THIS week’s look into the Greenock Telegraph archives takes us back 11 years – when mobile phone giant Everything Everywhere was set to create 42 new jobs in Greenock and invest £1.7 million in the local T-Mobile site.
The Tele revealed that 30 new workers had already been given job offers and another 12 were to be appointed by the end of September.
The recruitment drive was launched in anticipation of Ofcom announcing that airwaves could be used for 4G mobile services.
LAST WEEK'S FLASHBACK: Drama as grandmother stepped up to deliver grandson
Bosses at the Greenock contact centre were delighted and welcomed the jobs boost.
Meanwhile, the late Rangers and Scotland legend Andy Goram was coming out of retirement to help a Greenock select side — but he wasn’t going to be pulling on his football boots.
Instead, the man known simply as The Goalie was going to be stepping on to the cricket pitch for a star-studded match to mark the 150th anniversary of Greenock Cricket Club.
The keen player had been named in a Cricket Scotland President’s XI to face the Glenparkers to help mark the milestone anniversary.
Former Rangers and Scotland goalkeeper Goram was a Scottish international cricketer himself and gained his cricketing caps between 1989 and 1991.
Elsewhere, more demolition work was set to be carried out at Inverkip Power Station.
Scottish Power had confirmed it was to pull down two further ‘air heater’ structures from within the station using a controlled explosion.
The news followed on from a similar small-scale demolition in July.
The structures, made of steel, were 30 metres in height and located on the seaward side of the main boiler house.
In other news, daredevil fundraisers were helping to collect £6,000 by taking to the skies and jumping out of a plane to help a local special needs school.
A team of kind-hearted folk from across Inverclyde were taking part in a daring charity skydive being held in aid of Lilybank School in Port Glasgow.
Twelve people were involved in the ‘Lilybank leap’, with some having already completed the jump and others still to take the plunge after adverse weather caused a postponement.
The sponsored event had been inspired by Lilybank pupil and Greenock boy Declan Tracey.
Declan was unable to speak but had made tremendous progress at the school thanks to expert help and tuition.
In sport, Morton suffered a heartbreaking extra-time cup exit at the hands of Aberdeen after a gutsy performance at Cappielow.
The sides could not be separated after a goalless 90 minutes in which the heroic hosts had defended resolutely and created some excellent opportunities, and the tie was forced to go another half hour.
In the end, the SPL outfit’s superior quality and fitness eventually shone through as Gavin Rae and Scott Vernon netted to send Craig Brown’s men into the third round.
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