Memories of a much loved lifeboat man of Largs

The ‘Wee Paper’ was recently discovered under the carpet of an old flat in West Bay in Millport which was being upgraded by Fiona Armour.

On the front page was a wedding photograph of a young Largs couple, Henry Crawford and Ellenor Blair, and thanks to the social media, an appeal was put out seeking more information.

The couple have sadly passed away, but daughter Audrey Osugo was soon in touch about obtaining the rare edition.

Largs woman Jacqueline Hitter initially shared the photo on Facebook, on Fiona’s behalf, to see if the family would like to have the paper for their own family album.

Audrey arranged to pick up the paper from Fiona at the Vikingar! car park last Wednesday morning.

Audrey said: “A woman called Jacqueline Hitter had put the photo of the front page on the ‘Largs People’ Facebook page asking if anyone knew who it was.

“I responded that it was my mum and dad. Fiona Armour had discovered the old edition after ripping up old carpets in a house in West Bay, Millport.

“I met Fiona and was surprised that the paper was in pretty good ‘nick’, given it had been underneath a carpet since 1966!” The reason Jacqueline shared the photo on Facebook was because she recognised Ellenor from a family photo of her own mum and Ellenor when they were bridesmaids at another wedding.

The other surprise co-incidence was that Fiona, who grew up in Millport, remembered Henry when he worked on the boats for Cal-Mac.

Audrey said she was delighted to get the copy, and said: “I was aware that my mum and dad had their wedding photo on the front page in 1966, but I had never actually seen it. The article underneath on the front page was about the seagull menance, and introducing new litter bins to cope with the problem, and police objections to dancing times.” Henry was one of the few members to receive a 40 year old service gold medal with the RNLI, along with good friend David Hewitt who is still an active member on the lifeboat.

Henry’s seafaring passion was very evident even in ‘66, as he was in the Merchant Navy. Audrey laughed: “He was away for nine months, and back for three months, and it was during one of those occasions that my mum said to him - ‘We are getting married in two weeks’ time!” And without much further ado, the wedding took place at the Clark Memorial Church on the same day as Henry’s birthday. Audrey said: “He always said he got married on his birthday, so he wouldn’t forget the date!” Ellenor was working as a secretary at Watters’ Garage, and Henry went on to work for IBM and Jimmy Wham for a while, before being an ever present at Cal-Mac for many years.

Audrey, and sister Lesley, were both delighted to receive the copy of the 1966 paper, and it was also fascinating for Jorja, Henry’s grand-daughter, to see.