Reports on the Shropshire Star’s 40th anniversary prompted one reader to get in touch with his memories of the paper’s sponsorship of an attempt to cross the Atlantic by rubber dinghy in the 1960s.

Former council worker Ken Harris was in Falmouth to see the boat return home after an unsuccessful attempt – with it draped in a tarpaulin with the Star’s name emblazoned across it.

The dinghy, too, was named after the paper.

He said: “I came in contact with the man who was going to attempt to cross the Atlantic in an Avon Rubber dingy called, and I believe sponsored by, “The Shropshire Star”.

“Seeing the note of the Star’s 40th celebrations and having just come across this photo I thought it might be of some interest.”

Ken is the man in the suit with his back to the camera, at the Gyllyngvase beach car park in Falmouth

He said: “I think this was after the second unsuccessful attempt and when temporary garaging was granted by the local authority publicity department for whom I worked at the time. Happy Days!”

At its celebrations earlier this month, The Star handed out free bottles of champagne to the first 40 people present at a Red Arrows flypast.

A week-long series of celebrations included a special anniversary edition and four supplements looking at how the paper and the area it serves has grown over the past four decades.

It also reprinted an extract from the original first edition, and gave away 40 prizes each day for a week.

The first edition of the Shropshire Star rolled off the presses on October 5, 1964, and was the first new evening newspaper launched in the post-war years.

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