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January 2007. The complete text of the headlines above and more articles follow below. |
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Rev Dave Whiteman welcomed Mr Middleton and his colleagues as well as representatives from several local organisations. He also showed to the congregation a Bible which had been presented to Maybole Parish Church in 1796, the year Robert Burns died. His parents had been married in that church at the bottom of Kirkwynd on December 15, 1757.
The service got off to a beautiful start with the choir singing “We cannot measure” to the tune “Ye banks and braes”. This was followed by “The Lord’s my Shepherd” to the tune “My love is like a red, red rose”. Four young members of the King’s Club sang “Bonnie wee thing” followed by the congregation singing “O Jesus I have promised” to the tune of “Flow Gently sweet Afton”.
In his talk to the children Mr Whiteman explained that William Burnes had met Maybole’s Agnes Broun at a fair in the High Street and started courting before being married in 1757. “Isn’t it exciting to know that the story of Robert Burns really started her in our wee town,” he said. The choir then sang “I heard the voice of Jesus say” to “Rowan tree” and Mr Middleton read the Beatitudes from Mark chapter 5. “Scots wha hae” was the tune for “Gracious Spirit” and “Auld Lang Syne” for “The Lord will come”. The service ended with the Doxology “May the God of peace go with us” to the tune “Ae fond kiss.”
Afterwards the visitors were taken to the Welltrees Inn for a light buffet. Mr Whiteman presented a bouquet of flowers to Margaret Skilling, of the Ayrshire Association of Burns Clubs, for her work in putting together arrangements for the visit. David Kiltie, chairman of Maybole Community Council, presented Mr Middleton with a medallion embossed with the Maybole coat-of-arms and a copy of the town’s history written by James T Gray.
Each year the Ayrshire Association of Burns Club members attend a church Service on the Sunday nearest the birth of the Bard. When they learned that Maybole wanted to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the marriage of William and Agnes, members of the association felt they would like to support the town and its aims to involve the whole community in Maybole.
Mr Kiltie outlined the details of a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund by May-Tag in partnership with the community council, Maybole Community Association and Maybole Historical Society. If successful, funds will be available to organise a series of events which the four groups feel would provide the opportunity to pass on this important part of the town’s heritage. Mr Kiltie concluded his presentation, “We feel that the chance meeting of William Burnes and Agnes Broun at the foot of Maybole High Street in 1756 was the real beginning of the immortal story of Robert Burns.”
Mr Middleton thanked everyone involved in the arrangements for his visit and pledged his and his colleagues’ full support for everything that Maybole planned to do. For some time members of Maybole Community Council have been concerned about the A77 which runs through the town. A committee was set up to campaign for a bypass and this has been effective in working with local MSP Cathy Jamieson to ensure that the problem is treated seriously. As well as campaigning for a bypass community councillors have regularly communicated their concerns about the speed of traffic through the town. This has been done monthly when local police sergeant William Gilmour attends meetings. It looked as if progress had been made last August when 20mph limits were introduced at parts of the A77 and other