A Brief History of the Dundee Celtic Travel Club
The beginning - on Tuesday 4th May 1948, an intimation was placed in the Public Notices column of the Dundee Telegraph (on page 7), which read - Celtic Supporters Association (Dundee Branch). Anyone wishing to become a member of the above club, please apply by letter to T.McGovern, Secretary, c/o R.Fraser, 80 Blackness Road, on or before 12th May,
1948. Considering the results of the season just ended, great credit must be paid to the founder members of this Club who had faith and determination to lauch the club at that time. However as we all know, Celtic Supporters are famous for their loyalty and dedication to the cause, and the members in 1948 were exactly the same as the current members who are and always will be "faithful through and through". In the years that have elapsed since 1948 until now, the Dundee Celtic Travel Club have had various premises throughout the city and the mention of these will no doubt bring back fond memories to many. The first premises were in East Hendersons Wynd in a condemned property, one stair up, with very basic conditions as you can imagine, but presided over with great dignity by John Murphy. The joining fee was £1-10 shillings, and every member was obliged to sell at least 5 shillings worth of 'doubles' to generate some revenue for the Club. The redevelopment in 1955 of that part of Dundee meant that new premises had to be found. These were found, courtesy of one John Feeney whom it must be mentioned, was not a Club member. He allowed the Club the use of the Star Ballroom for the monthly meetings, but the stay there was short lived when it became apparent that the bold John was trying to use the members' names and addresses as a base for forming a social club of his own. This became obvious when the police started visiting the members at their homes to check up on them, a situation that was totally unacceptable to the members and therefore the Club was on the move once again. In 1956 the Club rented a two-storey building at 101 Hilltown from the Diocese of Dunkeld, up an opening next to the Plaza cinema and were there for almost 38 years, until 20th March, 1994 when again we had to move, as that whole area came under re-development. The very next day, 21st March, 1994, the Club moved to premises in Lochee, however this was not the success that had been hoped for, and after a relatively short period of 3-4 years, the premises were closed and the Club members were 'homeless' until 2002 when we moved into our current premises, the 67 Club in Raglan Street. I am sure that everyone will be aware of the significance of the Club name. Despite all the moving around, the Travel Club has continued to run transport to every domestic game, both home and away, and will hopefully continue to do so for many years to come.