“I had found my religion: nothing seemed more important to me than a book. I saw the library as a temple.”

So wrote the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, and it is true that a library plays an intrinsically important role – not only for the avid book fan but also as the hub of the community and a facilitator for access to knowledge.

In my time in Helensburgh I have used the local library often, whether to take out a book or use the internet, and over the years it provided a social outlet for me, where I could meet fellow book readers and literary types.

Also the staff are extremely friendly and willing to engage with everyone who walks through their doors.

Through Helensburgh’s library, I discovered many authors who have gone on to be my favourite writers, and for me the library is a cherished institution.

Thus I am lucky as my role as a company director for LiveArgyll allows me to play an integral part in maintaining this institution and to help it grow.

There is now a drinks machine on the premises, for example. I have also been petitioning the council for a while to have an official disabled bay outside the building, and at the last meeting of the council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee, this was confirmed.

And it’s not only books that belong in the library; there are also many community groups who meet there on a regular basis.

There are book clubs for members of Grey Matters, Helensburgh’s group for the over-60s, and for people with dementia.

Enable also use the library’s computers in the morning.

Argyll and Bute’s local community education team are based there, offering computer and confidence classes as well as other activities. Councillors hold their surgeries there. There is a business hub in the pipeline, and Funfest, a toddler group, meets on a Monday morning.

So the library as a community hub is something to celebrate and I would recommend anyone who has not visited for a while to go down, join up and check it out.

Finally it will be a great honour for me to lay the wreath as the representative of Argyll and Bute Council at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday this year, as my great uncle, Kenneth Campbell, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in 1941 during the Second World War. Also my great grandfather, after whom I am named, fought at the Battle of Jutland 1916 and was a captain in the Royal Navy.