Business

DELIVERING newspapers and selling clothes were the humble beginnings from which a young Helensburgh man rose to become one of the most successful businessmen in the United States.

Millionaire Richard Tait, 42 year-old founder of the American board games company Cranium which he sold early in January 2008 to toy company Hasbro for £39 million, spent most of his childhood in the town before going to the States at the age of 21.

OLD bottles mean a lot in the Helensburgh district because of its rich history of soft drink manufacture.

Many people collect old bottles from that era, while others often dig up complete or broken old bottles in their gardens. That is what happened to burgh man Charles Hood.

THE second and current Helensburgh Advertiser was launched by Craig M.Jeffrey and his brother Ronnie in 1957, and the paid-for weekly has since become one of Scotland’s mostly highly respected local papers.

Few have made a greater impact on the life of Helensburgh and district in the past half century than Craig — a talented writer, a consummate salesman, a man of real character with a tremendous sense of humour, a 100 miles an hour man to those who knew him or worked for him.

MOST histories of the area state that sheep were introduced to Glen Mallochan, a small glen leading off Glen Luss, by John Campbell of Lagwine in the parish of Cumnock.

Some date the event to 1747 specifically, others say that it occurred around 1750. However the much later date of 1769 has also been suggested as an alternative. I decided to try to determine the correct date.

ONE of Helensburgh's best known buildings was saved from demolition with the news that La Scala had been taken over by a nationwide pub chain. Now it has been transformed into a theme pub called The Logie Baird.

Barracuda, 2006 U.K. managed pub company of the year, spent £800,000 on developing the old cinema building at 8 James Street under its upmarket brand, Smith & Jones, with an emphasis on quality wine and food, and brought 30 new jobs to the town centre.

THE current local weekly paper the Helensburgh Advertiser is actually the second burgh paper of that name.

The original Advertiser was printed and published by J.Lindsay Laidlaw at 19 East Princes Street, and was launched in 1891 as a weekly free newspaper.