A FORMER Greenock Academy pupil hopes he has captured the spirit of his happy schooldays by publishing a new lifestory book.

Jo Johnson, 65, has penned Snapshots from Memory: The Autobiography of a Greenock Academy Schoolboy.

Jo was a child of the 1960s and began his formal education at Miss Francis Kindergarten on the Esplanade, before entering the primary department of the old Greenock Academy in Nelson Street, which was knocked down around 1965 to make way for the college.

Most of his school memories happened in the new building in Madeira Street which has also since been demolished.

Jo who lived in the bottom flat at 19 Bentinck Street, said: "I grew up in 1960s Greenock and spent my formative years exploring the beach at the Battery Park, playing in the Lyle Park, cycling to Loch Thom with my brother James, or fishing for mackerel off Princes Pier."

Jo’s father John taught maths at the Mount School for some years but left teaching to help his uncle as managing director of Orr's House Furnishers, which had several shops in the town.

Jo attended the Academy when it was still fee paying, with the 'modest' fee abolished when it became a comprehensive.

He experienced a minor culture shock at the age of fourteen, when his new school didn't quite measure up to his experience at the Academy.

Jo said: "I think I enjoyed my time there so much, because it was a well-run school and I had plenty of friends who I'd grown up with.

"There was also more than a bit of looking back through 'rose-tinted spectacles', because when we moved, I was sent to Ravenspark Academy in Irvine, a huge comprehensive of about 1,500 pupils compared to the 700-800 at Greenock Academy.

"This was a real shock to the system - no-one knew me, and I had to make a whole new group of friends and find my place within a new 'pecking order'. There were two rival gangs at the school, from Kilwinning and Irvine, who regularly fought with each other.

"Greenock Academy compared very favourably to all that, which is why I treasured the memory of my time there."

Jo was moved to record his cherished memories after surviving what he termed an 'unexpected medical challenge'.

In the book he describes some entertaining incidents and recalls memories of people and places in and around the town, as well as documenting his art student days and subsequent career in London, Glasgow and Dundee.

Jo's parents were closely linked with the Church of God which still meets at Cedar Hall in Ardgowan Street and his faith is a recurring theme throughout the book.

Now retired and living near Glenrothes in Fife with wife Norma, he divides his time between church, grandchildren, writing and tending his allotment and painting.

*'Snapshots from Memory' by Jo Johnson, is published by Rosebine Press and can be ordered from Amazon and other booksellers via the links on Jo’s website at jojohnson.uk