We start the trail in North Fife on the south side of the River Tay in Wormit. The village sits at the south end of the Tay Rail Bridge and is the location for the Tay Bridge Memorial.
The Memorial commemorates the tragedy that happened on 27 December 1879 when the original Tay Rail Bridge collapsed in a storm taking the lives of 59 people who were on a train travelling across the bridge to Dundee.
The memorial is one of a pair with the same standing on the other side of the Tay in Dundee.
The second stop on the trail is in the village of Kilmany. This is where you will find a memorial to legendary racing driver Jim Clark OBE.
Clark was born in Kilmany in 1936 and went on to have a very successful career, winning the Formula One motor racing championships twice in the 1960s.
Tragically he was killed during a Formula Two race in Germany at the Hockenheimring, when his Lotus left the track and crashed into the trees on April 7th 1968.
He was buried in the village of Chirnside near the family farm and is commemorated by a memorial stone at Hockenheim. In 1997 the Jim Clark Memorial Appeal erected the statue in his birthplace of Kilmany.
Next stop is Cupar, a busy town and one of Scotland’s oldest royal burghs. Its central position has been important from the earliest times, and the name is believed to have Pictish origins.
The artwork on the trail in Cupar is The Angel statue which is part of the war memorial. The bronze winged Victory sits on top of the memorial which commemorates those who lost their lives in the First World War. On either side there are two granite pillars which commemorate the people who lost their lives in the Second World War.
The fourth stop on the trail is the lovely village of Ceres where there is a rather unusual wee statue. The Provost of Ceres is a toby-jug type figure and is said to be a likeness of the Rev Thomas Buchanan, the minister of the village Kirk from 1578-99, and the last Provost of Ceres.
The statue was in place, and almost forgotten, until 1933 when it was sold to a Mrs Lindsay of Cupar. The people of Ceres were not pleased and raised funds to bring it back. The statue has remained in its current place ever since, grinning at everyone who passes by!
The fifth stop on the trail is Auchtermuchty, a place with several claims to fame! The village was the setting for filming of the 1990s remake of Dr Finlay’s Casebook, and Craig and Charlie Reid, better known as The Proclaimers lived here.
Auchtermuchty’s most famous son, Jimmy Shand is commemorated with a larger-than-life statue in the village. Jimmy was a highly respected accordion player and band leader. He travelled throughout Scotland and beyond, delighting crowds with his traditional Scottish dance music.
Shand composed more than 300 tunes and in the 1950s, he released “The Bluebell Polka,” which became his signature song (it was even produced by George Martin). Though he went into semi-retirement in the early ‘70s due to poor health, he continued playing, captivating audiences with his energetic jigs and reels.
You can travel to all the locations by bus and to Cupar by train too.
