Helensburgh Heritage
Helensburgh Heritage Trust
ONE of the great writers about Scotland, its countryside and wildlife in the 20th century was born in Helensburgh and had two spells of living in the burgh.
Campbell Rodger Steven, who was born in April 1911 and died in 2002, loved the outdoors — and it provided the inspiration for both his work and how he spent his leisure time.
ONE of the most fascinating books about Helensburgh’s past is ‘A Nonogenarian's Reminiscences of Garelochside and Helensburgh’.
It was written by a burgh tailor, Donald MacLeod, and published by Macneur & Bryden Ltd. of East Princes Street in 1883.
THE top Scottish comedian of his age, Lex McLean, lived in Helensburgh for many years and loved the peace and quiet of his home across the road from Kidston Park.
Born Alexander McLean Cameron on April 30 1907 in a drab tenement at 6 Rosebery Place, Clydebank, he was the son of iron moulder Donald Cameron (1871–1951) and his second wife, grocer Mary Howe McLean (1876–1948).
A YOUNG girl who grew up on Loch Longside took the name of her home and went on to become a singer who worked with top stars including Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
Jessie Ronald was born in America, the daughter of an American father and Scottish mother. Sadly her father died two years later, and her mother brought her back to Glenmallon to live with her grandparents.
NEW YEAR blues are dispelled every year by the return of the Turners at the National Gallery in Edinburgh . . . and of the Anderson Trust paintings in Helensburgh Library.
This fine local collection, bequeathed to the town in 1980 by Annie Templeton Anderson, now numbers 90 paintings – too many to be displayed together, so a different selection is made each time.
HELENSBURGH-born actress Morven Christie appeared in Alan Bleasdale's The Sinking of the Laconia, a wartime drama screened on BBC TV on Thursday and Friday January 6 and 7 2011.
October 2004 was when writer Alan Bleasdale first heard about the fate of the RMS Laconia during World War Two and now his dream of telling the story of the merchant vessel has become a reality in a two-part dramatisation on BBC2.
A HELENSBURGH man was one of the best known character actors of his generation.
James Copeland — known to all as Jimmy — is best remembered for his appearances in the BBC TV drama series Dr Finlay’s Casebook and the film comedy Rockets Galore. But he was a man of many talents.