Tuesday 18 June 2013

BRIAN COX TO OFFICIATE AT LAMPPOST CEREMONY IN BROUGHTY FERRY

Broughty Ferry Development Trust (BFDT) is to have an official ceremony to mark the refurbishment of the ornate Victorian Lamp standards on Beach Crescent.

They are grateful to Brian Cox, star of numerous Hollywood films and currently serving as the University of Dundee's rector, for agreeing to announce the refurbishment officially. Brian is of course from Dundee but has his own Broughty Ferry connection as the main character in the cult series set in the burgh, about Bob Servant's efforts to become the MP for Broughty Ferry. Brian has been very active in promoting Dundee and Broughty Ferry and is proud of its role as “Dundee on Sea”.

The ornate Victorian lampposts on Beach Crescent, each of which depict Broughty Ferry Castle in relief on the doors, were in a very bad state of repair and funding from Dundee Historic Environment Trust was  obtained to refurbish them. This is now complete.

In addition, Dundee City Council’s Lighting Department refurbished the Provost’s Lamppost, also situated on Beach Crescent. It commemorated Provost Orchar’s tenure as Provost of Broughty Ferry between 1886 and 1898, before Broughty Ferry was incorporated into Dundee a hundred years ago, in 1913.

In the 1960s  one of BFDT's founder members, the late David Goodfellow, saved these lampposts from going to scrap by drawing attention to their historical significance and secured their current siting.

Broughty Ferry Development Trust  is a charitable organisation, with over 150 members, which aims to improve Broughty Ferry by accessing grants to progress sensitive development supported by the community.

Mr Cox will perform the ceremony this afternoon at 4.30 on Beach Crescent, just outside Orchar Nursing Home. Everyone is welcome ...

Late addition. Big success: 
Before restoration
After restoration
Mr Cox outside the Orchar Nursing Home
The Lord Provost lamppost in the foreground and the other lampposts going back towards the castle

32 comments:

  1. Good news, nice man, solid article.

    Good job chaps Trisie and Mungie!

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    1. Well done to Munguin's mum actually, Dean. Definitely the moving force behind the project. The new lamp posts are superb. Enjoyed seeing them (no dugs about) and Mr Cox made a nice wee speech about how he used to play truant there when he was a kid...

      I'm not much bothered about stars, but the man seemed pleasant and without any side to him. It was good of him to give up his time so freely.

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  2. They should last. Ferry doags are too posh to pish on lampies. :-)

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    1. Ach well, I'll jist hae tae hae a wee donder doon fae Perth wi ma wee auld smelly dug Luc, tae let her christen them. btw Ah ken fowk in the Ferry and it's no really that poash. Cannae be if they let fowk ah ken bide there!

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    2. No dugs this afternoon Jutie...

      I'm not sure Perth dugs get into the Ferry withoput a passport pitish!!

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  3. I am lost for words


    Can I bring ma dug to hansel it?

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  5. The man looks SO familiar, but I couldn't figure out where I'd seen him. Then I checked out his many acting credits and realized that I'd seen him on Frasier, where he played some episodes as the hilarious "Harry Moon," Daphne's father and estranged husband of her mother, the dreadful "Mrs. Moon." In advance of his wedding to Daphne, Niles went to England and brought her father back to America to try to sort out some of the problems of the dysfunctional Moon family. (A hopeless but hilarious task.)

    I had no idea that he is a Dundee lad.

    Those Victorian lamp posts are cool. Beautiful nineteenth century lamp posts are rare in America where they were long ago replaced by plain metal poles.

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    1. Oh, I didn't know he'd been in Frasier, Danny.

      It did show in Scotland and was a cut well above the average sitcom from either side of the Atlantic. I loved it. I liked the fact too that it was set in Seattle instead of New York or Los Angeles, where we are led to believe everything happens in America!!

      The lamp posts are actually lovely. They had been allowed to get into the most appallingly state adn were fit to come down, when BFDT set about saving them. I've added some pics to the bottom of the page.

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    2. What beautiful lamp posts!

      Yes, it was nice to have Frasier set in Seattle....an infinitely more interesting west coast city than the sprawling housing development that is Los Angeles. There were two English acting connections on the permanent cast of Frasier. The one that people know about is the character of Daphne, who was said to be from Manchester, and was played (I'm told) with a northern accent by Jane Levees, who was actually born in Essex.

