FROM submarines to stand-up comedy, and from winning competitions at a Helensburgh gym to lining up for your country at the Paralympics - all these stories and more featured in the Advertiser 15 years ago this week.
Among our favourites from the last week of August 2008 was the tale of the local well-wishes going out to a young wheelchair tennis star by the name of Gordon Reid, who was preparing to represent Team GB at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. Whatever happened to Gordon....?
Here's our pick of the pictures that appeared in the paper on August 28, 2008 - which stories and which faces ring a bell with you?
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Gardeners turned out in their droves for the annual RNLI flower show in the burgh hall and church hall in Cove.
Entries were as impressive as ever and participants and onlookers enjoyed the burgh hall’s selection of flowers, baking, wine, vegetables and children’s section, while the church hall boasted a tearoom, tombola, plants and RNLI stall - raising more than £1,300 for the lifeboat charity.
Pictured above are Penny Elles, Jean Gaughan, Anne Burgess, Liz Mathie, RNLI area organiser Tamsin Ferrier, Seonaid Baker, Alison Morrison, and Belinda Hamilton.
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Helensburgh bodybuilding champion Charlie McKee teamed up with colleague Rachel Temple to win the couples physique event at the Heart of England Championships - and a place in the British finals.
The pair used the music from the James Bond theme Diamonds Are Forever to show off their physiques in front of the judges.
Meanwhile, Charlie, fitness co-ordinator at Helensburgh Swimming Pool, was also running a charity fitness challenge in the gym at the centre to raise funds for the Robin House children's hospice in Balloch, with Christine McCallum and Ed Nelson chosen as the first monthly winners.
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A little bit of lucky white heather from a Helensburgh garden was about to set off for China - in the pocket of the town's own Paralympic hope Gordon Reid.
Gordon, of course, has gone on to become known across the country and around the world after winning 22 Grand Slam doubles titles and four Paralympic medals in a stellar wheelchair tennis career - but all that was a long way into the distance for the then 16-year-old Hermitage Academy pupil back in 2008.
He set off for the Games in Beijing with the good wishes of Helensburgh ringing in his ears - and clutching that small sprig of white heather, from the Burgh garden of Argyll and Bute's Provost, Billy Petrie.
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Flotsam and jetsam of every kind, from driftwood, shells and bottles to buoys, fragments of pottery, lifebelts and lanterns, went on show at Cove Burgh Hall to publicise renovation work at the venue.
The beachcombers' convention was organised as a way of thanking the Friends of the Burgh Hall, who raised the money needed to pay for the work.
The special guest, who declared the exhibition open, was Sir James Cayzer, whose great-grandfather, founder of the Clan Line shipping company, was a driving force behind the construction of the hall in 1893.
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THE staff and residents of Morar Lodge Nursing Home think their home is one of the best in the west, so when it came to celebrating the home’s 21st birthday, a country and western theme seemed appropriate.
The fete attracted a lot of visitors, many of whom chose to dress in cowboy style for the occasion, and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
A special bouquet was presented to Helena Dormer in recognition of the work she put into creating Morar Lodge.
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A former submariner was making waves in Edinburgh with his own stand-up comedy show at the Frings.
Former Radio Electrical Mechanic (REM) Glenn Barrack served aboard Valiant class submarines throughout the 1980s and 1990s and on Churchill-class boat HMS Courageous during the Falklands conflict, as well as spending time with the Third Submarine Squadron at Faslane and ashore at HMS Neptune.
Glenn, who preferred to go by his comedy alter-ego's name, Eric, took his show, Eric's Tales of the Sea, to the world's biggest arts festival and said: "It's thanks to places like Helensburgh that I've so many funny stories in my act."
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