Religion

HELENSBURGH’S seafront Clock Tower was put up for sale last year by owners VisitScotland, who used it as a tourist information office, and it was bought recently by a local firm.

It will be the start of the fourth chapter in the life of what began as the Old Parish Church.

I ENJOYED listening to the story-tellers of the older generation relating the fascinating history of our surrounding countryside. So much history of the area had been handed down to them in the days before the great upheaval of World War Two, television and the electronic age.

It helped that many of the sites were available to visit, such as Glen Fruin which was once heavily populated. The large green mound in the glen was a familiar sight to us children.

A FRIEND once said to me: “Never underestimate the power of the individual." Since then I have taken her advice.

Not only the good but the great served the faith exemplified by the Roman Emperor Constantine 1 in 324 and Vladimir 1 of Rus in 988, both of whom brought Christianity to their peoples as did Saint Mahew here.

THE HISTORY of what we today know as Helensburgh Parish Church began to emerge from the confused religious times of the 18th and early 19th centuries, during which religious affairs in Scotland were dominated by congregational splits.

In 1822 a group of people began to worship together in Helensburgh, using a variety of locations over the next few years. Two years later land was acquired at the corner of Colquhoun Square where the present church now stands, and the first church building was opened in the following year under the name of the Original Secession Church.

THE roots of Helensburgh’s now closed St Columba Church sprang from a group of Dissenters who met fortnightly in the Baths Hotel for Sunday worship, often with a visiting minister.

The hotel was owned by a prominent member of the group, Mrs Margaret Bell, widow of Henry Bell, first Provost of Helensburgh and pioneer of steam navigation. On other Sundays the group travelled to Dumbarton.

HELENSBURGH’S former Park Church — now the Buddhist Meditation Centre of Scotland — began a new era at the start of 2016 after being bought by Buddhists for use as a place of worship.

The sale of the property followed the union of Park Church — built in 1862, originally as a Free Church — with Helensburgh Parish Church.

THE NINE decades of the life of the Rev John Baird — father of TV inventor John Logie Baird — encompassed much of Helensburgh’s early religious history.

A signed engraving which is part of Argyll and Bute Council’s Libraries Collection shows a fine looking man of great character, which helps to explain his considerable following over many years.

A SERMON preached by the father of Helensburgh-born TV inventor John Logie Baird early in World War One was considered at the time to be exceptionally moving and apposite.

The Rev John Baird had been the minister of Helensburgh West Parish Church, later named St Bride’s, for many years, and he came out of retirement to preach the sermon on Sunday September 20 1914. He was 72.

FIFTY years ago in May 1964, the then Helensburgh Youth Council organised a fifty mile walk, and this year, May 2014, the golden jubilee was celebrated — with a shorter walk.

The original event was held as part of and in aid of Christian Aid Week, and was from Killin, a village at the western head of Loch Tay which was then in Perthshire and is now in the local authority area of Stirling.

To mark Craigrownie Church's 150th anniversary, Douglas Dow compiled this history.

UNTIL the 19th century the Rosneath Peninsula, which in older records is referred to as the Isle of Rosneath, had a population of about 500.

A SMALL sheet of paper gifted to Helensburgh Heritage Trust in March 2012 turned out to be a fascinating relic from local church history.

ONE hundred and fifty years of worship were celebrated at Helensburgh's St Columba Church on July 3 2011 — just weeks before its union with another congregation.

The 150th anniversary of the Sinclair Street building was marked at a packed service of thanksgiving on July 3, and the birthday came as the congregation — at its present site since 1861 — prepared to say farewell to the historic building.