April 2011
Home ] Up ] Photo Galleries ] Town Guides ] Notables ] Community ] News ] Places ] History ] Search ] Contact Us ]


April 2011

As past of their Easter services Maybole Council of Churches holds an ecumenical service every Easter Sunday morning. For many years it was held at Kildoon monument but more recently it has been held at the town’s war memorial at sunrise. Afterwards, everyone enjoys bacon or eggs rolls along with a welcome cup of tea. Rev Brian Hendrie and Fr Philip Kitchen duly tucked into theirs before going on to hold their more traditional Sunday morning services in their respective churches.


Something unusual happened at Our Lady and St Cuthbert’s Church on Easter Sunday morning. Fr Philip Kitchen welcomed everyone to the service and wished them a “Happy Easter”. He went on to mention that he has heard a lot about the “demise of Christianity” and then produced a camera and proceeded to take some photographs of the congregation! more


The talented pupils of Saint Cuthbert’s Primary School raised £80 for charity on the last day of term. Pupils donated £1 which allowed them to go to school for “Dress Down Day” and take part in an Easter egg hunt and talent show. They showcased and entertained invited guests with a variety of songs, dances and jokes and are hoping to continue their fundraising with a coffee morning in the school on Thursday 21st April from 10-11.30. A date not to be missed. All welcome.


King and Queen (Gardenrose Primary) – Ryan Speirs and Jacqui Gibson

St Cuthbert’s attendants – Brody Wright and Rebecca Campbell Cairn attendants -Liam Cuthbert and Nicole McCrorie

Maybole Gala Day this year is on Saturday June 11 and these young people are looking forward to playing a key part in the celebrations. All six are in P7 at their schools and think that Gala Day will be a great memory for them. Gala King and Queen are Ryan Speirs and Jacqui Gibson and their attendants will be Cairn pupils Liam Cuthbert and Nicole McCrorie; and St Cuthbert’s pupils Brody Wright and Rebecca Campbell.


Maybole Fire and Rescue crew have recently been handing over cheques to charity from funds raised at two events. The crew’s annual dance in the Town Hall was in aid of the Ayrshire Hospice and last week a cheque for £1,000 was handed over to Jean Clarke JP, a volunteer member of the hospice’s Committee of Management. First photo shows Kevin McDermott presenting cheque to Mrs Jean Clarke JP (centre is Jim Davidson, Watch Commander, Callum McKelvie is second from right) Second photo shows Jim Davidson, Watch Commander presenting cheque to Elaine Mitchell of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.


Cameron Kelly of Hawthorn Drive, Ayr was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the age of ten. He has since required the assistance of Yorkhill Hospital in controlling his condition. Cameron is a very active young lad playing badminton , tennis and of course football where he represents his school. He is also in the Boys’ Brigade and church bible class. He felt that he wanted to repay his friends at Yorkhill for all their care and this is where mum Elizabeth a music teacher came in. When Cameron approached her for fund-raising suggestions she offered to hold a concert involving a local group for whom she is musical director called “Hugh and Friends” who are well known throughout South Ayrshire.  more


Well-known Maybole couple Ian and Helen Sloan celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary last weekend with a party in the Town Hall. To mark the occasion, the popular couple were joined by family and friends as they danced the night away. They are both members of various organisations in the town and for the past ten years Ian has led trips to the continent for dozens of senior local residents. more


The Ladies Section of Maybole Golf Club began its 2011 season last Friday April 1 when a former captain of the Gents Section hit the first ball from the tee. John Sabbatini has been a dedicated member at Maybole for many years and was captain during season 1975/76. He thanked the ladies for asking him to start their season and wished captain Stella Boyd and her colleagues all the best. “It may not be the best of weather tonight,” he added, “but on a lovely summer’s evening teeing off here you really are in God’s own country.”


Maybole Memorial Park had its open day on Saturday 16th April 2011. The president’s mother, Mrs Anne-Marie McCoy, threw the first jack. There was also a large turnout of the club’s juniors. A great day was had by all.


President Sarah Chapman opens Maybole Bowling Club’s 163rd season by throwing the first jack. It is a special season for the club as it is 50 years since lady members were first admitted. This historic event will be celebrated with a dinner on May 7 to which ex-lady presidents and life members have been invited.


