CARGO FOR ARDROSSAN
Cargo For Ardrossan, a new Scottish film, has its first public performance at the Cosmo, Glasgow, this week.  Directed by Ruby Grierson, John Grierson’s youngest sister, the film discusses the relationship between two highly contrasting yet economically inseparable communities – industrial Glasgow and the island of Islay.  Its success suggests that film ability is not confined to one member of this talented Scottish family.
          The Scotsman, 6 February 1940 

NEW ARDROSSAN HEADMASTER
Mr George Gibson, Fenwick, was appointed headmaster of Eglinton-Winton Public School, Ardrossan, at a meeting of Ayrshire Education Committee at Ayr yesterday.  Mr Gibson is a graduate of Glasgow University.
          The Scotsman, 14 February 1940 

BANK AGENT’S DEATH
The death occurred yesterday of Mr Duncan L McLennan, Justice of the Peace, agent of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Ardrossan.  Mr McLennan, who was a native of Fife, was previously accountant in the Ardrossan branch and had been agent for the past fourteen years.  He was a former treasurer of Ardrossan Barony Church (shown below on 2015) and was secretary of Ardrossan Castle Curling Club.

          The Scotsman, 14 February 1940 

SINKING OF HMS DARING - ARDROSSAN MAN MISSING
Mr and Mrs William Norris, 18 Montgomerie Street, Ardrossan, have received word from the Admiralty that their eldest son, able seaman William Norris, who was a member of the crew of HMS Daring, the destroyer which was torpedoed and sunk, was ‘missing, believed drowned’.  Norris was twenty years of age and had been four years in the Navy.
          The Scotsman, 21 February 1940 

ARDROSSAN BANK APPOINTMENT
The Royal Bank of Scotland intimates that Mr William Hyndman, accountant at its West End, Greenock branch, has been appointed agent at the Ardrossan branch in succession to the late Mr Duncan L McLennan.
          The Scotsman, 24 February 1940 

WOMAN’S FALL ON PAVEMENT – CLAIM AGAINST BURGH OF ARDROSSAN
Lord Keith was informed of the settlement of an action by an Ardrossan woman against the Burgh of Ardrossan.  The pursuer claimed £500 as damages for injuries she sustained on 11 October 1938 when her foot caught on a part of the public foot-pavement of Princes Place, Ardrossan, which was broken and formed a projection above the normal level of the pavement.  Her left knee was seriously injured by her fall and her hands and wrists were bruised and strained.  The defenders admitted on record that one of the flagstones was cracked and that a portion of it projected about three-quarters of an inch above the normal level of the pavement but they maintained that the pavement was in a reasonably safe condition.  The action has been settled by payment of £150 by the defenders to the pursuer.  The counsel for the pursuer was Mr G R Thomson, King’s Counsel and Mr A M Prain.  The solicitors were Pairman, Miller and Murray, SSC, Edinburgh and Joseph Kirkland and Son, Saltcoats.  The counsel for the defenders was The Dean of Faculty, King’s Counsel and Mr T B Simpson.  The solicitors were Allan, Dawson, Simpson and Hampton, WS.
          The Scotsman, 28 February 1940 

ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER FOR SIXTY-FIVE YEARS
Mr J W Blythe (shown below) who has died at Ardrossan at the age of eighty-four, held the remarkable record of having served as church organist and choirmaster for sixty-five years.  For forty years, he occupied that post at Saint John’s Church, Ardrossan, retiring last year and he was previously in similar posts in his native Kirkstall near Leeds, Hartlepool and Ayr.  He was also for twenty-one years music master in Ardrossan Academy.

          The Scotsman, 28 February 1940 

DONATION TO ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has received through the Customs House (shown below in 2007) at Ardrossan, a gift of two shillings from a seaman whose life was saved by a lifeboat in 1910 and who, every time he is paid off, likes to give a little to its funds.

          The Scotsman, 9 March 1940

IDENTITY DISC FRAUD
On pleading guilty at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court yesterday to charges of having defrauded nineteen persons in Saltcoats and Ardrossan of sums amounting to £1 19s 6d and attempting to defraud three persons in Ardrossan of sums amounting to 6s 6d, a Largs woman was sentenced to twenty-one days imprisonment.  The Fiscal said she pretended that she had been authorised to sell identity discs on behalf of the Government and that possession of such a disc was now compulsory and had taken the place of identity cards.
          The Scotsman, 18 June 1940 

LOST BET BENEFITS ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has reeived from Ardrossan, £1 from an able seaman, ‘the result of a lost bet’.  The sailor gave the money and the Customs and Excise office chose the charity to which it should go.
          The Scotsman, 21 September 1940 

MOTOR CYCLE CRASH – YOUTH AND GIRL KILLED AT ARDROSSAN
While proceeding on a motor cycle from Stevenston towards West Kilbride early on Saturday morning (26 October 1940), William Smith (17), motor driver, 32 Caledonian Road, Stevenston, and Helen Bryant (18), factory worker, 41 Ritchie Street, West Kilbride, were instantaneously killed when the cycle was involved in an accident at Ardrossan.  They had been present at a dance in Stevenston and, as the girl missed the last train to West Kilbride, Smith had arranged to take her home on the cycle.
          The Scotsman, 28 October 1940 

SALTCOATS FATALITY
Elizabeth Potts (21), a clerkess who resided at Young Street, Ardrossan, was knocked down and fatally injured by a bus in Ardrossan Road, Saltcoats on Saturday night (16 November 1940).
          The Scotsman, 18 November 1940 

DEATH - ADAMSON
At a nursing home, Edinburgh, on 29 November 1940, the Reverend R M Adamson (shown below), D D, senior minister of Saint John’s, Ardrossan.  Funeral to Grange Cemetery on Monday 2 December.  Friends desirous to aattend, please meet cortege at cemetery gate at 2.30pm.
          The Scotsman, 30 November 1940

DEATH OF THE REVEREND DR R M ADAMSON, SENIOR MINISTER OF SAINT JOHN’S ARDROSSAN
The death occurred yesterday at a nursing home in Edinburgh of the Reverend R M Adamson (shown above), M A, D D, Hon C F, senior minister of Saint John’s, Ardrossan.  Born in 1866 at Cupar, he was the son of the late Alexander Adamson and was educated at Cupar, the Royal High School, Edinburgh and Edinburgh University and, after graduation in New College, continued his studies at Leipzig and Jena Universities.  From the time of his ordination as minister of Saint John’s, Ardrossan, he exercised a growing influence in the West of Scotland and was a prominent figure in the church life of Ayrshire.  A cultured and impressive preacher, be brought the force of an attractive personality to bear upon the interests of education , was active by pen and voice in promoting the cause of church reunion, was president of the Church Worship Association in the United Free Church and had rendered long service to the Territorial Forces as chaplain.  His capacity as a scholar and a thinker had been shown by contributions to sacred learning, notable in New Testament subjects and in particular by a valuable work, The Christian Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper.  Dr Adamson received the D D degree at Edinburgh University in 1931.  He was an occasional contributor to the correspondence columns of The Scotsman.
          The Scotsman, 30 November 1940