THERE were nine Italian Cafes in Helensburgh that I was aware of when I was a child.

Joseph Antonelli owned many of them. The Roma Café was furthest east at 11 East Clyde Street.

ALTHOUGH the Second World War came along shortly after I did and it extended through my younger years, I have only fond memories of that period in Helensburgh.

The fact is that I have always found it difficult to imagine a better childhood.

By Isa McKinnon, as told and recorded by Doris Gentles.

I LEFT school and started work in 1940 — no teenage years for us.

I received my call-up papers aged eighteen. I wanted to join the WRNS but my parents did not want me to, as my brother was a Royal Marine Commando and they thought one member of the family in the navy was quite enough.

IN ANOTHER article, posted here on January 30 2017, I described how I, and several friends, were introduced to the Royal Navy, shortly after they had commandeered Ardencaple Castle. That was in 1942 when I was six years old.

When we discovered that we, the neighbourhood children, were welcome on the castle grounds we no longer had to approach them by sneaking through the Ardencaple Woods, or maybe they were the Castle Woods.

IN EARLY 1946, shortly before my tenth birthday and through no effort on my part, I became one of the first junior members of Helensburgh’s Craighelen Tennis Club.

When my father announced my membership he said that it was a prestigious club and, while I was not sure what he thought that meant, I was pretty certain that the club members would be snobs. It turned out that there were a few, but very few.

I WAS awake but I did not want to open my eyes. My head and throat hurt, just like yesterday.

My Dad spoke to me and I saw him and my sister by my bed. Just then Mrs Cameron, a neighbour, came into view.