Reminiscences

IN the late summer of 1971 a young German girl arrived on Loch Lomondside on a hiking holiday — and disappeared. What followed turned out to be one of the most fascinating yarns from the early days of my career in journalism. This is what I wrote for the Helensburgh Advertiser of September 17 that year . . .

THE RAIN lashed down in buckets. The midges were out in force. The road curved on for seemingly endless mile after mile. It was cold, wet and miserable — and the mystery of Frauke Kissenkotter was about to begin.

Journalist Colin Donald tells the story of his great uncle, Cardross man George Chrystal, who died in one of the first World War One gas attacks at Ypres in 1915.

WHAT do we know of great uncle George Chrystal?

This article, believed to have been written by Walter W.Blackie about 1943, was originally published in the Scottish Art Review XI, No.4, 1968, by permission of Miss Agnes A.C.Blackie who found it among her father’s papers. It is published here by kind permission of two of the author's grand-daughters, Kathleen A.Salzberg and Ruth Currie, who kindly supplied the images from the family collection.

IN the early spring of 1902 my wife and I, having decided to leave Dunblane where we had lived for some seven years, were fortunate enough to happen on the site at the crown of the hill in Upper Helensburgh where ‘The Hill House’ now stands. We took the feu, and decided to build.

STORIES from World War Two usually feature bravery or tragedy, but for an unemployed Helensburgh girl enlisting was to result in romance.

Marion Reilly, who died in September 2016, spent her later years in Cambridge with her daughter Linda. She treasured memories of her wartime work on degaussing at Helensburgh pier, through which she met the man who was to become her husband.

CHRISTMAS often includes large slices of nostalgia, but looking back can serve to remind that many things do not change very much with the passage of time.

That thought kept recurring when I visited Helensburgh Library on Friday December 23 2011 to have a look at the Helensburgh Advertiser of 50 years ago.

The late Miss Maud L.MacLellan, OBE, TD, of Auchenault, Helensburgh, tells of the period during her wartime service with the Auxiliary Training Service when she commanded a centre where the then Princess, now Queen Elizabeth, learnt to drive.

A 14 year-old boy endured a night of horror when World War Two bombs fell on Cardross.

This is how James Retson recalled the evening of March 14 1941, the second night of the Clydebank Blitz . . .

ONCE upon a time I worked as a reporter on the Helensburgh Advertiser. While thus employed, it was often my duty to “do the calls”.

This meant checking, by telephone, with various police stations in the district before the paper went to bed. The editor had a weakness for bedtime stories, and it was my job to humour him.

THE train roared and panted its way through the tunnel at Dalreoch, the sulphurous smoke wreathing past the closed windows. Silent, and not a little apprehensive, I sat in the corner gazing out into the void.

"Will this never end?" I thought as a feeling of claustrophobia made me close my eyes. At last the engine noise changed perceptibly and opening my eyes again I saw a flicker of daylight.

WORLD War Two Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt had four major meetings in North America. Trips 1, 3 and 4 left from Faslane where Churchill's special train parked in the siding there. The second left from Stranraer.

Churchill left Faslane on the former LMS Glen Sannox-type fast turbine steamers, accompanied by his Chief of Staff.

IN the summer of 2008 a Helensburgh woman made the leap from an historic architectural home to an historic stately home.

Charlotte Rostek Davis, who ran the Hill House as property manager and curator for the last six years, was appointed curator at Dumfries House in East Ayrshire.

This article, the product of an interview with Hilda Whitelaw Purvis, was written by Helensburgh journalist Fiona Howard for inclusion in a special Civic Week supplement in the Helensburgh Advertiser on May 9 1975 to mark the passing of the Town Council in the reform of local government in Scotland.

HELENSBURGH at the start of the 20th century was an elegant place where life was simple and leisurely.

It was a mecca for artists, a retreat for Glasgow merchants, and a haven for folk looking for peace.