Heroes Supplement Part 2

As each day passes, my guilt re: updating the blog and website generally grows! In this age of Twitter, Facebook and a whole raft of other social media and networking tools, I find myself being consumed with a feeling of sheer panic, induced by the number of hours that we are now expected to sit at a keyboard or touchpad to keep the waiting world updated with our thoughts, movements and what we had for tea last night. It never fails to amaze me that we now find the time to actually do anything worthy enough to actually ‘tweet’ about it. Still I promise that I will try harder in the future......even if it means getting up at 4.00am.
Reason for this post is simply to state that the Helensburgh Advertiser is set to produce another Helensburgh Heroes Supplement, which will be included free with the edition that is published on Thursday 29th October. Not world shattering news granted, but pretty positive all the same. In these days of dwindling circulations and falling advertising revenues, it is a pretty bold move for a paper (any paper – never mind a local one) to commit to the extra production costs that a 16 page supplement incurs. But it would appear that the gamble has paid off for the Advertiser.

The last supplement apparently generated plenty of positive feedback and ensured that the paper was a sell out for that week. Naturally we are as delighted as the Editor, but for different reasons.

The more cynical amongst you would probably argue that we just wanted a whole heap of ‘free publicity’ for our cause, and whilst we accept that there is no such thing as bad publicity (unless you’re an MP submitting your expenses of course), this is not the reason we were delighted with the outcome.

We were simply pleased that we had the chance to introduce some of our ‘Heroes’ and their stories to the wider community. I gather, from feedback received, that many people were genuinely surprised at the sheer breadth of the Heroes that were featured in the last supplement.

I think most people would have expected John Logie Baird to have featured, but not many people would have known about our 22 year old Triathlete or that the founders of the Glasgow Botanic Gardens (and Fathers of Kew) resided in the Town. But the most satisfying effect of the supplement is that it has led to some people ‘getting it’! Getting it in the sense that they now understand what we mean by the term ‘Hero’ as applied to the Helensburgh Heroes. Since publication, we have received a further 10 nominations from members of the community, keen to see due recognition given to the talents and achievements of local men and women past and present.

We have always defined our ‘Hero’ as someone who has excelled or inspired in a chosen field and has a story to tell. It is our job to act as the storytellers. Ultimately we want to be able to do this through in a permanent arts/culture/facility but until that day we will continue to do on line and in print.

So please watch out for the next supplement – it will contain the stories of a further 26 Helensburgh Heroes.....and the great thing about the Helensburgh & Lomond Area is that we could still produce several more after this one!!!!