streets. Lights were put in place to warn drivers of this speed limit but the lights have never worked since erected five months ago. At the January meeting of Maybole Community Council this was raised again and remitted to the Bypass Committee to see if it could get things moved on. Members of the committee met at one of the lights on Friday to highlight the problem and Peter Mason, chair of the Bypass Committee, said, “I have been registering my complaints of speeding through the town for 10 years now and really thought we had made some progress in August when the lights were put in place. However, they have never been switched on and I hope this is not going to be another saga like the one we are having over the pedestrian crossing lights.” He added, “After repeated phone calls to AMEY by members of the public and phone calls from Brian Connolly, this signage is still not switched on and working. I have contacted Cathy Jamieson and told her that my recommendation to the emergency meeting was to take to the streets again to force AMEY to do something about this problem.” Councillor Brian Connolly, added, “The lack of interest shown by those responsible for the speed signs was clear and our persistence has hopefully forced the contractor into action.” AMEY have been in touch with Mr Mason to say they have been messed about a bit by Scottish Power and this led to delays by Amey’s own contractor who they had to chase up. Their contractor have now programmed completion and commissioning of the Maybole signs for earlier this week. Amey will keep tabs on the situation and will phone Mr Mason to inform him of progress. Pupils at Cairn Primary were given a talk on Road Safety at their morning assembly last Friday. Head teacher, Mrs Fiona McDougall, also told them that the school car park is out of bounds and no one is allowed to walk though the car park. She stressed that is only for use by staff and visitors. Mrs McDougall also stressed the importance of the Green Cross Code and introduced three visitors who play a big part on helping pupils get to school safely. Ann MacIntyre, May McDowall and Jim McDermott are the school crossing patrol staff who are closest to Cairn and they were there to tell pupils about their work with the main instruction – don’t cross until told to by the lollipop person! There was a question and answer sessions which the pupils entered into with lots of queries on the best and worst parts of the job. Mrs MacIntyre has been in her post for 20 years and the pupils presented her with a lovely basket of flowers which brought a wee tear to her eye. Ms McDowall has 19 years’ service and Mr McDermott 3 years’ Historic Lodge St John Maybole No. 11, one of the oldest Masonic Lodges in Scotland, has a new Right Worshipful Master.
John Priest was installed as RWM by three past masters of No. 11 - William Cuthbert, William Kenny and Tony Barton. The installation took place in the Masonic Temple in Maybole's Whitehall, on Friday January 5.
TOAST LIST
TOAST MASTER BRO.TONY BARTON P.M. No. 11 THE QUEEN BRO JOHN PRIEST RWM THE GRAND LODGE & PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF AYRSHIRE BRO SCOTT KENNY WSW REPLY PROVINCIAL GRAND BARD BRO STUART MUIRHEAD PM.125 INSTALLING MASTERS BRO JOHN PRIEST RWM REPLY INSTALLING MASTERS VISITING BRETHREN BRO ROBRT GREEN PM SEC No.11 REPLY PROVINCIAL GRAND ORGANIST BRO. WILLIAM DYKES PM 1334 LODGE ST JOHN No. 11 PROVINCIAL GRAND S.WARDEN BRO. NEVILLE CLARK RWM NO.237 REPLY BRO DAVID ANDERSON IPM No. 11 ABSENT BRETHREN BRO.PETER OGG I.G. PM No 11 ARTISTS AND STEWARDS BRO.DAVID MACINTYRE W.J.W. ORGANIST BRO ROBIN GEDDES
Officebearers for 2007 are:
