Fife: Professor's new book recalls childhood in 1950s Dunfermline

Professor Andrew Whitelaw, who moved to West Fife as a little boy when his father got a job at the city's maternity hospital, decided to publish his story as a legacy for his grandchildren.

The Bridge to the Kingdom is now available to purchase and describe's Andrew's post-war childhood.

The retired children's doctor, who is now an emeritus professor for the University of Bristol, said the idea was born from not knowing about his own grandfather's early life.

"I realised a few years ago that I knew nothing at all of my father´s father´s childhood," he said. "It made me think my own grandchildren know nothing about my childhood which is so different to how they are growing up now so I thought I would write it down.

"When I typed it all out and put in pictures, I tried it out on a few people and they said it was a really interesting story and make it available to anyone interested."

Andrew Whitelaw is now a professor at the University of Bristol. (Image: Contributed)

Having had many pieces published for medical journals and for teaching purposes, publishing a book was not something he was phased about.

"It was not that difficult for me to tell the story. It occurred to met that there may be more people in Dunfermline who might be interested to read this," he said.

"I thought the story of my own parents as to how they grew up, where they grew up and how they met was important. What they did in Dunfermline when I look back on it, they were remarkable people.

"There probably are people in Dunfermline that would remember my mother for example and maybe some that would remember my father."

Andrew's dad, Robert Whitelaw, was a specialist in obsetrics and worked in Dunfermline for nearly 30 years while his mum, Cicely, was a local councillor and founder of the first women's refuge in the city which later became Fife Women's Aid.

"There were only two obstetric gynaecologists in Dunfermline so he was involved in half of the births in Dunfermline for 28 years – a good number of the women in Dunfermline will have known him.

"My mother was a liberal councillor on the city council for, I think, about 13 years. I know she was re-elected at least twice and she was one of the founders of the women's refuge."

Covering his early days to going through to Edinburgh for secondary school, the entertain story covers Andrew's antics with his friends as he grew up before leaving to study medicine at Cambridge.

"There's a lot about Commercial Primary school and what it was like being a fairly young child and the games we played and the gala in the Glen," added Andrew, who is now based in Oslo.

"I put in a whole chapter on Dunfermline Athletic as well. That was the glory days for Dunfermline Athletic. My first paying job was collecting the money on the turnstiles at East End Park and I saw Dunfermline Athletic, under the great Jock Stein, win the Scottish Cup and then play European matches with teams like Benfica."

The Bridge to the Kingdom is available on paperback and as an ebook and audio book from Amazon, play.google.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.