Maybole Indoor Bowling Club presented its prizes for the 2010/11 session in the Town Hall last Wednesday, April 20. Winners were: Round Table Shield League H Sloan Ladies Championship H Sloan r/u S Scobie Gents Championship T Lucas r/u P Ogg John Wallace Cup H Sloan r/u A Davidson David Knox Trophy P Ogg r/u H Shannon Peter McEwan Cup S Scobie r/u E Kidd Interpak Shield H Sloan r/u I McCrorie Charlie Donnelly Cup (Pairs) S Brown and I Sloan r/u I Johnstone and S Lockie


Fifteen year old Maybole lad Stuart McCulloch became the under 16 Scottish Pool Champion for the second year running recently at Rosyth. Stuart, a pupil at Carrick Academy, would like to thank his mentor Martin Fisher, World Blackball Champion, for putting up with him, and also the Ayr & District Pool League. He offers special thanks to Paul Zive of the Corner Pocket in Maybole for his continued sponsorship and support.


Certificates galore at Ballochbroe! Ballochbroe Farm Stables outside Maybole will soon be celebrating its third birthday – and what better way to do it than by being recognised by the Association of British Riding Schools as Second in Scotland!  more

Photo at left – Emma Lawrie (on Barack), Caitlyn McVittie (on Prince) and Leon Holmes (on Indi) with their Helpers Certificates. Photo at right – Lisa McVittie (Culzean), Kerrie Riggans (Maybole) and Hannah McSorley (Maybole) showing off the Second Place A.B.R.S. award.


On Thursday 21st April , the children of Cairn took part in a sponsored activity challenge on behalf of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland. An Active Expressions instructor taught a Hip Hop and Break dance routine and the kids had great fun learning about the benefits of a healthy diet and exercise. All money raised will provide services for people with chest, heart and stroke illnesses in the local area.


Saint Cuthbert’s Primary School pupils and Ethos Committee recently held their annual Daffodil Tea as part of their charity fundraising in aid of MISSIO SCOTLAND and SCIAF. The event was very well attended by parents, relatives and friends of the pupils who enjoyed the home baking, drinks and hospitality. The day ended with a raffle of which many items were donated by local businesses. Saint Cuthbert’s would like to thank everyone for their wonderful support and generosity. The magnificent total of £400 was raised.


 

The complete text of the headlines above and more articles follow below.

 Add to Google

Something unusual happened at Our Lady and St Cuthbert’s Church on Easter Sunday morning. Fr Philip Kitchen welcomed everyone to the service and wished them a “Happy Easter”. He went on to mention that he has heard a lot about the “demise of Christianity” and then produced a camera and proceeded to take some photographs of the congregation!

 

“I think I’ll send these to the papers to show that our demise is perhaps overstated,” he added. He also referred to the fact that the church had been packed the evening before for the Easter Vigil service. In his reflection he said, “I would like to wish everyone a very happy Easter in the firm assurance that the Lord has risen indeed! The sentiment behind that greeting consists of a number of things.

 

“The first is gratitude. It was wonderful to celebrate the Easter Triduum in a church that was back to normal and it was only back to normal because of the truly heroic efforts of our church cleaners and our furniture removers. The manner of the celebration was also wonderful due to the efforts of all who gave their talents freely to the service of our community in the preparation of the liturgy and the decoration of the church. Thanks too to all those who assisted in the celebration of the liturgy. Thanks to all of you who do so much in support of this community.

 

“The second is contentment in a vibrant parish which continues to attract new members and to those new members who were received into the Church at the vigil and to those members who continue on their journey of faith, many thanks for your witness, for the stimulation which your enquiries provoked and for the excitement of your on-going faith development.

 

“The third is excitement! What next? Let’s be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit, discern what is ahead for us and speak out what we have discerned both in word and in action.”

 

After the service, Fr Philip invited Mrs Ellen Hawkes to join him and said, “Although she is keeping very quiet about it, the parish really needs to know that Ellen Hawkes was honoured recently by the Bishops of Scotland. “For many years Ellen acted in the capacity of minute secretary to the Scottish Bishops Conference. It was a job she did with consummate skill and with the discretion required for such a sensitive position.

 

“As a token of the gratitude and high esteem in which the Scottish hierarchy holds Ellen, through Bishop Cunningham they petitioned Pope Benedict XVI for the award of the Benemerenti medal and the Pope very kindly consented. Ellen and her husband Jimmy were recently the guests of the Bishops in Edinburgh where the medal was bestowed by Cardinal Keith O’Brien on behalf of all the Scottish bishops.” The Benemerenti medal is conferred on those who have exhibited long and exceptional service to the Catholic Church, their families and community. The word benemerenti means ‘to a well deserving person’.


Maybole Fire and Rescue crew have recently been handing over cheques to charity from funds raised at two events. The crew’s annual dance in the Town Hall was in aid of the Ayrshire Hospice and last week a cheque for £1,000 was handed over to Jean Clarke JP, a volunteer member of the hospice’s Committee of Management.

