People

ROSNEATH was the starting point of one of the most unusual stories ever of a person’s disappearance. It happened in 1924 — and was never solved.

A YOUNG man from a Glen Luss family rose to become a long-serving and controversial Town Clerk of Glasgow.

Angus Turner, one of the Turner family who farmed at Edentaggart in the glen for over 200 years and who were supposed to be linked by marriage to William Wallace, was by all accounts quite a character.

IF THERE is one name from Helensburgh’s civic past — apart from Henry Bell — which still resonates today, it is that of Breingan.

SUFFRAGETTES were blamed for setting fire to a huge luxury yacht in the Gareloch in 1913 . . . but did they?

AN IMAGE of a Helensburgh man dominated the front page of a major newspaper published in London 105 years ago.

A 2017 APPEAL for information to solve the mystery of the murder in Germany of a former pupil of Helensburgh’s Lomond School in 1993 received massive traditional media and social media coverage.

Christina Menzies, who was 16, was attacked and strangled near the British military airfield RAF Gütersloh after attending a disco in Club 47 at the base on June 12.

A RETIRED American Ambassador from the Cold War era who lives in Helensburgh was interviewed about his colourful career on successive Sundays on BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Good Morning Scotland’ programme.

Francis J.Meehan, who is 93, spoke to Bill Whitelaw about life in America's Foreign Service.

THE PRIME mover in the formation of Headline Helensburgh, the talking newspaper serving the blind and otherwise visually handicapped in the town and district, had her own remarkable story.

The now twice-a-month local news service on cassette first made its appearance at the end of December 1975, and it is the oldest registered talking newspaper in Scotland

A SHABBY minute book, dating back to 1906, was the starting point for a paper chase that led to a windfall of £900 for Arrochar's local GP surgery.

The minute book of Arrochar Parish Sick Nursing Fund had been kept for over fifty years by Elizabeth Carson, the daughter of County Councillor John H.Carson, who was one of the last signatories on the fund's bank account.

FASLANE Bay today is a massive naval base . . . but it was once a prosperous farming haven.

For much of that time the farm, with its rugged landscape, unforgiving climate and unpredictable weather, was worked by five generations of one family.

The MacFarlans achieved much on the farm — and in public and community life as well. Helensburgh Heritage Trust director and local historian Alistair McIntyre has researched their lives at Faslane, and what follows is the result of his labours.

SCOTLAND’S Minister for Local Goverment and Community Empowerment, a guest at the opening of Helensburgh and Lomond Civic Centre on March 1 2016, surprised many with his local connections.

Marco Biagi MSP revealed that he was a former Hermitage Academy pupil and that his parents ran the Sun Chip Shop at the corner of East King Street and Sinclair Street for many years.

ONE of Helensburgh’s first leading citizens was a much-admired businessman and benefactor.

It has even been said that Robert Thomson served as the town’s first Provost, actually before the recognised first Provost, steamship pioneer, Henry Bell.

Mr Thomson came to Helensburgh when it was in its infancy, when there were only a few cottages along the seafront.