THE pictures from The Herald archive can be used to inform people about the past, educate them about great moments in history, or simply reflect the fashions of the day. Occasionally, like today, we can also use them to bring a flush of either mild embarrassment or pride to readers’ cheeks.

These are Cub Scouts from the 29th Glasgow (1st Newlands) Troop dressed as Bluebell Girls, the famous long-legged Paris dancers, while taking part in the Glasgow Gang Show in 1986. That would put them in their early forties now. I will be looking out for them next time I’m strolling through Newlands.

Some appear to be embracing the cross-dressing with enthusiasm. Others look as though they are already plotting painful retribution on those who talked them into taking part.

The Glasgow Gang Show was one of the longest-running Gang Shows, held annually at theatres such as the King’s, from 1936 until just a few years ago. Boys, and some girls, would simply turn up for auditions and dedicated hard-working volunteers would train them into a fund-raising show of singing, dancing and comedy sketches.

Altogether now: “We’re riding along on the crest of a wave ...”