In his article "What does the town want to be?" Darrel Hendrie of Helensburgh Community Council poses an interesting rhetorical question. It is rhetorical since the community council is the sole repository of such information. The last time I tried to offer constructive suggestions, Nigel Miller in the chair refused to let me speak.

However it's not all bad news. Councillors Aileen Morton and Vivien Dance are strong supporters of the movement to make Helensburgh the charity shop capital of the world. I did check with the Guinness World Record people and the category is available for the taking. If we are going to do it there is no need for any false modesty. Let's make it official. It should be a slogan to be proud of.

You wouldn't take Councillors Morton or Dance as heart surgeons but that has been their recent role in life. The beating heart of the town was diagnosed to be faltering and drastic surgery was proposed.

Any surgical procedure is risky even in the hands of the most skilled surgeon. Fortunately qualifications and experience are necessary in a hospital operating theatre. The general technique is to support the patient on a life-support system while the vital heart tissue is excised and any reconstruction carried out. Some operations fail with the most qualified and experienced surgical teams. Unhappily we have rank amateurs overseeing operations on the Helensburgh seafront. No provision has been made to keep the heart tissue alive during the operation. All of the funds in CHORD have been allocated to the contractors with nothing left to support Helensburgh seafront shops during the 18 weeks of the operation. The outcome is surely predictable. With no money to support the shopkeepers the patient is likely to die on the operating table and we should be prepared for the inevitable. R.I.P. Helensburgh 1776 - 2013 John Black The Scottish Jacobite Party, Helensburgh