Business

A PIONEER of British motorboating lived and worked for many years in Rosneath.

In nautical circles designer John Bain is revered, and many of the vessels he designed are still in use and in great demand today.

MENTION Neilson Gray and Carisbrooke in Helensburgh — and thoughts immediately turn to a noted World War One war artist.

But Norah Neilson Gray’s big brother Andrew (below right) also played a significant role in wartime, and he is regarded as one of the pioneers of wireless telegraphy.

A SELF-MADE businessman who is regarded by Japanese society as a founder of the modern Japanese shipping industry lived in Shandon in his later life.

THE CARMAN Cattle Fair was a major local event which during the 19th century grew to become the most important of its kind in the West of Scotland.

FEATURING in the most common byline in Helensburgh and West Dunbartonshire local newspapers and news websites is ‘Local Democracy Reporter’.

A HELENSBURGH man whose early ventures included delivering newspapers and selling clothes has been one of the most successful business innovators in the United States of the past thirty years.

A YOUNG pupil at Helensburgh’s Lomond School had his mind on games as well as studies . . . and it paid off.

Dr Luke Dicken, who turned 37 on December 8 and is now based in the heart of downtown San Francisco, California, is one of the world’s leading experts in developing games using applied artificial intelligence.

A MEMBER of a well-known Helensburgh family this year launched the world’s first luxury fashion styling game online.

After a high flying career in magazine editing, Lucy Yeomans — whose parents Harry and Margot ran the Mardon House and Balvaird residential and nursing homes in Colquhoun Street from the mid-80s until 2005 — is behind a game called Drest.

THE FIRST local newspaper covering Helensburgh and district was ‘The Helensburgh News’, which was published from 1877-93, and it is now available online.

It stated on the masthead that it circulated in Cardross, Row (Rhu), Shandon, Garelochhead, Clynder, Rosneath, Kilcreggan, Cove and, surprisingly, Kilmun, Kirn and Dunoon.

TRAINS move, stations are stationary — except in Helensburgh, perhaps?

For decades Helensburgh Central Station has been on East Princes Street beside the Municipal Buildings. But was that its only site?

HELENSBURGH’S first commercial photographer had an unusual claim to fame.

William Young, of 114 William Street, was a witness in the now world-famous trial of Madeleine Smith who was alleged to have poisoned her lover, Pierre Emile L’Angelier.

THE LATEST chapter in the story of Helensburgh supermarkets is that Morrisons has bought Waitrose at Colgrain and hopes to open before Christmas 2020.

While several of the major supermarket companies have either operated or tried to operate here, the burgh’s longest serving retail business of this kind by a distance is the Co-op.