Tele 2008 archives: Fuel prices soared as rationing began

One station hiked prices to a whopping £1.23.9 a litre — and some slapped a £15 limit on customers.

More and more pumps began to close as the crisis deepened — and the situation looked set to worsen after it was announced that talks between unions and management at the crucial Grangemouth oil refinery had broken down.

Meanwhile, storytelling parents and children in Inverclyde had chosen Baa Baa Black Sheep as their favourite nursery rhyme.

The traditional ditty came out top in a survey conducted by Bookstart in Scotland and Inverclyde libraries.

It fought off competition from modern rhymes, including Five Little Monkeys and a Hedgehog Is Very Prickly.

Miss Polly had a Dolly was second and Humpty Dumpty took third place.

The fun poll was carried out to raise awareness of Bookstart Rhymetimes, which ran at Port Glasgow and South West libraries.

Elsewhere, a fun fitness fundraiser aiming to collect cash for schoolkids in Inverclyde was on the horizon.

The Tele had teamed up with Inverclyde Leisure to organise a fantastic day of fitness at Greenock Sports Centre.

Inverclyde Working Out for Special Kids 2008 was set to raise funds for Lilybank, Hillend, Glenburn, Garvel and St Laurence’s Language Base.

Glenburn head teacher Eileen McGeer said at the time: “It is just fantastic what everyone is doing for us and we are absolutely delighted to benefit.”

Money raised for the school through the aerobathon was used to help send pupils on residential and summer day trips.

In other news, a project which equipped special learning needs students with new information technology skills had been thrown a lifeline.

The group, which was based in Greenock’s Central Library, had been successfully teaching people with visual impairments, mobility problems and learning disabilities how to get to grips with computers.

As the ABC Group students completed their courses, they also celebrated news that funding has been secured so the project, which uses hi-tech adapted PCs, could continue for a further year.

In sport, Chris Millar looked back on five years at Morton ahead of a move to St Johnstone.

Millar, then 25, had helped the team secure the Third Division Championship in his first season and had been part of three agonising title challenges as the club narrowly missed out year after year before finally winning promotion in 2007.

He said at the time: “It’s been five long years, but I’ve enjoyed every minute.

“Winning promotion to the First [Division] was definitely the best experience, along with the honour of receiving player of the year awards on a personal level.

“The year before, it had felt like everything was against us, with the Gretna factor, and the new play-off system.

“But we just kept going and it was an amazing feeling when we went up.”