the jute industry was in rapid decline. The second part of the film shows demolition work starting in Smalls Wynd, Smalls Lane and Park Wynd to make room for College expansion. The biggest change on campus during this period was the removal of the original buildings which housed the College and the erection of the Tower. The film shows the ‘Old Frontage’, the original four Georgian houses and the laying of the foundation stone for the Tower in 1959. The Tower was opened by the Queen Mother in 1961 on the site of two of the original buildings. The second two were demolished in 1966 when the Tower Extension was built.

The film has been set to music by Steven Gellatly, with many thanks to him, https://www.stevengellatly.com/.

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