 

Spokesman Kevin McDermott said,” Although we were slightly down on last year’s numbers we still managed to raise £1,000 which is fantastic.” He went to thank everyone who had attended the dance or contributed in any way to the success of the night. He paid special tribute to Callum McKelvie, owner of the Maybole Arms, who runs the bar each year for the dance and contributes all the profits to the selected charity.

 

Mrs Clarke thanked the crew for their generous donations and explained a little about the work of the hospice. The crew also took part in a cycle run around Arran, which they do every year to raise funds. This latest effort was in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer and was in memory of Marion McClure, a colleague from Girvan who sadly passed away at the end of 2009.

 

They raised £1,800 through sponsorship and a generous donation from Glasgow Airport. This cycle run is a joint event with Maybole fire fighters and Glasgow Airport Fire Service.


Cameron Kelly of Hawthorn Drive, Ayr was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the age of ten. He has since required the assistance of Yorkhill Hospital in controlling his condition. Cameron is a very active young lad playing badminton , tennis and of course football where he represents his school. He is also in the Boys’ Brigade and church bible class. He felt that he wanted to repay his friends at Yorkhill for all their care and this is where mum Elizabeth a music teacher came in.

 

When Cameron approached her for fund-raising suggestions she offered to hold a concert involving a local group for whom she is musical director called “Hugh and Friends” who are well known throughout South Ayrshire. They readily agreed to the proposal but insisted that she also recruit Jenna and Bethany Reid supremely talented Shetland Fiddlers who have close ties to Maybole. They were happy to be involved and along with members of Elizabeth’s Ayr Academy choir ( who recently featured at the Ayrshire Music Festival) make up a very varied programme.

 

The concert will take place on Thursday 28th April at 7.30pm in the Baptist Church , Maybole which has kindly been given free for the occasion. Tickets are £5 and £2 and can be bought in Cameron’s Hardware or June Dunlop, Florist or from any member of the group. David Kiltie, chairman of Maybole Community Council, said he was delighted to see this concert going ahead as he felt it could raise the profile of Crohn’s disease locally. He had asked Ayrshire and Arran Health Board if there was higher than average levels of it and related problems in Maybole. It seems that the data is not available but a new local initiative may capture the details when it is launched.


Well-known Maybole couple Ian and Helen Sloan celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary last weekend with a party in the Town Hall. To mark the occasion, the popular couple were joined by family and friends as they danced the night away. They are both members of various organisations in the town and for the past ten years Ian has led trips to the continent for dozens of senior local residents.

 

Ian and Helen were married on April 1, 1961, when Elvis Presley was UK number one with "Wooden Heart”. It was only a few weeks after John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States and it was certainly the start of exciting times in the world. The Beatles had just performed for the first time at what was to become “the most famous club in the world”, the Cavern Club.

 

The first U.S. Polaris submarines had arrived at Holy Loch and later in April Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space. This was just a few days before the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba began. It was the year President Kennedy announced his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade; he also urged Americans to build fallout shelters!

 

Diana, Princess of Wales was born that year; and construction of the Berlin Wall began. Despite all this excitement elsewhere, Ian and Helen quietly got on with married life and bringing up a family which now also includes grandchildren and great grandchildren. Congratulations to them both.


Ballochbroe Farm Stables outside Maybole will soon be celebrating its third birthday – and what better way to do it than by being recognised by the Association of British Riding Schools as Second in Scotland! The family-run riding centre was recently presented with certificates for the second highest number of Equitation and Stable Management tests among A.B.R.S. centres in Scotland to add to their award from the previous year – having achieved the most tests of any newcomer in the U.K.

Pupils at Ballochbroe have worked hard to obtain their qualifications, having to prove their knowledge and riding skills on test days to examiner Kirstine Bissett, who is well known locally in horsey circles for her competition experience, previous work with pony club and most recently her success at Dressage.

The stables operates at weekends and during school holiday periods, offering more experienced pupils the opportunity to train as ‘peer helpers’ which allows them to progress through the A.B.R.S test structure. Three local children who have recently achieved their entry level ‘Helpers Certificate’ are Emma Lawrie (14) from Crosshill, Caitlyn McVittie (14) from Culzean and Leon Holmes (13) from Minishant who were among the first to be awarded this new qualification and who are currently working on their ‘Intermediate’ level.

There are lots of fun activities planned for Stable Club Members at Ballochbroe Farm Stables over the summer months to take a break from exams and allow pupils the chance to win rosettes, medals and trophies.

 

Person to contact regarding article: Catrina Andrew Tel; 01655 740 400


Copyright 1999-2015