Writing our Facebook feature on Woolworths this week, it never fails to amaze me the power of nostalgia.

In the newspaper industry in which I live, breathe, and sleep, (yes, I dream about it too!), it is important to be up to the minute as possible, but it pleases me that we can still take time to delve into the past, and recall happy memories of a time gone by.

There is a powerful scene in the American television drama ‘Mad Men’, about a group of advertising executives who work in New York in the 1960s, and they are selling a pitch for a new Kodak slides projector - the Carousel - where the lead character Don Draper movingly showcases his family life via a colour slide projector. Cutting edge technology for its time, of course!

The words, written by one of the best tv writers of a generation, Matt Weiner, were equally moving, as Don guides the clients through his own personal collection on the projector screen.

Don said: “In Greek, nostalgia means the pain from an old wound. It is a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it is a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards, takes us to a place where we ache to go back again. It is not called the wheel, it is called a carousel. It lets us travel the way a child would do - round and round, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.” And in essence, that is very much what we see and feel when we look back at these old pictures from our own archive, be it The Moorings in ‘Know Your News’ or the wonder of Woolworths.

I remember ‘Guns N’ Roses’ belting out ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ in the chart, as I would venture in, and flick through the LP racks, which later regenerated into CD racks (no Tardis necessary).

I even remember a happy Largs Academy bus of pupils singing ‘Heaven in a Place on Earth’ by Belinda Carlisle after we all returned from a visit to the Kelvinhall Art Gallery in Glasgow in 1987. Heavenly times, indeed!

And I remember another ‘Woolies’ moment when the new Star Wars trailer came out for ‘The Force Awakens’.

For many of a generation, Star Wars was the be all and end all for science fiction films, and changed the landscape for movies, and while three prequels came out in the early noughties (2000s), there is palpable excitement about the original cast returning.

It always reminds me of scouring the toys stores of Largs from ‘Over the Moon’ to ‘Dunlop and Blyth’ in West Kilbride for the best toy figures and spaceships.

My prized figure was purchased in Woolworths - it was the extremely rare Luke Skywalker figure, dressed in disguise in a stormtrooper’s outfit from the original movie!

I was once offered £160 for it by a Star Wars fanatic, however, it takes one to know one, and I never parted with it! I remember going to the Regal Cinema in Saltcoats on the opening night of the third move in the trilogy, ‘Return of the Jedi’ in 1983, and being enthralled. As a 7 year old, I even ran a mile from Darth Vader when he visited Scotch Corner in Ayr!

The new trailer was spinetingling stuff including the famous Millennium Falcon on another dramatic flight-path, avoiding laser gun fire, as it shoots away through a stunning battle scene.

And in the last few seconds, at last, we see Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Chewbacca for just a couple of seconds, for the first time since 1983, as Han says: “Chewie, we’re home!” It might only have lasted for a blink of an eye, but the youtube clip sent the internet into a frenzy of excitement, and even moved some Star Wars fans to tears, which goes to show the emotional ties that bind us with nostalgia, bringing back a period in our lives when all our family was alive, and happy.

Memories of film, tv, and even a photo of a Woolworths store can be powerful in the extreme, but the reason people keep coming back to Largs and Millport is that they offer great memories of the past, but with investment, and new festivals such as the Food Fest, and a revamped Country and Western Festival on its way, it is also about creating happy memories for the future too. Yee-hah!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngElkyQ6Rhs