THIS week’s walk down memory lane takes us back 16 years – when it was revealed that major changes could be made to Inverclyde’s controversial school plans — including building an extra secondary school.
The Telegraph understood that previous plans to merge Notre Dame and St Columba’s on the Notre Dame site were to be shelved.
Instead, the council was believed to want Notre Dame to have a new school on its Dunlop Street site and to move St Columba’s into a new building elsewhere in Gourock.
They were also determined to ditch the contentious plan to send east end Greenock children to secondaries in Port Glasgow.
Elsewhere, a well-known Greenock postmistress was shutting up shop for the last time, leaving regulars with a trek to the nearest post office.
Delia McIntosh, who ran Cumberland Road Post Office in Larkfield, was retiring after 30 years meaning her customers faced a bus ride to an alternative branch.
The bubbly grandmother had served generations of families for nearly 30 years.
Meanwhile, an Inverclyde schools’ hockey tournament was a stick-on success — after pupils picked up some top tips.
The Inverclyde Active Schools and sports development team had been providing coaching for pupils right across the area and their charges put all their hard work into practice at a two-day festival.
St Stephen’s High’s Astroturf pitch was the venue for the competition, which included teams from Highholm, St Michael’s, Slaemuir, St John’s, Kilmacolm, St Francis, St Laurence’s, St Joseph’s, Ardgowan, Moorfoot, St Gabriel’s and Sacred Heart primaries.
In other news, boy racers faced getting their cars seized in Inverclyde’s speeding hotspots.
New powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act meant that nuisance drivers would be left without wheels.
Chief Inspector Jim Igoe, of Greenock’s road policing department, said at the time: “It’s basically two strikes and you’re out.
“If we have reason to believe motorists have committed careless driving or its been captured on CCTV, they will be issued with a written warning which is live for 12 months and recorded on our computer system.
“If they do it again, the car is taken off them.”
The crackdown was targeting Greenock’s Esplanade, East Hamilton Street, Eldon Street and the A78.
In sport, Jim McInally had revealed his interest in St Mirren stopper Craig Hinchcliffe.
The Morton manager had to add a goalkeeper to his summer shopping list when the previous season’s No.1 Paul Mathers decided not to renew his contract — and McInally thought 35-year-old Hinchcliffe could be his man.
McInally said: “He’s a good, experienced keeper and someone I rate.
“We’ve been in touch with his agent and we know he has other options.”
“I know Partick have been speaking to him, but he said he won’t be rushed into a decision.”
In the end McInally didn’t get his man, with Hinchliffe going to Patrick Thistle where he made 13 appearances.
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