Religion

THE founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth, paid his only visit to Helensburgh in 1910.

The image above, which shows the General at Helensburgh pier, was supplied by Provost Billy Petrie, who received it from a relative in California, Donald Cullen, whose grandfather, Donald Brownlee, was the Salvation Army officer on the extreme right.

A MUCH loved minister from Cardross was commemorated in 2010 by the creation of a stunning memorial window in the church which was his charge for 37 years.

The picturesque South Queensferry Parish Church was packed on Sunday August 22 for the dedication of the window installed in memory of the Rev John Gilbert Carrie, BSc, BD, who grew up in the village and was a former pupil of Larchfield (now Lomond) School.

THE story of a man from a Glen Fruin farming family who became a Mormon in 1848, emigrated to America six years later, then fled from his religion was told in a book published in the United States in 2009.

Historian Polly Aird, who lives in Seattle, Washington, wrote ‘Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector, A Scottish Immigrant in the American West, 1848-61' about her great great uncle Peter McAuslan.

A HELENSBURGH man stepped into one of Scotland's top jobs on May 20 2010 . . . and on May 26 the job was done.

But while the Rev John Cairns Christie may have accepted a job which lasts for just six days the duties attached to it will go on for a full year until the next incumbent takes over the role.

A HELENSBURGH man who became a priest went on to hold two of the most important offices in the Church of England.

The Right Rev Patrick Campbell Rodger, who was born at Southcourt in the burgh on November 28 1920, the son of a prosperous family, was Bishop of Manchester from 1970-78, then Bishop of Oxford until 1986, and a leading figure in the ecumenical movement.

THE restoration of the Episcopal Church of St Michael and All Angels in Helensburgh was an eight year project successfully completed in the autumn of 2009.

The historical basis of the church's decoration is a subject not always appreciated, and is described in this article.

ON Sunday 22nd August 1841 a congregation of Scottish Episcopalians met in the room of a house in William Street, where Divine Service was solemnised by the Very Rev William Routledge.

Their first church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, opened on the site of the present St Michael's Church in 1843.

MAJOR restoration of Helensburgh’s 140 year-old St Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in West Princes Street — the town's only A-listed church — was completed in 2009.

Work began in May on the third phase of what was originally to be a four-phase project over ten years, the third and the fourth having been combined because of deterioration of the building.

MARCH 10 is a special day for Luss and Loch Lomondside, and the island of Inchtavannach in particular.

It is the annual day of St Kessog — or St MacKessog, as some know him — who was a monk who came from Ireland and founded the original Luss Parish Church in 510 A.D. and a monastery on Inchtavannach, which actually means Monk’s Island.

AFTER 55 years of service to the people of Helensburgh and district, the Church of Scotland’s Clyde View Eventide Home closed its doors.

Many elderly members of the community were residents at Clyde View, including several centenarians, and the final residents were transferred to other local homes.

A RATHER heavy piece of local history left Helensburgh almost unnoticed early in 2008.

The original St Columba Church bell was sold and then removed from its resting place near the front door of the kirk.

The Gow Windows (left):

The right half shows a seated Madonna with the child on her knee and St Joseph standing behind them holding a lantern.

The Rev John Baird, the father of John Logie Baird, was the first minister of the West Established Church in Helensburgh, later known as St Bride’s Church. In 1981 this Church was united with the Church in the Square (then known as Old and St Andrews) to form the West Kirk.