THE generosity of Barrhead residents ensured a book charting the town’s history made it to the shelves back in 2008.

At the official launch of ‘Barrhead: A History in Pictures,’ the book’s author Alice Grieve paid tribute to the town after a staggering £5,000 was raised in just four weeks to ensure its publication.

In turn, Barrhead Community Council, which provided the core funding, and local councillor Douglas Yates thanked Alice for what was described as a nine-month ‘labour of love’ to produce the impressive 148-page book.

At the launch event in Barrhead Community Library, Vincent Waters, chair of the community council, said: “This was an epic task Alice took on that involved 12 and 16-hour days. Something as simple as a picture caption alone could take an entire day just to make sure she got all the names.

“After this painstaking research, she has produced this pictorial book, although I must say that, at around 30,000 words, it would give any novel a run for its money.

“It’s a fantastic book and we would like to thank Alice for giving us something the town can really be proud of.”

Councillor Yates, who as a former chair of the community council initially kicked off the project, was also full of praise for Alice at the time.

He said: “It was the case that visitors to the town were not able to get any local history books on Barrhead.

“To have a new pictorial book charting the history is something else – and Alice was the best person to put it together.”