The Clydebank Life Stories Group were encouraged to recount their tales by a lecturer at a creative writing class at college.

That was in 1998 and since then the group have written five books, raising thousands of pounds for charity.

And with members from across Dumbarton, the Vale and Clydebank they can paint a clear picture of the region’s past.

Members Christine Walker, June Galloway, and Alasdair Galloway share their experiences of life and growing up in the Dumbarton area through their stories, whilst brothers Alastair and Charles Crozier, Colin Scott, Isa McKenzie and Liz McGlaghlan describe life in Clydebank.

Speaking to the Reporter on receipt of their fifth book, Clydeside Memories, the group shared some of their stories and told us more about the group.

Isa said: “We’ve been going for 15 years now. It came about from being at Clydebank College where we were all asked to write our own life story. The tutor said to us, ‘you all go back to the Clydebank Blitz, but haven’t been published’.

“So we went out and got stories from people in the community. We ended up with 72 stories and we compiled that into our first book, Untold Stories.” Their first book was sold for £7.95 and has shifted 5,500 copies with all profits raised going to four charities – CHAS, the MS Society, Erskine and McMillan Cancer support.

And the efforts of the group of writers is one that is cherished by the local community.

Charles now visits schools, guilds, and organisations to share their recollections.

He told us: “The last school I went to loved the stories so much they actually donated £40 to CHAS for us. I even went to Gigha to talk to children at a school there.” Copies of books were sold at last year’s Pipe Band Championships and members can regularly be seen punting their creative wares at Clydebank Shopping Centre. When the original book was printed, the group gave a free copy to every school in the area They also ensured there were ‘talking books’ were produced for libraries to help blind children and members of the community learn about their experiences.

They’ve even gone global, with copies sent to Australia, New Zealand, America, and Canada.

Isa added: “People have got in contact ever since we published the book with accounts of the Blitz, who emigrated straight away when it happened – their family just wanted to get away. Some of the stories are so horrendous, people haven’t ever told them. “There was a woman who shared her story for the first time – her husband had never even heard of this part of her life. It was so bad, she just couldn’t bring herself to talk about it.

“The aftermath of the Blitz was just horrendous, it was so hard – 589 people died in the Blitz and there were only 12 homes in Clydebank that weren’t hit. There were more than five times as many bombs dropped in Clydebank as there was in Coventry, but it was never reported.” The new book tells the story of people from Dumbarton, Helensburgh, Clydebank all the way down the West Coast to Prestwick.

Unfortunately, the group’s treasurer, Jim McNeill passed away in January and the book is dedicated to his memory.