The above advert - for a Methil hairdresser with a branch at Leven Road in Lundin Links - dates to the mid-1940s. Jane Rudd Spinks (known as Jean) was born in 1908 at Malleny Mills, Balerno. However, her parents had been married in Leven, Fife and soon after her birth the family returned to Fife - settling in Methil were her father worked as a coal miner. Jean had a long career in hairdressing, undertaking training in London and gaining an excellent reputation.
In the early 1930s, Miss Spinks occupied a hairdresser's shop on High Street, Methil. Around that time a curious story was featured in the local paper about how her pet Pekinese dog had been stolen by sailors and spent three months at sea before being taken to Port Said in Egypt. The dog was eventually returned after a six month spell in quarantine. However, it became unwell and it was advised by a vet that the dog should be given "gin night and morning". The dog recovered but was sadly killed by a car in February 1933 (St Andrews Citizen 17 June).
In 1935, aged 27, Jean was involved in a serious road traffic accident near Cardenden, while travelling as pillion passenger on a motor cycle. The motor cycle was hit by a bus and its 21-year-old driver, Ronald Tidman from Anstruther, died from his injuries. Jean was in critical condition for a time, due to serious injuries to her head and leg.
In 1939, Jean married Albert O'Neil and had a hairdressing shop, with house above, built at 240 Wellesley Road done in art deco style (shown in recent times below). It must have also been around that time that the Lundin Links branch was opened. And the Leven Road premises stayed in Jean's ownership at least into the 1950s. If you know more about the duration of the business's time in Lundin Links, please comment.
In the early 1930s, Miss Spinks occupied a hairdresser's shop on High Street, Methil. Around that time a curious story was featured in the local paper about how her pet Pekinese dog had been stolen by sailors and spent three months at sea before being taken to Port Said in Egypt. The dog was eventually returned after a six month spell in quarantine. However, it became unwell and it was advised by a vet that the dog should be given "gin night and morning". The dog recovered but was sadly killed by a car in February 1933 (St Andrews Citizen 17 June).
In 1935, aged 27, Jean was involved in a serious road traffic accident near Cardenden, while travelling as pillion passenger on a motor cycle. The motor cycle was hit by a bus and its 21-year-old driver, Ronald Tidman from Anstruther, died from his injuries. Jean was in critical condition for a time, due to serious injuries to her head and leg.
In 1939, Jean married Albert O'Neil and had a hairdressing shop, with house above, built at 240 Wellesley Road done in art deco style (shown in recent times below). It must have also been around that time that the Lundin Links branch was opened. And the Leven Road premises stayed in Jean's ownership at least into the 1950s. If you know more about the duration of the business's time in Lundin Links, please comment.
Even as late as 1956, it would seem that a woman hairdresser cutting a man's hair was a novelty, as can be see by the article below from the Fifeshire Advertiser of 27 October. The piece concluded that "from all accounts they do every bit as well as the men". Jean died in 1970, aged 62. There remains a hairdresser on Leven Road. If you recall Jean or her shop in Lundin Links - please do share your memories.
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