R.W.M. BRO JOHN PRIEST I.P.M. BRO DAVID ANDERSON D.M. BRO WILLIAM CUTHBERT P.M. S.M. BRO WILLIAM CUTHBERT W.S.W. BRO SCOTT KENNY W.J.W. BRO DAVID MclNTYRE S.D. BRO JOE McCULLOCH JD BRO ERIC FLANAGAN SECRETARY BRO ROBERT GREEN P.M. TREASURER BRO DAVID WILSON ALMONER BRO COOPER HAY P.M. CHAPLAIN BRO JOHN GRAHAM P.M. JEWELER BRO FRANK OTTA ARCHITECT BRO STAN KONICZEK MARSHAL BRO ARCHIE JAMIESON P.M. D.O.C. BRO TONY BARTON P.M. LIBRARIAN BRO GERRY KELLY P.M. ORGANIST BRO ROBIN GEDDES SWORD BEARER BRO TOM McKISSOCK BIBLE BEARER BRO ROBERT DICKIE I.G. BRO PETER OGG P.M. TYLER BRO WILLIAM KENNY (SEN) SENIOR STEWARD BRO STEPHEN CLARK JUNIOR STEWARD BRO DEREK McCULLOCH AUDITORS BRO WILLIAM KENNY P.M. BRO JAMES DICKIE P.M. Troon visited Maybole to play against Carrick Chess Club and won 3.5 - 2.5 although it was the home team’s best effort yet in the 1st division: Results were: Eric McKinnon 0-1 C. Weir; Siegrun Macgilchrist 1-0 John Calder; Dr. Kenneth Brooksbank 1/2 D Malcolm; Steell McFadzean 0-1 Len Weir; Ali Roy 0-1 Mike Chapman; Alastair Muirhead 1-0 Alice Lampard It’s not too late for juniors to join Carrick’s competition in which everyone wins a few prizes! Every year Mary and Quintin Turner, of Fineview, Maybole put on a great display of Christmas lights. They also accept donations from friends and relatives for a good cause. This year as Mary's niece Carley Graham is attending Yorkhill Children's Hospital they decided that the money raised should go there. Jim Shields of Carrick Round Table heard of the couple's kind gesture and arranged for the Table to add £150, bringing the total to £360.50. Ten year old Carley picked up the cheque on Sunday and was arranging to hand it over this week At Maybole Town Twinning Association’s AGM the following office bearers were elected: Chairman - William Grant, Vice Chairman - Hugh Anderson, Secretary - Lesley Grant and Treasurer - Maureen Craig.
The Chairman William Grant in his comments had praised the members for the organisation of a very successful Twinning Tour which was held at Auchencruive in 2006 when 54 people from France, Germany and the Czech Republic enjoyed the South Ayrshire countryside in beautiful July weather.
Twinners are now looking forward to a very busy year, as 2007 is the 25th anniversary of the initial signing of the twinning agreement between Maybole and Crosne in 1982.
A lot of events are currently being planned: in March Carrick Academy will welcome almost 30 young people from Crosne who are making a reciprocal visit to Maybole following a very successful visit to Crosne by young people from Carrick Academy last year.
The Crosne Carnival takes place on the weekend of 25 – 28 May, and those wishing to attend should put their names forward to the committee by the end of February at the very latest. This will allow the committee in Crosne time to allocate hosts for visitors.
The 2007 Twinning Tour takes place in the German region of Bavaria between 5 – 8 July and is being organised and hosted in the town of Bogen. Cost of the tour is 250 Euros, which does not include travel to Germany. Anyone wishing to go must have their names in by the February meeting.
As this is the 25th anniversary the twinning committee feel it would be great if they could host a visit at the end of September from Crosne, but this all depends on sufficient people willing to host. If you are willing to host for this event and take part in this special occasion please contact the committee as soon as possible.
Mr Grant said, “We have also applied for funding to enable us to produce a book of photographs to celebrate the 25 tears of twinning, and it is hoped that an exhibition can be held within the town. If anyone has any old photographs that could be used for these events we would welcome the use of them.”
