Backing Dundee

AS A Dundonian exiled in the North-east for 30 years, I read with interest Fiona McGregor’s article (30 April) on the bids by Dundee and Aberdeen to be UK City of Culture 2017. I agree with her view that Dundee’s cultural heritage and current flowering are not widely known. This is due partly to Dundonians’ natural bent for reticence and self-deprecation.

The city council’s stress on submitting a “people’s bid” is also to be lauded, as Dundee – unlike its oil-bloated northern counterpart – is a place without airs and graces or ostentation.

Consider also the ultimate embodiment of this facet of Dundee’s wide-ranging culture, the late and greatly lamented Michael Marra. Listen to his masterly songs and marvel at the breadth of his inspiration relating not just to the ordinary people of his home city but to the world at large. His family’s decision to set up a trust fund towards the formation of an El Sistema Orchestra Project for disadvantaged children in Dundee should also be mentioned.

Bob Peden

Causewayend Crescent

Aberchirder, Aberdeenshire