Tele archives: Work started on £20m ferries at Ferguson's

A special ceremony took place to mark the beginning of a new project which would build the world’s first seagoing roll-on, roll-off vehicle and passenger diesel and electric hybrid ferries.

Management at the yard hoped the Scottish Government order would enable them to take on 100 workers in total, with 25 new staff already recruited and eight apprentices set to be hired by summer.

Meanwhile, a band made up of four local lads was gearing up to headline a gig at a top Glasgow venue — despite forming only four months prior.

Knock On Effect, who started out in October 2011, were set to play a date at Glasgow’s O2 Academy, marking a major milestone in the band’s fledgling career.

The popular venue was set to host the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs, X Factor winner Matt Cardle  and Professor Green in the coming months.

But the Inverclyde rockers were first up as the headline act at the 2,500 capacity arena.

Elsewhere, residents in Greenock were left without power for seven hours — after an engineer sent to fix a fault was harassed by a group of youths and forced to retreat.

A total of 35 homes in the Nelson Street area were plunged into darkness following the sudden power failure.

After the problem was reported to Scottish Power, a small fault was identified at the sub-station at nearby Caddlehill.

An engineer was sent to the site but a group of youngsters who, were hanging about at the station, hampered him, prevented the repair from being carried out.

In other news, Inverclyde woke up with a bang on a sleepy Saturday morning as the Music Festival came to life.

The sound of the samba, St Stephen’s High-style, invaded the town hall with some South American flavour lifting the mood and warming everyone up on a cold morning.

And out on the streets the young pipers were filling the air with the sounds of Scotland, as two cultures combined to showcase the very best from our schools in Inverclyde.

Directing the samba from on stage was fifth-year pupil Jordan Harvey, who swapped the football pitch for the stage as he led his merry band.

Judges praised Jordan’s leadership as he skilfully moved his band through the music with panache, directing the likes of first year pupils Courtney McGowan and Lewis Mchaffie, who were both making their debut at the festival.

In sport, Warren Hawke believed he had laid the foundations for his proposed elite Greenock Morton youth academy by agreeing a link-up with a renowned local youth football organisation.

First Touch, which was founded in 2003 by local coaches John McClurg, Des McCole and Billy Clark, delivered skills-based coaching to develop budding footballers from age six through to age 12.

Graduates of their system had gone on to sign for the likes of Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Celtic and Rangers.