Details of Helensburgh’s plans to mark 100 years since John Logie Baird's pioneering first TV transmission have been revealed.

 

The inventor, who was born and raised in the town, transmitted the first television pictures in a laboratory on October 2, 1925 - and gave his first public demonstration of television images in London in January of the following year.

The John Logie Baird Television Centenary Trust is planning to hold an exhibition in Helensburgh, curated by the inventor’s grandson.

An audio-visual display and a school programme will all be part of their activities lined up to celebrate one of the most important modern inventions.

While there is some debate about whether the centenary should be marked in 2025 or 2026, the trust is aiming to celebrate in 2025.

Trustee Stewart Noble said: “Argyll and Bute Council are giving us the use of Hermitage Primary School throughout the summer holidays, and it’s really got a very good layout for holding an exhibition.

“The Scottish Submarine Centre is going to be involved in putting on an audio-visual display and Sarah Davies from Helensburgh Community Council is busy drawing up a school programme, so there’s a lot of things on the go.

“Iain Baird – who is John Logie Baird’s grandson and is a trustee of the centenary trust – is also a former museum curator and so he is busy designing what form the exhibition will take.”

Before the plans truly get under way, the trust is urging anyone interested in volunteering to get in touch.

People are needed to help with scheduling, programming, marketing, creating a website, and especially fund raising.

Stewart added: “Iain is working hard getting the exhibition together, but as time gets closer, we’re going to need people to do some of the legwork for it.

“There’s going to be schedules and programmes and marketing and so on and so forth – we’re going to have to get a website designed at some stage as well.

“We also need someone to help us with fund-raising in particular.”

The trust is also on the search for a new chair to lead the group, as their current chairman, Henry Boswell, is having to step down from his role due to work commitments.

Those who are interested in volunteering at the centenary celebrations should contact trustee Norman Muir, convener of Helensburgh Community Council, on convener@helensburghcc.org.

Baird was born at the family's home on the town's West Argyle Street on August 13, 1888.

According to the Helensburgh Heritage Trust website, Baird conducted many of his early experiments in communication at the house, including rigging a telephone line to the home of his school friend Jack Buchanan — later to become a famous entertainer and a financial backer of Baird — along the road at Garthland.

The Trust’s website also says John Baird senior continued to live at The Lodge in his retirement, and died there in September 1932.

But the Baird family’s link with the building was far from severed. In 1948, Baird's widow and children Malcolm and Diana were invited by his sister, Annie, to move back into the property - and though they left in around 1960, it remained Annie’s home until her death in 1971.

Baird lived for most of his adult life in the south of England, and died in Bexhill-on-Sea on June 14, 1946.

He is buried beside his parents in Helensburgh Cemetery.