Many thanks to Old Newport on Tay for helping us to gather these fantastic memories:
KERRY HORWOOD - "I wasn't born at the time but remember my Great Uncle Sandy telling me that he got caught speeding through Auchtermuchty on his way to see the Queen Mother at the opening. I'm sure he wouldn't have been the only one!"
DEREK HUGHES - "I was born in 1960 so had just started at Tayport Primary School. My parents were Tayport born and bred and lived there all their lives. Can vividly recall dad driving mum, myself and my brother and sister across the bridge on opening night. The volume of traffic was horrendous, and it took an eternity to make the crossing to Dundee and back. Some car engines overheated and sat idling for a long time.”
SHONA McINTOSH - "I remember the day the bridge opened. We went over to Dundee on the ferry in the morning to our grandparents. My brother and I stood at the end of McDonald Street watching the Queen Mother's car cross the bridge until our view disappeared behind the building, then we ran upstairs to the flat to see the car at the toll booths."
HEATHER CEDAR COATES - "We cycled across the bridge behind the Queen Mother's car on our antiquated bikes. We used to watch it being built from our lounge window.”
EDITH McHARDY - “We lived in Glenrothes and my father worked as a shuttering joiner on the Tay Road Bridge for 2 years. All I remember is not seeing him for 2 years as he was gone before I got up and I was in bed by the time he came home. When I was at school, the teacher asked what our fathers work was and I remember saying, “My father built the Tay Road Bridge”, and her replying, “He must have been a very clever man.”
ANNE GRAY - “Newly married and posted to Germany in 1963. Returned in 1966 to a new Dundee. Ferries had stopped and a bridge had been built. Got a taxi to drive us round our new town.”
NEIL MUDIE - “Along with the other Dundee Venture Scouts, I was a steward at the opening ceremony. No hi-vis jackets or walkie-talkies, just a wee armband. As I remember, everyone behaved themselves.”
BRIAN WIGHTON - “We lived in the prefabs in Bank Street, and my dad was on nightshift and was sleeping late one morning. He had just got out of bed when a rock crashed through the roof and hit the bed! This was from the blasting of the cut to the southern end of the bridge.”
ANNE BERRIE - “The temporary bridge being erected, blasting the cutting for the road south, rocks landing in the gardens and coming through the roofs at Craighead Road, walking along the work access behind Elizabeth Crescent watching the progress and getting my new sandals stuck in the mud. Attended the opening with a group from Newport School. All memories of the excitement experienced for the “new” bridge.”
PAULINE PEARCE - “I was at Newport Primary School at the time, and all the children were given a commemorative coin in a box. I still have mine.”
SANDRA CARMICHAEL - “I was 10 when the bridge was opened. I was on holiday at Butlins in Ayr and all the Dundonians were packed into a tiny room with a tiny black and white television watching the opening ceremony.”
ALAN YOUNG - “I remember standing at the Newport side with my parents. It was an extremely hot day and a young soldier fainted.”
LINDA SERRECHIA - “My brother was a baby, and he was the first person to cross the bridge in an ambulance as an emergency.”
PAM AYLWARD - “My granny had a great view of the building of the bridge from her window. I remember the concern from the members of the Newport community saying they would have to start locking their doors because the people from Dundee would be coming to rob them in the night! They felt safe before because the train and ferries did not run overnight.