      Ironically, the character of Frasier's father, Martin Crane, was played with a flawless American accent by John Mahoney, an actor born in the north of England near Blackpool, Lancashire.

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    3. Yeah Danny, Daphne had what I would have thought was quite a reasonable Manchester accent, although I'm not an expert having never been to Manchester and having no desire ever to go there (they say it rains there every day). I had no idea that the old man (ex policeman) was an Englishman. I think Blackpool and Manchester are actually pretty close to one another.

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    4. So another Manchester-type connection for "Frasier." Seattle is in the Pacific Northwest on Puget Sound, an area known for perpetually gray skies and rain.

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    5. Amazing co-incidence!!

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  6. PS: I should say that "Frasier" was an extremely popular American TV sitcom that ran for 11 seasons. One of the best comedy series ever made I think. But I don't know if it ever played in Scotland or the UK.

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  7. tris

    Nice to see an American like Mr Cox taking an interest
    Taz said he will pop along some time to christen them.

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    1. I thought he was Scottish Niko. He's a member of the Labour party.

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    2. Is that Niko, CH?

      PS Niko. Maybe we should just have invited Taz to open them....

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    3. Niko... I just had a look at that last photo of the renewed lamp post, and it seems to me that it has already been christened... Now whether that was Taz or Pitish Beastie's wee auld smelly Luc (bless him, I'm sure he's not smelly)...

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  8. PS: Just for fun, one of my favorite scenes from Frasier. It sounds like Niles has shot himself. In fact, Martin's heated shaving lotion can exploded.

    Martin: "You know what must have happened? My "Hot and Foamy" must have exploded."

    Daphne: "He was a detective y'know!"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3zWP3Mrbqs

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    1. LOL...

      Brilliant.

      I see that they are selling complete box sets (I-XI) on Amazon for either £58.58 ... or amazingly for £243.59!

      Hmmm.

      Wonder which one I'll go for?

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    2. I liked Frasier so much (it's still shown in reruns here), that I bought the boxed set. I got a good price on it though, quite some time back. Amazon frequently runs short term sale prices on such things that will let you snap up otherwise pricey sets at relatively low prices.

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    3. £58 isn't bad for 11 series Danny.

      I might treat myself...although I just bought a new car and a new lounge carpet and settee...

      Oh decisions, decisions...

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    4. OOPS: But to answer your question directly Tris, it would be better to go for the 58.98 rather than the 243.59.....LOL.

      You DO have to be careful with Amazon prices. Sometimes they'll have a good price on the Region 2 (UK and Europe) set, but a higher price on the Region 1 (US and Canada) set. The reverse of such pricing may be true in the UK of course. HA!

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  9. Good point Danny.

    Didn't bother to check that out.

    Just checked the cheaper one out and it is region 2... and there are cheaper ones available for £39.00

    YES!!

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    1. That's a good price for an 11 season TV series Tris. Figuring out the variations in Amazon prices is a science in itself. Apart from the geographical regions, other factors come into play. One is the difference between buying the entire group of individual season releases which have came out one at a time (but are all still being offered by Amazon), and buying a true "boxed set" which is released after the series has gone out of production.

      Another factor in figuring out Amazon pricing is the fact that Amazon sells and ships from its own warehouses ("Ships from and sold by Amazon.com"), but also sells other sets through the Amazon website from other companies. Sometimes Amazon ships the third party items ("Fulfilled by Amazon"), and sometimes the other companies do the shipping. The listings look very much the same on the Amazon webpage until you carefully read them all the way through to the bottom.

      If only a few dollars difference is involved, I always go with the items "ships from and sold by Amazon.com" rather than third party items. On the other hand, I've never had a problem with buying on Amazon from third party sellers either. Amazon seems to screen their third party vendors pretty carefully.

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    2. My experience too, Danny.

      I've not had any trouble at all.

      On one occasion a friend had a problem with an Amazon third party dealer. He contacted Amazon and the matter was resolved before you could make a cup of tea!

      I think you work with Amazon only if you work to their standards. They may not pay much in tax, but I don't know what we'd do without them.

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  10. of course like your web site but you have to check the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to inform the reality however I’ll definitely come again again.

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  11. Nice to see Linda with BC.

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  12. She was telling me before he arrived that they were old family friends, Marcia.

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