John Barr of Maybole. Known locally as Jockey Barr .Betty widow,  linda robert nancy john and douglas, are the children,  20 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.   robina and george sister and brother.

John Barr was born 66 years ago. Many folk in Maybole think that Jockey was a Girvan man but in fact he was a Maybole man.  He was born at trees cottage up by trees farm. His father was a ploughman and so he moved around a lot. Tragedy hit Jocky at an early age when his mother passed away, he was only 6 weeks old, a real tragedy. They moved to Curragh cottages to live with Granny and Jock went to school at Girvan travelling from Curragh. As I said he was not a Girvan man as many thought.

At the tender age of 16 Jock met Betty at the town hall dancing love blossomed and they married 5 years later.  They stayed in Whitefaulds, in the High Street for a while. He called that his doocot. They stayed in Society Street, Drumellan Street,  Manse Street, Crosshill Road  and then The Loaning. As you can see he never left Maybole.  Even for his holidays he never went away.

Jocky worked as a Greenkeeper at Turnberry before moving to leases factory but most folk in Maybole remember Jock as the coop coalman.  He worked there for years,    Heavy work indeed. He moved to the railways before retiring. Jocky was a hard worker  but sadly he did not have great health having his first heart attack at the age of 46.

Jocky liked the simple things in life never happier than being with his family,  going to the bookies, or  having a wee pint, or taking Clyde for a walk  closely followed by the cat.  Remember that.  He’s the only person I knew who ever took a cat for a walk.

Jock was in the labour party and a great supporter. Jock  gave a huge  amount of his time an energy to the Community there at the beginning of Over the Rainbow, driving the bus for the nursery, the heart and stroke group and anyone else who needed a bus driver.

It was  Jocky's nature though that he never blew his own trumpet about what he did. He just quietly got on with it.   Jocky was a background person who never wanted to limelight of the recognition for what he did.  He never pushed himself forward. He was always out and about he didn’t like to sit. He spoke to everyone, never judged anyone,  never called anyone. When he had something to do he just got on with it.

Of course  Jock liked his blether and if he disagreed with you he was quick to tell you. But  nothing was a bother to Jock. He  was totally reliable. He was a man who was happy at home,  who loved his family dearly  he was happy being with his family and friends and content with life.

The family would like to say a special thanks to the staff at Station 12 for their care and attention. How do we sum him up,  well Jock was a quiet hard working homely man who loved his family, loved his racing, loved to help others, who enjoyed his life and was really content with life.