THIS week’s look through at the Tele archives takes us back more than two decades, when a brave businessman battled through thick smoke to rescue a 93-year-old from his burning flat in 2002.
Giovanni Gobbi saved his neighbour Malcolm Dick after hearing a smoke alarm from his garage across the road on Tarbet Street in Gourock.
He said: “I could hardly get anywhere near the door, the smoke was so dense.
“He was very dazed. I managed to pull him out of the house and took him to sit in my office for a while.
“Another 10 minutes and I think he would have been dead. I only did what anyone else would have done.”
Sub officer John MacPherson of Gourock Fire Station said the fire was caused by a fault in an electric blanket, noting that Mr Dick was ‘very lucky’.
In other news, a Wemyss Bay woman was preparing to set out on the journey of a lifetime despite suffering from a debilitating illness.
Mary Roslin, who was living with multiple sclerosis, was due to leave Oban on an eight-day voyage across the Irish Sea to Belfast, then on to Liverpool.
She would be joined by three others with the condition on a trip which had been organised by the Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of its 6,000-mile challenge throughout UK waters.
She told the Tele: “I’ve sailed around the Clyde with my ex-husband, but I’ve never sailed in open seas before and I’m not really sure what to expect.
“Before I was ill I was very into the outdoors and loved hill walking.
“It will be great to experience that freedom again and the feeling of being in the wild with the wind in my hair.”
Elsewhere, schoolchildren in Inverclyde were being urged to put their best foot forward as part of a new scheme.
Active Routes to School encouraged pupils to take more exercise by walking to school rather than being dropped off at the gates.
The project was run by Inverclyde Council and SportScotland.
Active Primary School co-ordinator Lisa Quigley said: “The scheme has gone extremely well and more children are now aware of the benefits of walking to school and how enjoyable it can be.
“We want to encourage as many children as possible to walk to school whenever this is practical.
“That is why we are teaching the children basic road safety and also showing them the safer route to their own school with preferred crossing places.”
In sport, Port Glasgow Juniors were preparing to host Greenock in the second derby of the season at Ravenscraig Stadium.
The sides had met two weeks prior at the same venue, with Port Glasgow securing a 2-1 win.
The Tele reported: “That defeat by Port Glasgow was followed two days later by the dismissal of George Glancy, Owen Archdeacon and Gordon Nesbitt.
“Three further setbacks followed with poor results against Yoker who have now beaten them home and away, and Vale of Leven.
“A win tonight for Greenock would bring much needed cheer for their supporters.”
The match went on to finish 2-2, with Greenock sub Alan Barnes nodding a last-minute equaliser past keeper Evan Conway.
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