THIS week’s look back at the Telegraph archives takes us back 12 years, when it looked like an Olympic hero from Kilmacolm would be denied the chance to play a role in the torch procession ahead of the 2012 games.
Hamish Hardie, 83, took part in the Olympic yachting competition in London in 1948.
Despite being one of the county’s oldest surviving Olympians, his request to take part in the procession through Kilmacolm was denied by the London 2012 organising committee.
Hamish said: “I never thought I would see the Olympic torch going through my village.
“I would have liked to have taken part, but they said it was too late to organise it.”
Inverclyde Council stepped in after the issue was highlighted in the Telegraph, with games chiefs pledging to find a role for Hamish.
He later got the chance to hold the Olympic torch when it arrived onboard the tall ship Glenlee – a vessel which he played a key role in restoring and returning to the Clyde.
Hamish passed away peacefully in Edinburgh aged 93 on December 1 last year.
Elsewhere, Inverclyde residents donated unwanted bras in a bid to raise money for Ardgowan Hospice.
The items handed in at Oak Mall would all be used to either boost funds for the charity or be given a new lease of life.
Those which were still in a good condition were donated to poverty-stricken women in Africa.
The rest were bagged up and sold to a recycling company to raise money for the hospice.
The Big Bra Challenge was launched by marketing manager Lynsey Anderson, who hoped to collect enough bras to stretch from one end of the centre to the other.
She said: “I thought it would be a good way to get the community helping in a way that doesn’t cost people.”
In other news, pupils at a number of Inverclyde schools took part in sporty challenges to in aid of Sport Relief.
St Joseph’s Primary held an event in which youngsters were divided into five groups, with each being assigned the colour of an Olympic ring.
The pupils ran laps around the school and tallied the number completed on a special chart.
At Inverclyde Academy, students challenged teachers to a game of football.
Newark Primary in Port Glasgow tied their fundraising in with celebrations for the upcoming Olympic Games, as well as holding a ‘come as you please day’ in exchange for a 50p donation.
Pupils at St Patrick’s Primary in Greenock got creative with a ‘crazy hat day’ and took part in a sports circuit around the school.
In sport, Morton winger David O’Brien expressed his relief after it was confirmed a hamstring problem which forced him off during a goalless draw with Ayr United was not as serious as first thought.
O’Brien pulled up just 31 minutes into the clash at Somerset Park after aggravating an injury which had first flared up in an earlier clash with Ross County.
Reflecting on the match, he said: “It was a dogged game and we knew it was going to be that way as Ayr are down there scrapping away and they had taken a lot of good points off teams above them in the league.
“But looking at the way the game was played I think a draw was a fair result. We didn’t deserve to lose the game and we can be happy with two clean sheets in a row.”
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