A remarkable photo of the Largs Railway Station from 1969 surfaced from New Zealand on Facebook recently.

James J Riviere posted the photo which had a promotional billboard on the platform for the Viking Cinema showcasing James Bond movie ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ in 1969, starring George Lazenby.

James said: “My family moved to Largs in 1967 from Ayr where we had a restaurant for five years on the high street called the Dorris Tearooms. In Largs 1967 we built a new French restaurant called the La Petite France which is now an Indian restaurant next to Morris’s.

“We ran it untill 1980 and then we all emigrated to Vancouver Canada and ran a restaurant in downtown Vancouver. I met a Kiwi lass from Auckland in 1986 and got married then decided in 96 to give New Zealand a try and have been here ever since and love it.

“My father who was French served in the free French Navy during WW2 on the Corvettes patrolling the Atlantic looking for Nazi U-Boats - he met my mum in Greenock at her parents house where he was billeted while his ship was getting repaired at the docks. They married and stayed in Scotland after the war finished in 1945.” The photo’s appearance on our Facebook resulted in a number of comments including Andrew Lee Hudson who said: “They probably had a more reliable train service then than ScotRail do now!” Lorraine Guyan reminsced: “As I looked at this I remembered the particular smell of the trains! To the left there was a great wee kiosk selling papers and sweets. My sister Katrina Castles and I bought our playpiece there as we walked through on our way to school in the late 70’s.” A great snowy scene from the 1970s provided by Grahame Ross of the Largs Main Street also brought back memories.

Donald White asked: “Is that the Tartan Coffee Shop behind the wagon? It used to have great scones!” Alison Grindlay remarked: “I went there a lot with my grandparents - they had awesome cream donuts!” Ian Sadler said: “Those were the good old times! They were great memories when there were no supermarkets and just friendly family run shops and cars that you had to wind up to start! My old man had an sunbeam!” Sarah Lamont added: “I remember Nisbets the tobacconist’s. I used to love going in with my mum or gran for dad or papa’s ciggies. It smelled lovely.” It also had recollections for Alison Grindlay who said: “And the Candy Box next door, my grandpa always bought iced caramels...I blame him for my sweet tooth!” Pictures of recent tidal surges in Largs and Fairlie on the Largs ‘News’ Facebook site resulted in Rob Waller commenting: “It’s interesting the way these two photos sat side-by-side on your facebook page.

“The locations look very similar but the difference is one community has a nice, proper walking and cycling path and the other doesn’t. (if you’ll ignore the fact they’re both under water) A path like the one to the Pencil would be huge asset to Fairlie. Any chance of the Government, the Council or any other agency with money making it happen?”