THIS week's instalment in our ever-popular look into the Advertiser's photo archives stretches from student engineers to spiritualism, and from dancing in France to pram racing in Arrochar - and much more besides.
All of the photos featured in this story were first published in the Advertiser on Thursday, September 18, 2008 - though we suspect some of those whose faces appeared in the paper 15 yearss ago have aged a wee bit better than others!
Enjoy our latest trip down memory lane - and see how many faces you recognise from Helensburgh's recent history...
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Burgh teenager David Williams' vision saw the sports hall at the former Hermitage Academy retained and extended to create a state-of-the-art leisure and community centre for the town.
He suggested that the sports block be renovated, modernised and extended and that the extension, for which he produced detailed drawings, should house a new full size swimming pool, leisure pool and flume, sauna and health suite, cafe, spectators’ area and soft play area.
He said: “It seems a shame that, whilst the main school campus clearly needs to be knocked down, the sports building still has something to offer, in my opinion, with a bit of renovation. It is lying empty and could be the ideal basis for a new cost-effective leisure centre for Helensburgh."
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The girls, aged between eight and 17, went to the beautiful town of Chambly just north of Paris for the 10-day event.
Dancers from Luxembourg, Russia, Mexico and two local French groups all took part.
The girls had a great time and enjoyed making new friends and they even got a day in Paris and climbed the Eiffel Tower.
For some of the girls it was their first time on a dance trip and they are already looking forward to next year’s event.
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The event was run by Dumbarton Spiritualist Church organisers Tam and Kate Conroy to help raise funds for their church and for other spiritualist churches.
A large number of mediums and therapists from all over Scotland took part in the event at the Vicvtoria Halls, though once the day was over and the sums done it is thought that the event will have just washed its face financially.
Mrs Conroy said: "Quite a few new faces from Helensburgh came along to our service on Monday evening so, in terms of raising awareness, it was a very successful day.
“It was just the cost for hiring the hall and advertising which made it less successful financially for us.”
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The firemen joined in the annual national car wash to raise funds for the Firefighters Charity and through the day the team of on-duty and volunteer off-duty firefighters were called into action to wash around 40 cars.
David Begg, secretary and treasurer of the Firefighters’ Charity in Argyll and Bute and community safety officer, was also on hand to provide home and business fire safety advice and information,
Helensburgh's fire station raised around £2,000 for the charity in the first five years of hte national event.
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Home-made buggies were concocted to support a variety of fancy-dressed participants when the annual novelty pram race and a sponsored toddlethon took place in the village.
The event was organised by, and to raise funds for, Arrochar and Tarbet Playgroup and saw four teams of adults and six teams of youngsters take part in the race from the Arrochar Hotel's driveway to the Pit Stop Cafe.
Fifteen parents and some grandparents joined in the 'toddlethon' from Arrochar's fire station to the football pavilion approximately a kilometre away.
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Chris Blackwell, Morton Cullen, Lorne Carruthers, Alex Letham and Tom Hughes had to build model boats from basic materials and sail them in the university’s flotation tank.
The event was funded by the Smallpiece trust, an independent charity providing programmes to promote engineering careers to young people. Isabel Cullen, principal teacher of guidance at the academy, said: “They thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The course is a good example of how young people’s enterprise and team-building skills can be developed through a stimulating project such as this.”
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Kitted out in a cracking new home strip thanks to team sponsor Simon Johnston from Accidon’t, the rugby starlets were hoping to drive themselves into the senior team in the coming years.
The team of 14- and 15-year-olds - and one 13-year-old - were also preparing for a sponsored fun run to boost the coffers of the club's junior sections, with the youth section, and willing parents, getting set to do laps of the grounds at Ardencaple - to cover the equivalent distance of a run from Helensburgh to Murrayfield.
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