For all these events contact William Grant 01655883312 or Hugh Anderson at 01655883150. The next twinning meeting will be on Tuesday 13 February at 7.30pm in Maybole Town Hall where old and new members will be made most welcome. At the recent AGM of the Maybole Branch of the Royal British Legion office bearers elected were Col John Dalrymple Hamilton, President; David Hunter, Chairman. Robert Malone, Vice Chairman, George Taylor, Secretary and Alex Kelly, Treasurer. Other posts filled were John Bell, Pensions and Welfare Officer; George Taylor, Area and Conference Delegate; Alex Davidson, Marshall; David Kiltie, Press Officer. David Hunter, David Kiltie and George Taylor were appointed as auditors; David Hunter, George Taylor and Alex Kelly were appointed Trustees. In his annual report David Hunter said, “Our year started on 27th January with our Annual Holocaust Parade at Greenside which was well attended by members of the public including representatives from the local schools. We held three events during the year which were all linked as one: On 15th June we paraded at Culzean Castle to uplift on loan our Branch Standard which had been laid up there in June 1996 and on 17th June following a large turnout of Standard Bearers from other Branches we headed Maybole Gala Parade to Glebe Park where our laid up Branch Standard was trooped as part of Maybole Gala day events. This Trooping of The Colour coincided with the Trooping of The Colour held in London for Her Majesty’s 80th Birthday; National Veterans Day; the 85th Anniversary of the founding of The Royal British Legion Scotland and in particular the 85th Anniversary of our own Branch. On 20th August, the third part of our linked events was held at Culzean Castle where we returned for continued safe keeping our old Branch Standard during a drum head Service at which we also laid up our former Queen's Standard which had been laid up in Maybole West Parish Church bringing together both of our old Branch Standards for the first time since 1996. On 17th June at a reception in Maybole Town Hall prior to the town's gala parade we handed over a cheque to the value of £500 to a representative from Hollybush House. Our main fund raiser for the year was from 14th to 21st July when we had the use of Maybole Charity Shop which was organised by Mr and Mrs Milligan who also arranged for the staffing of the shop and both are due our thanks for their hard work. At our monthly Branch Meeting on 9th August we had the pleasure of meeting Mr and Mrs Gerry Tait, President of the Natana Branch of The Royal Canadian Legion and President of The Korean Veterans Association of Canada. During the course of the evening Gerry expressed a wish to become a member of our Branch and this now gives us the honour of having a Canadian and an American in our ranks. In September due to health reasons I resigned from my position as Branch Parade Marshall and Mr Alex Davidson stepped in to fill the vacancy. On 1st November following a long illness Matt Dunnachie, one of our longest serving members died and the Branch provided an Escort at his funeral on 7th November at Masonhill Crematorium, Ayr. Despite bad weather our Armistice Day Parade at Greenside on 11th November was held and the following day on Remembrance Sunday the Service was held in Maybole Town Hall followed by a large parade to the War Memorial, returning to Greenside for dismissal. Following the Parade a contingent from the Branch held a short service conducted by our Chaplain Rev David Whiteman BD, at Dunure Cemetery War Graves Section followed by a similar service at Minishant War Memorial. Thanks are due to Dave Killicoat our new Poppy Convener and those who assisted in distributing and collecting Poppy Day Collection Tins which, despite the theft of a well filled tin from the Town Hall raised the sum of £1329. 30p. The sale of poppy wreaths raised the sum of £328. l0. Our Standard Bearers were as active as always; they were present at our Holocaust Day Parade at Greenside on 27th January and attended Standard Bearer's Drill Parades during February and March. They were also present at all three events during the summer in which they had the most important role of carrying our Colours especially at Culzean Castle during the Laying Up ceremony. On 20th August they paraded at Irvine for National Veterans Day and were part of the Escort provided for the funeral of Legionnaire Matt Dunnachie. They were on parade on 11th November for Armistice Day Parade and took part in all three services at Maybole, Dunure and Minishant on Remembrance Sunday. On 11th November they took part in the Annual Holly bush House Concert held in Ayr Town Hall. Our successful year is attributable to the valuable team work by all members of the Branch including participation by our Associate Members and our continual co-operation with and by Maybole Community Council, Maybole Community Association and other groups in the town. In closing I wish to extend my personal thanks to Bill Torbett for making his premises available for our meetings; to Alex Davidson for taking care of our finances and to our Secretary George Taylor for all his hard work during the past year much of which goes un-noticed but necessary for the smooth running of Branch affairs and last of all to all our members for their continued support over the past year.” Before the meeting ended Mr Hunter read out a letter from Mrs May Dunnachie. She wrote, “I write on behalf of my family and myself to convey our sincere thanks to all members who took part in honouring Matt at his recent funeral. They carried out their duties most ably and respectfully and provided a high measure of dignity to such a sorrowful occasion. Matt would have been very proud of the great honour paid him by his fellow members. Our thanks go to all of you for your help and support at this time of our sad loss.” The next meeting of the branch will be held on January 10, 2007 and the annual Holocaust Day is Saturday January 27. |
