Here's how we reported the news in the Advertiser on April 24, 2008.

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A GROUP of young dancers had a Hawaiian Highland fling — and returned home laden with medals.

The magnificent seven returned to Helensburgh last week after competing in the Scottish Society Highland Games in Honolulu, where they were the only British competitors in the event.

On the trip of a lifetime were Cardross Primary pupils Loren Mackie, six, nine-year-old Georgia Grant and Chloe Melvin, aged 11, and Helensburgh girls seven-year-old Nyah Anderson, Becky Hughes, 12, Fiona Dade, 14, and Sarah Lyall, 15.

The pupils flying the flag for Scotland are all members of Helensburgh’s Margaret Rose School of Dance, who competed against dancers from Canada, USA and Australia.

A delighted Margaret MacInnes, who runs the school, said: “The dancers were the only representatives from Scotland and proved to be great ambassadors for the country. They were invited to represent Scotland at a memorial service for Hawaii’s beloved Princess Kalulani — the daughter of Archibald Cleghorn, from Edinburgh, who married into Alii royalty and was the first governor of Hawaii. It is a great honour. They also received an invitation to enter the crypt — neither honour has ever been granted to visitors before.”

Despite the heavy schedule, the group managed to climb the Diamond Head volcano.