ARTIST and long-time Tele cartoonist Tom Johnstone is a master of capturing Inverclyde's social history of dance halls and picture houses which have sadly long gone.
He has also made many our readers chuckle with his gentle local-based humour and entertained many art and community groups with his fascinating slideshows.
But his road to become an artist was not easy.
Tom was brought up in the middle of Greenock in the 1940s and 50s, a time when art school was out of reach for working class families.
Tom was born in Ann Street in 1935, then spent time at his granny's house and was rehoused in Trafalgar Street. For school he went to St Mary's East Shaw Street and St Mary's in Patrick Street.
He recalls 'always drawing' when he was a boy.
Tom, 85, said: I used to live with my granny and draw on the closes. I was always getting into trouble, I used to use chalk on the painted bit and pencil on the white part of the close."
He was bright and passed his eleven-plus and went onto St Columba's in Peat Road in Greenock.
Tom, who now lives in Gourock's Shore Street, said: "That was a great school, and I started to take more of an interest in art. The staff ran a newspaper and I used to do the drawing for it.
"I was taught by a marvellous art teacher, Joe Kelly. He was a miner and lost a leg in a pit accident. He took a lot of interest and he was very inspiring. He taught Jimmy Watt and Margaret McMillan, who went on to Glasgow School of Art. I didn't have the money to go."
Tom and sister Margaret, who did go onto further education and later became secretary to the commander-in-chief of Naval Forces, were brought up by their mum Margaret and dad George who was a docker.
Tom left school at 15 and became a carrier with delivery firm McBryde, then became a store boy at Rankin & Blackmore Engineers. When he turned 16 he started an engineering apprenticeship.
But he also got the chance to travel the world when he joined the air force in 1956.
During those three years he was drafted out to Cyprus, Malta, Kenya and Aden in Yemen, before being demobbed in 1959.
Tom said: "I was employed as a driver, I was an escort for visiting dignitaries to RAF Akrotiri. I really enjoyed it, I got to meet different people from all over the world."
The young Greenock lad was in Cyprus during the Greek Cypriot War of Independence to end British colonial rule.
But he says it all passed him by, adding: "I was young and stupid, what did I know about politics?"
Tom relished the freedom he had during that part of his life.
He said: "I had never met anyone before who hadn't been from Greenock and the Port.
"I used to go home on leave with the friends I made, to Liverpool and London."
After returning home, he married Marion in 1959 and they had three daughters and now have three grandchildren.
He then worked for the Water Board: "That was a great job, dry stone dyking, clearing waterways and trout every day for lunch.
"It was a cheery crowd, good fun."
Tom's next job was an electrician at engineering firm Fescol in Port Glasgow.
But he was still dreaming of art school and clinched a job as a postman, finishing at 1pm so that he could attend classes at Glasgow School of Art.
He said: "I did that for a long time, but then I could afford to finish the course."
He continued to pursue his dream by taking night classes at Greenock Academy under the guidance of teacher Alec Galt.
Tom says the fact he is self-taught has left him with nagging doubts about his ability.
He said: "I was reading about art in books and missed out on the atmosphere of being with other students, doing the same thing.
"My one big ambition was to go to art school but I mostly did engineering jobs to make ends meet.
"But it's been a good life.
"I have met a lot of good people and made a good living."
Tom also enjoyed exhibitions and was a member of Greenock Art Club as well working for private commissions.
He welcomes all the opportunities young people now have through the likes of college classes and projects like RIG Arts.
He said: "Greenock was very much a class-ridden society when I was young.
"But I was made the president of Greenock Art Club, so I got there in the end."
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