Education

ONE of the oldest and longest running schools ever to function in what is now Helensburgh and Lomond was in Glen Fruin . . . and it had a very unusual origin.

In 1755 James Glen, who held charters for the lands of Portincaple and what were known as the Chapel Lands of Glen Fruin, executed a Deed of Mortification, which would today be called a bequest.

WHEN compulsory education for primary age children began in 1872, it posed a challenge for hamlets some distance from towns and villages, such as Glenmallan on Loch Longside.

The educational body set up to administer the system, the School Board of the Parish of Row, did however come up with a plan to build a school there as early as 1873.

DURING its 200 years as a town, Helensburgh has had a number or private schools, particularly for nursery age children. One not so well known was Miss Ottman's School.

Edinburgh man Robert Whitton, who has researched the school, unearthed much of the Ottman family tree.

MUNICIPAL AND CHURCH SCHOOLS IN HELENSBURGH

Notes:

1. Private schools are excluded.

2. Information prior to 1956 comes principally from Helensburgh Directories.

3. Names change slightly over the years.

PENINSULA residents are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the present Rosneath Primary School . . . but its history goes much further back than that.

Staff, parents and pupils — assisted by Cove Park’s Dawn Youll and artist Linda Florence — are busy organising appropriate events under the supervision of head teacher Mrs Emma McDermid.One of Linda’s aims is to produce an artwork which will reflect input from the children, including feedback from a recent question and answer session which included parents.

TRAINING SHIPS were a way of life — and a hard one — in the Gareloch from 1869 for 54 years.

But Helensburgh and Rhu benefitted in various ways from the two former sailing ships moored off Kidston Point and the boys who lived on them.

A RHU village schoolteacher had a sideline of money-lending — and it led to his murder.

Dominie John Arroll became the focus of a mystery.

AN 1899 copy of John Bunyan’s ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ found in a Glasgow bookshop was donated to Helensburgh Heritage Trust . . . and led to a flurry of research by two of the directors.

The book was presented by the finder, Glasgow man Michael Bar-Lev, who was interested in the Helensburgh background.

BAREFOOT children on the street, as happened in Helensburgh and district in years gone by, is a sight which exemplifies the squalor and poverty of the bad old days.

There must have been instances where the straightened circumstances of some children left them with little alternative.

TO MANY people of a certain age, the school song was, if not always much loved, certainly much sung . . . and that was the case at Helensburgh’s former Hermitage School.

Former Helensburgh man Bill McEwen, who has lived in New Zealand since 1966, liked it, but could not remember it.

HOW HARD a life was it aboard the Training Ships Cumberland and Empress which were anchored in the Gareloch from 1869 for 54 years?

Opinions have differed in recent years, with written accounts of the hardships of being a boy living aboard contrasting with positive views from relatives of pupils and staff.

INFORMATION about the boys training ships Cumberland and Empress which were moored in the Gareloch is quite plentiful . . . but another strand of the story came to light in the autumn of 2014.

It links the two vessels, as it is the story of a ‘boy’ who was trained on the Cumberland and returned to be a member of the staff on board the Empress.