IN THIS week's trip down West Fife's Memory Lane, we look at the history of the high-rise flats in Broomhead Drive in Dunfermline.

The first photograph shows what the area of Broomhead Park, where the flats would be constructed, looked like in 1958 when the annual West Fife Agricultural Show took place there shortly before work began to build the tower blocks.

Rita Milford remembers the event for family reasons: “For sure my dad would be there watching his uncle Will Best winning with his horse and cart.”

Eileen Carrick thinks she might be in the photograph: “I’ll be in this photo somewhere. My dad took me every year.”

The next photograph shows building taking place, and the following image is of a mother and child (and dog) on the balcony of their new flat in 1961, shortly after Provost Jean Mackie carried out the opening ceremony.

Local historian Bert McEwan, in his excellent book, ‘Dunfermline. The Post-War Years’, describes the development, as well as some of the issues that arose with their construction:

“When they were built, they were regarded as the height of modernity with electric under-floor heating, lifts and rubbish chutes. No more climbing upstairs with shopping and carrying rubbish downstairs. The special concrete mix used in the construction was designed to keep water out but it also kept condensation in. Because the tenants found the electric heating to be costly, they kept the windows of the flats closed and this resulted in worsening condensation problems. This, together with security problems, vandalism and fires being lit in the rubbish chutes, meant the flats became less popular.”

People have mixed memories of living there, such as Claire Robertson: “I moved out in 2014 and didn’t like using the communal laundry room. I had a baby and was on the eighth floor. Having to go up and down all day with washing and a baby was hard work. My flat never had connections for a washing machine. I couldn't get one even if I wanted too. I'm sure the council told me I wasn't allowed one as it saved water, only the elderly and disabled got their electric cables changed to fit a washing machine.”

Alison Terras Shearer has fonder memories of her time there: “I lived in 219 Broomhead Drive in the sixties. They were lovely flats at that time. The communal washing facilities and rubbish chutes were great. We were on the third floor so not too far to walk up when the lift broke down – happy days.”

Frank Vint remembers one of the scarier aspects of life in a tower block: “I lived on the top floor of the brown block in early 2000. Great views of Edinburgh and all the way down the Forth. Great flats inside but not so good in high winds as you could feel the block moving in the wind.”

The last photograph shows a couple approaching the flats from the south in the 1960s.

More photographs like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries as well as at facebook.com/olddunfermline