Tales from Dunbar

TALES FROM DUNBAR

My father, who died when I was 18 years old, told me tales about his grandfather, Robert, who was a fisherman in the Scottish town of Dunbar, where my father visited for holidays.

I became a grandfather for the first time last year, so I now recall these stories and look at photograph albums of my father's family trips, with many questions in my head about these inherited memories.

Some photographs show Robert's open-deck fishing boat 'Pearl' - setting off for the North Sea from the safety of Dunbar harbour. An article in the local paper also describes him putting out to sea in a storm, rescuing two seamen whose boat had got into difficulties.

Such family photographs and tales encourage sentimental impressions and heroic caricatures. So, over the past year or so, I have travelled up from Yorkshire to meet and listen to people in this expanding town, helping me gain a clearer sense of Dunbar as a real place.

Gerard Liston, July 2023

With special thanks to the people of Dunbar, who have made my visits to the town such a delightful experience and those who were willing to talk and to be photographed as part of this project, including: Bob Bambery, James Bisset, Michael and Stanley Blair, Sam Christopherson, Jimmy Cowan, Robert Davis, Gordon Easingwood, Gary Fairbairn, Jo Gibson, Jack Inglis, Sarah Jamieson, Gill Last, Michael Lenk, Kenny Maule, Maricica, Sandy Robb, the Schoen family, Ian Smith, Jimmy Virtue and Jo Waddell.

Gerard Liston www.objective.uk.com