Back in 1990, a group of around 35 visitors from Norway were welcomed by the Scottish Branch of the Polish Airborne Forces Association to a reunion at Largo House.  Many of those pictured in the above photograph undertook training at Largo House during the Second World War.  Many of the visiting guests belonged to the Norwegian Independent Parachute Company, while many of the Polish attendees belonged to the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade. Among the group are local Polish men Teddy Roy and George Harvey (the Leven-based photographer).  The group from Norway were led by General Ole Jacob Bangstad.  As the East Fife Mail reported at the time, "special memories were revived...among people from two countries who forged links nearly 50 years ago on Scottish soil".

Below is a postcard image of Largo House in its heyday circa 1890.  Its demise has been covered here before.  If you have memories of it prior to dereliction, please comment.

This novelty postcard dates to the 1920s and comes with 12 mini images of Lundin LInks that pull out concertina-style from under a flap.  Many of these images were very familiar ones used regularly on other postcards.  However, the four pictures below were less familiar.  Going clockwise from top left, we have:

• Lundin Golf Club House;
• the crossroads of Crescent Road and Links Road (then Station Road) - note the 1920s fashions;  
• Lundin Bowling Club;
• and Lundin Ladies Golf Course (looking from the ninth green towards the first tee).

Many novelty postcards featuring Lundin Links and Largo were produced, using a standard front design that was reusable for many different towns and villages.  Note the different font used for the words 'LUNDIN LINKS'.  This would be added later to the base postcard and the pull-out ribbon of images pasted inside.

The shops at the west end of Emsdorf Street in Lundin Links have been covered before on these pages but the image above looks at them from a different angle. Working from right to left, starting with the impressively balustraded shop on the corner, we have:

Andrew Hogg_, Chemist
James Brown, Fruiterer and Florist
John Y. Guthrie, Fishmonger
John Young, newsagent and stationer

The view further below is a much clearer image of the same shops from a different angle, some years later (around 1930).  The lower image shows a van has replaced the horse and cart.  In fact the van is most likely the 10 h.p. Austin motor van mentioned in a newspaper advert when John Young Guthrie died early in 1949 and the business was offered for sale as a going concern.  By October 1951, however, the fishmonger shop was finished for good and the fittings and furnishings were auctioned off.  The description of items for sale, in the Courier advert below, provides some insight into how the shop would have been in its later years.  The fish merchant business had been there for decades, with Guthrie taking over from his predecessor, Robert Reekie, around 1920.

John Young Guthrie was from a long-standing Drummochy fishing family and he resided at Gullane View close to the Largo harbour.  He was also related to the Young family, who had the neighbouring newsagent, on his mother's side.  His shop would go on to become Marie Bethune's children's outfitters.  Jimmie Brown's fruit shop continued after his death in 1943, being run by his niece Alice.  Jimmie had been a life-long market gardener, like his father before him and brought produce from Hatton Law to Lundin Links for decades.  He died walking the road to Hatton aged 81.

This postcard of Lundin Links was posted in August 1924.  The sender wrote to a recipient in Edinburgh:

"We are quite enjoying our holiday here and have been fortunate with the weather, so far; more so than some places.  No telephones, no "dud" starters, no wavelengths, just fresh air, walks, sunbaths, etc.  Results OK."  

So I assume that this person's holiday in Lundin Links was a refreshing break from new technology and a chance to enjoy a quieter pace of life!  Certainly the photograph reflects a place of leisure - the detail shown below highlights the group of people in the foreground, with the dog, looking like they might have stepped off the tennis court or bowling green.  In the distance, rounding the corner in front of the hotel is a charabanc perhaps full of day trippers from a nearby town.

The house closest to the camera (with people on both sides of the railings)  is "The Chestnuts". One of the first houses built on Leven Road at the end of the 19th century, the house has always had that name - taken from the pair of Chestnut trees in the front garden.  Beyond that are Rowan Cottage and Beechwood.  Woodielea Road is off to the left, while Crescent Road lies off to the right.  Note that the row of shops on the right hand side is yet to be completed.  The last part going up to the bank corner was finished in 1926.

Many will be familiar with the war memorial which stands in Leven next to Scoonie Parish Church.  As was the case in many parishes following the First World War, there was much discussion and some delay in arriving at a final decision on how to commemorate the fallen.  In the parish of Scoonie, a sub-committee was appointed to bring forward schemes and costings.  On 7 May 1919, the Dundee Courier reported that "five schemes are to be submitted to a public meeting. These include a Town Hall, a Town Hall and Municipal Buildings, a public park with arch on which the names will be inscribed, and a monument in stone, two different sites being suggested."

The public meeting took place the following month, with Provost Somerville presiding. On 26 June, the Courier stated that "...the suggestion to build a Town Hall with seating accommodation for 1000 was eventually carried". However, by the following February, this decision had t be reversed. The Dundee Evening Telegraph on 27 February 1920 recorded that only £150 of the necessary £5000 had been raised and the scheme had to be abandoned. At another meeting chaired by Provost Somerville, it was decided to erect a stone memorial instead, either at Scoonie Kirk or on the Promenade.

It would take a further year to finalise the precise plans but by March 1921 the location, costs and design had been settled. The above photograph was taken at the unveiling ceremony on 24 September 1921, where Sir John Gilmour of Montrave carried out the unveiling while Provost Somerville accepted custody of the memorial on behalf of the community. The Courier reported on the event, stating...

"There was a large and representative assembly at the unveiling at Leven on Saturday afternoon of a memorial to the 182 men of the parish of Scoonie who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War....The memorial is in the form of an obelisk and is from a design by Mr A. C. Dewar architect, Leven.  There are four panels on which the names of the officers and men are inscribed and also the regiments with which they served."

Provost Somerville was grocer John Somerville, father of Andrew Somerville the long-time grocer on Leven Road, Lundin Links. He can be seen in the centre of the detailed image below, with the white hair and beard, wearing the provost's ceremonial chain. To left of Somerville, closer to the memorial is Colonel Alexander Sprot who has also featured in this blog before when he opened a bazaar at the Lundin Bowling Club. If you can pick out any other individuals in the crowd, please comment.

As winter draws to a close this year, here are a couple of snowy scenes from winters-gone-by in Lundin Links.  The top one shows Leven Road looking west. The old villa named Homelands can be seen in the centre of shot (the site is now redeveloped as accessible holiday cottages). The bowling green is just in front of that and then part of the 'common'.

Below is Crescent Road, looking east, towards the junction with Emsdorf Road, with Lower Largo down the brae beyond. In both cases the roads are looking pretty treacherous!  If you have any wintry scenes of the local villages, or recall any particularly harsh snowy weather here, please get in touch.