Fife bakery mourns father and son who died on same day

James Grant Milne – better known as Grant – died aged 89 earlier this month, the same day that one of his sons, Sandy, also passed away.

Baker and confectioner Grant, a retired director at Fisher & Donaldson, is survived by his other four sons, 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

He was born on Balgarvie Crescent, Cupar, in 1931, the oldest child of Alex and Isa Milne. His father was a baker and confectioner and worked for Grant’s uncle and his brother-in-law, Willie Fisher and David Donaldson in the business that they set up together in 1919 on returning from World War I.

Grant’s father wanted to gain experience of baking with other firms and moved his family, first to Lochee, then Perth and Brechin, before returning to Cupar in 1940 where he eventually took over Fisher & Donaldson. Grant became the third generation baker in the firm when he started as a messenger boy, aged 10 in early 1942.

Grant started his education at Bell Baxter. He earned a scholarship from the Scottish Association of Master Bakers to attend at Glasgow’s Royal Technical College to study Baking and Confectionary Food Science. Grant returned to Cupar to help in the bakery every weekend and at the end of his course in 1950 his father sent him to work for James McDougall Bakers in Dundee.

In 1949, Grant returned to manage the St Andrews branch of Fisher & Donaldson and worked hard to establish himself as a high-quality craft baker working with other local traders such as David Niven.

On New Year’s Day in 1954, while on a double-blind date, he met his wife-to-be, Audrey Kathleen Floyd, a nurse at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. Grant and Audrey were married just 12 months later.

They began married life in the flat above the shop in Crossgate where they welcomed the arrival of their oldest son Alexander (Sandy) in 1956. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Buchanan Gardens, St Andrews, to be nearer to the business and make room for their growing family.

Grant and Audrey had four other sons, Eric (1957), Ian (1960), Raymond (1962) and Stewart (1964)

Later in 1956, Grant took a loan from the British Linen Bank and purchased the St Andrews branch of Fisher & Donaldson from his father – he would eventually buy the remainder of Fisher & Donaldson when his father retired.

Sandy and Eric took over the business when Grant retired in 1991.

Grant introduced many new products over his long career, including the company’s best-selling bread, the ‘Dr Floyd’ loaf, named after Audrey’s father.

Grant was a member of the Round Table in St Andrews until he was 40, by which time his love of flying had taken over. He passed his Private Pilot’s Licence in 1964. He didn’t just want to dabble in local flying and worked hard to qualify for certificates to allow him to fly in the dark or in bad weather on instruments only.

He eventually attained a Full Instrument Rating which allowed him to fly in airways, just like commercial pilots. Eventually, through the business, he bought his own plane and moved from a little two-seater Cessna 192’s to a six-seat Beechcraft B20 Duke which he flew from Scone and Dundee Airport. He and Audrey travelled all over Europe, bringing back bakery ideas and skills from his contacts in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Sweden and Denmark.

He was particularly proud to be a member of the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators which allowed him to display the British Civil Air Ensign on his plane.

On retirement, Grant and Audrey moved to South Street, St Andrews. They split their time in retirement between Mesa, Arizona, travelling in the summer around the world and spending time in their home in St Andrews. Audrey suffered a brain aneurism in late 1995 and Grant cared for her until she died in 2000.

His final year was spent in Rosturk House, Cupar.