William Denny & Brothers (known simply as Denny’s) was perhaps the best known Dumbarton shipyard and was a major employer in the town. When it shut down in 1963 it cast a palpable gloom over the town from which arguably it has never recovered.

The photograph below is of the shipyard in its heyday and along with the accompanying information (second below) is on display at the Scottish Maritime Museum building in Dumbarton.

Also on display there is a model of the shipyard in its location alongside Dumbarton Rock :-

The Dumbarton Football Stadium – home to the Sons of the Rock – now exists in the area where Denny’s fitting out dock lay. I’ll come later to the Denny Tank mentioned in the information below:-

On Monday myself and the good lady had an emotional day when we said our final goodbye to Eric Brown, Science Fiction writer, crime novelist, devoted husband and father, a dear friend, a gentle man and gentleman.

He had an interesting life which took in his origins in Haworth, Yorkshire, and a sojourn in Australia before returning to his Yorkshire roots then visiting India without first ever having tasted a curry. He soon learned to cook curries from scratch and was a devotee of that food from then on. He also spent some time in Greece. All of these influences fed into his fiction.

After his marriage to Finn they moved to Cambridgeshire before, with their beloved daughter Freya, coming up to Scotland to live in Berwickshire.

I first met Eric at a Science Fiction convention and immediately recognised him as one of nature’s good guys. It wasn’t until the move to Scotland that we were able to have extended conversations with him, though he and I had been emailing each other for a long time. In his emails he frequently would note a particularly good performance by Sons while usually bemoaning how Leeds United had fared. Football, SF and literature (probably in that order) were our perennial talking points, though the conversation would roam far and wide.

He always sought out a good curry house and would be disappointed when the fare wasn’t to his liking. I remember he told us a story about a meal in a curry restaurant in Dunbar where he said to the owner afterwards that it had not been formulated properly – only to receive the reply that that was how their patrons liked it. A year or so later he went to the same establishment to try to obtain for one of his own curries an ingredient which he had run out of. The owner was surprised Eric cooked his own curries and, being short of a chef, immediately offered him a job! Eric refused, no doubt courteously.

Eric sometimes solicited from me my comments on a story or novel he had not yet submitted to a publisher and never moaned at my nit-picking. He also took with very good grace my irritation at the use of the ‘time interval later’ turn of phrase.

(Edited to add: this was such a difficult post to write I knew I would miss out something. I had intended to say that the good lady and myself felt incredibly honoured when Eric dedicated one of his books to us.)

Eric, it was an absolute privilege to know you and call you friend. I still cannot bring myself to believe you have gone and that those emails will no longer drop into my in-box.

Eric Brown: 24/5/1960 – 21/3/2023. Much missed.

On 23^rd December 2022 Dumbarton FC was 150 years old.

To mark the anniversary several commemorations are taking place throughout the year.

One of these is a special set of strips (Home and Away) to be worn during this anniversary season. The Home top is a version of the iconic 1960s/1970s all white with a gold band enclosed by two black bands. The Away one is in blue to reflect the colours the club first played in back in 1872.

When my replica strips arrived I photographed them.

Home top front:-

Home top back:-

The picture on this is an aerial view of the present stadium and Dumbarton Rock:-

Away top front:-

Away top back:-

The picture on this one is harder to make out. It is an aerial view of Boghead, Dumbarton FC’s ground for 121 years between 1879 and 2000. Thee was no chance I wasn’t buying that one :-

I have just noticed on the club website that Johnny Graham, midfield maestro of that famous Sons promotion team of 1972 has passed away. I can’t convey the sadness I feel at this news.

Johnny’s total of 385 games for Dumbarton FC is the most of anyone who has played for the club, as is his 99 cup ties.

As the club tribute says he scored 29 gaols for the side but assisted countless others. I well remember him scoring a beauty against Falkirk at Boghead in 1970. He got the ball at the edge of their box and flicked it over a defender’s head, whom he ran round to hit the ball on the volley into the net. Sublime.

He also had the unique trick of seeming to let an opposition clearance go over his head in midfield before extending his superb left peg back behind him and without being able to see the ball using the back of that foot propel it forwards again – usually to a team mate. I’ve never seen anyone else do that.

