TODAY'S flashback focuses on 2010 - when detailed designs for the £47m Port Glasgow shared campus were unveiled for the first time. The schools project was the biggest capital investment Inverclyde Council had ever undertaken.

Education bosses said they expected it to be completed within three years.

Also making headlines was Pope Benedict XVI, who was in Scotland for the first Papal visit to Britain in 28 years.

Hundreds of worshippers from schools and parishes across Inverclyde made their way to Glasgow and Edinburgh for the historic event.

Crowds of more than 100,000 were expected to welcome the Pope as he arrived in the capital for a reception with the Queen before taking open-air mass in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park

Among those making the pilgrimage from Inverclyde was religious education teacher John Paul McGovern, from Notre Dame High School.

John Paul was with seven pupils, selected from all three of the area’s Catholic secondary schools, to help out during the papal mass.

In other news, a letter written by Greenock-born Antarctic explorer Henry 'Birdie' Bowers was set to fetch up to £1,500 at auction.

The message was penned by Bowers to his sister May when he was 23 and serving with the Royal Indian Marine Service in Rangoon, Burma — five years before his death on the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition.

In the 12-page letter, dated 8 October 1907, he mentioned dining with a lady friend, named only as Mrs Vine, adding: "She is the type I have always been keen on - not too tall - very fair and light."

A marathon man told how he ran 10 miles with an injured leg to raise thousands of pounds for Ardgowan Hospice.

David Cushnaghan wept tears of agony after injuring himself 16 miles into the 26-mile challenge.

But he refused to give up because he had vowed to raise as much money as possible for the worthwhile local charity.

He said at the time: "I injured a tendon and I was in agony.

"Tears were running down my face, but the crowds and the other runners kept me going - as well as the determination to earn the sponsorship for the hospice."

In Morton news, injured winger Carlo Monti aimed to prove the club’s medical staff wrong and get back in action.

The midfielder had suffered damage to his ankle ligaments and a tendon after catching his studs in the turf during a bounce match with Celtic.

It had initially been feared Monti could be sidelined for at least two months.

But the defiant youngster told the Tele he was setting his sights on an early comeback against Dundee.