News

THE highly secret Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment located in Helensburgh and Rhu during the Second World War played a vital role, and the lives of some of its staff were lost.

Yet it is not commemorated in the Helensburgh area. The hub of the MAEE, Rhu Hangars, still exists today as the media centre for HM Naval Base Clyde, but nowhere is any tribute paid to the organisation or its staff.

HELENSBURGH-born John Logie Baird changed the world by inventing the television set . . . and on October 3 2008 his grandson returned to Scotland to launch a search for Scotland's oldest working TV set.

Ian Logie Baird — son of Helensburgh Heritage Trust president Malcolm Baird — is at the forefront of the campaign to get Scotland switched over to digital television, due to take place for the majority of viewers in 2010 and 2011.

AN old photograph of the burgh seafront which has been gifted to Helensburgh Heritage Trust was a constant reminder of home to a burgh woman who lived in Canada.

Part of a Christmas card, it was a prized possession of Agnes Jeffrey McRae Wood, known to family and friends as Nan, who was born in the burgh in 1917 and died in Ottawa in 2003.

THE former Clyde Community Education Centre on East Clyde Street is to be put on the market by Argyll and Bute Council in the hope that it can be part of the regeneration of Helensburgh town centre and waterfront.

This is one of several options being considered by the council, which currently owns the listed building and which has left it to deteriorate markedly for several years.

A PAINTING by Helensburgh artist Erskine Beveridge, entitled “After Sunset, The Gareloch”, has recently been acquired by the Anderson Trust — and provides a third interpretation of a similar subject.

Biographical details of Erskine Beveridge are scant, and the Anderson Trust would like to find out more about him.

SCOTLAND'S mobile art gallery visited Helensburgh on Tuesday September 2 2008 as part of its 30th birthday celebrations.

The Travelling Gallery was on an autumn tour, and showcased a new exhibition which explored people's relationship with the sea and coastline – just like the very first artwork exhibited on the bus in 1978. Admission was free.

A well known Helensburgh librarian and author died suddenly on May 30 2008 while on holiday in Uzbekistan.

A memorial service for the late Brian David Osborne, author of 'The Ingenious Mr Bell' about Helensburgh's first Provost, Henry Bell, and a number of other books, was held in St Columba's Church in Kirkintilloch — where he lived — on Saturday June 14. He was buried at Samarkand.

Brian, who was secretary of the Neil Munro Society, was a speaker at several Helensburgh Heritage Trust meetings over the years.

• A tribute to Brian is paid in The Arts section of this website.

WE record with great regret the death on Sunday March 2 2008 at the Vale of Leven Hospital after a short illness of one of Helensburgh Heritage Trust's founders, Anne Gray.

Dr Gray was the Trust's first secretary, and for the last three years of her life served as Honorary Vice-President. She was the person responsible for the launch of the Trust website, and took care of its updating until she stepped down from the post of secretary. The funeral was at the West Kirk, Helensburgh, on Friday March 7, and then at Cardross Crematorium.

• An Appreciation of Anne Gray, written by Trust chairman Stewart Noble, can be found in the People section of this website.

ONE of Helensburgh’s most splendid mansions, Lynton at 6 Upper Colquhoun Street, is being offered for sale by Savills Glasgow for over £1.5 million.

Designed by William Leiper and built in 1908, it contains a reception hall, four reception rooms, and six bedrooms, and is set in an acre of gardens. Also currently on the market is Carbeth House at Rhu, which was built by Madeleine Smith's father.

• Full stories in the Places section of this website.

2009 was Scotland’s first ever Homecoming year.

Inspired by the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, Homecoming Scotland 2009 successfully encouraged people of Scottish descent, Scots, and those who love Scotland to come home in 2009 and take part in an inspirational celebration of culture, heritage and great Scottish contributions to the world.

WELCOME to the Helensburgh Heritage Trust website.

We hope you find it simple to navigate, with many articles, a large Photo Gallery, letters from readers, downloads, and weblinks to heritage and local organisations.

Contributions and comments are welcome, and should be emailed using the Contact Us facility.