Johnny Graham: 30/12/1947 – 28/06/2022. So it goes.

It was with sadness that I read last night on the club website that former Son (as both player and manager,) Davie Wilson, has died.

Davie made his name at Rangers, for whom he played 227 times and scored 99 goals. He left Ibrox in 1967 and after a spell at Dundee United he joined Sons in 1972 just in time to gain promotion in our centenary year. In all he played for us 48 times and scored twice. He also had a distinguished career in the Scottish National side.

It was as manager, though, where he had his greatest impact on Dumbarton, blooding several yooungsters who went on to become internationals in his first stint and taking us up into the ten team Premier Division in 1984 in his second spell as team boss. A measure of this latter achievement is that we haven’t been in the top flight since.

David (Davie) Wilson: 10/1/1937 – 14/6/2022. So it goes.

I see from the club website that former manager Billy Lamont has died.

He joined us as manager in 1981 after achieving the feat of getting East Stirlingshire promoted from the bottom flight in 1980 (something they’d only achieved four times before then and never since.) He left us in 1984 to join Falkirk but the team he had put together for us went into the top division at the end of that season, the last time we graced the highest echelon of Scottish football.

He left to go to manage Falkirk and gained promotion with them too.

In 1990 he came back and took us to promotion from the Second Division as champions in 1992. That team was good to watch.

His is a record that makes him one of the most successful managers we have ever had and a fondly remembered club legend.

Billy Lamont: 12/5/1936 – 8/10/2021. So it goes.

The picture below, Dumbarton FC’s stadium in the shadow of Dumbarton Rock, appeared on an email I received from the club. (I get them as a result of signing up for club news.)

The stadium really has a wonderful situation.

Today, at 3 pm, Sons will play a competitive football match for the first time in 91 days. That’s more than a normal close season.

I really don’t know what to expect. A little ring-rustiness certainly.

I hope, though, that opponents Forfar Athletic will be equally ring-rusty, as it’s something of a crucial game, if not quite a must win for us.

It’s more like a must not lose. If Forfar get the three points they’ll only be two points behind us, albeit having played a game more. Far too close for my liking.

Clyde are only those two points behind us and they have a game in hand. That game, however, might be a problem for them as it means that in these Covid times they have to squeeze it into the already packed schedule.

In that context, Peterhead, two points above us but with two extra games played, have an advantage over us in that they’ll have more rest time over the next few weeks.

Still, I’ll be in front of the live stream* at kick-off today, fingers crossed, mentally anguished.

*Any gremlins permitting.

The amended fixtures that will suposedly allow Tier 3 SPFL clubs to complete 18 games for this season have been published.

(After a top five/bottom five split a further four fixtures are proposed to make up a 22 game season – but only if every side has managed to fit the 18 game total in.)

Sons’ games are scheduled as follows:-

Saturday, March 20 – Forfar Athletic (H, 3pm)
Saturday, March 27 – Peterhead (H, 3pm)
Tuesday, March 30 – Falkirk (A, 7.45pm)
Thursday, April 1 – Airdrieonians (H, 7.45pm)
Tuesday, April 6 – Montrose (H, 7pm)
Thursday, April 8 – East Fife (H, 7pm)
Saturday, April 10 – Cove Rangers (A, 3pm)
Saturday, April 17 – Clyde (A, 3pm)
Tuesday, April 20 – Partick Thistle (H, 7.45pm)

To those has to be added the game against Huntly in the Scottish Cup on March 23 (ko 7.45 pm) and a possible tie beyond that if we win.

It’s some schedule, In fact it’s an insane schedule given that we have a less than threadbare squad and no hint of imminent signings.

The players will be dead on their feet by Apr 1 (5 games in 12 days.) There’s also 4 in the seven days Apr 3-10 if we’re in the next round of the Cup. That’s due on Sat Apr 3.

I see from the club’s website that Willie Whigham, who played in goal for Sons for some of that post-promotion 1972-3 season has died.

While never managing to replace previous season’s goalie Lawrie Williams in that generation of Sons’ fans affections he is nevertheless a well-remembered name for those who witnessed those great days for the club.

William Murdoch Morrison “Willie” Whigham: 9/10/1939 – 4/3/2021. So it goes.