December 2010

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December 2010

Two cheeky monkeys- Mad Mental Mary and Loopy Libby - were at the Cooperative Supermarket in Maybole last Saturday raising funds for the Bonnie Babies, a national registered charity dedicated to helping “UK Special Babies” Supporters knit, crochet and sew tiny premature clothes also burial outfits for the little ones who sadly don’t make it. They also help individuals who ask for their help. more

Earlier this year, Ali Roy, from Maybole and a pupil at Queen Margaret Academy, won the British Under-15 girls title at the British Chess Championship in Canterbury, Kent. Ali is ranked 2nd in the all-time charts for Scottish girls aged 15 and represented Scotland at the under-14 girls championships in Fermo, Italy where she scored a respectable 4/9 points. more Photos show Ali at chess and showing her gran her many trophies.

Gordon Cockburn welcomed guests to his Christmas Collection exhibition in his Maybole Gallery. He had laid on some festive treats including wine and was showing some of his own work as well as that of other artists. New this year is a calendar of old photographs of Maybole in days gone past. Gordon was born in the town and some of the photos are as he remembers the town. more

Colin Banyard, of Maybole, and Joanna Pawlicka, Gdynia, Poland were married recently in Gdynia City Chambers, Poland.

Derek Fairclough, from Mary’s Meals project, visited St Cuthbert’s Primary last week to highlight the need for supporting such a good cause. The school has chosen to support the charity Mary’s Meals by collecting various items such as: notepads; pencils and pens; clothing and toiletries to fill backpacks for children around the world. The Enterprise Group have promoted Mary’s Meals by creating their own eye catching posters. Some of the older children have created PowerPoint presentations which have been shown at Assembly.

Humph The Camel Primary 1/2/3 at St Cuthbert’s Primary in Maybole had been looking forward to participating in the eagerly awaited Nativity play: 'Humph' at the beginning of December. more

This year St Cuthbert's Primary School show for senior pupils was “Miracle Child”. Written by Ruth Kenward this Christmas musical was highly entertaining as it explored the meaning of Christmas over 2000 years on from the birth of Jesus. The story began with a family party and ended with a problem solved on Christmas Day as the main character Rikki learned the real meaning of Christmas. more

Cairn Primary 1 class hit the shops recently and visited the newly refurbished Co-Operative store in Maybole. Thanks to the kind staff (and their customers), all the children had a great experience working at the check-out and calling out for customer assistance which they loved. Many thanks to the Manager and Staff at the Co-operative, Maybole; the children loved the visit and you simply made their day.

Cairn Primary Christmas Fayre

“It was a full house for Cairn Nursery’s nativity play last week. The children performed “Whoops-a-Daisy Angel”, the delightful story of a disorganised but lovable angel who is chosen to show the way to Bethlehem. The children loved dressing up in their costumes and, of course, the applause from the crowd. Many thanks to all the parents and friends of the Nursery for coming along and making it such a special morning.

Cairn Primary School was a hive of activity last week with two Christmas concert performances and the start of the school Christmas parties. Many thanks to all the parents and friends of Cairn who braved the cold weather to attend this year’s concerts. The P1s, 2s and 3s performed the “Wriggly Nativity” and P4 to P7 performed “Angels Up High” a story about a group of mischievous angels led by a long-suffering Gabriel. Many thanks to parents for helping with costumes – this event wouldn’t be as colourful without them. The week was topped off with a P7 Christmas party when Cairn, Gardenrose and St Cuthbert’s Primary P7s joined together for an afternoon of dancing and party games. A great time was had by all. Many thanks to parent helpers and staff from both Gardenrose and St. Cuthbert’s for coming along and making the event such a success. A big thank you also to our Community Wardens who kindly supplied the disco equipment.”

A week after he helped to switch on Maybole’s Christmas lights, Santa Claus returned for the town's annual Christmas bazaar in the Town Hall. He arrived dead on 10 o’clock and strolled through the hall with his familiar “Ho, ho, ho” alerting everyone. The bazaar gives local organisations the opportunity to make some much needed funds and at the same time give residents and their families the chance to pick up some bargains or unique gifts.

Carrick Sports Club Christmas Party attended by children and grandchildren of members – and Santa, of course!

Young pupils from 1/2/3 at St Cuthbert’s spent time at the Carnegie Library in Maybole last week.They thoroughly enjoyed hearing Ailsa McInnes tell some wonderful stories of Christmas and they had some very interesting questions for her.

Young St Cuthbert’s pupils entertain residents of Crosne Street residential unit in Maybole with some Christmas songs.

Young pupils at S Cuthbert’s Primary enjoyed a visit from Santa at their Christmas party last week when he gave them a small gift Senior pupils visited LA Bowl for their Christmas treat.

Some of the more mature parishioners of St Cuthbert’s Church in Maybole were treated to Christmas lunch in the church hall on Sunday December 19. Afterwards they were treated to some excellent entertainment which included Fr Philip in the choir.

Primary 7 at Gardenrose had a great success at the school jumble sale, where they raised £163. They have set up a business, which they have named ‘Fitness Flingers’ to promote Health and Fitness and are raising money to purchase t-shirts and fitness equipment. They have organised a healthy eating poster campaign and are running fitness sessions at lunchtime. Pupils designed logos which they had printed on their t-shirts. P6 and 7 also participated in a national online maths challenge called the Four Nations Maths Challenge. Ryan Speirs (at right) came 85th , P7 came 32nd and the school came 14th on the Scottish Leaders board. more

Instead of a trip to the pantomime this year, senior citizens in Maybole were treated to a buffet and entertainment in the Town Hall last Saturday afternoon, December 11. The entertainment was provided by Gardenrose Primary’s choir and Hugh and Friends. Pearl Barton, chair, thanked her committee for all their hard work during the year and reminded everyone that the annual dinner will be held in February.

Residents at Crosne Street had a surprise guest at their Christmas lunch on Sunday December 12 when Santa Claus dropped in with some gifts

Opportunity in Retirement group’s Christmas Dinner in Carrick Sports Club

Maybole Amateur Swimming Club held
its annual championships recently.

MASC Winners

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

Two cheeky monkeys- Mad Mental Mary and Loopy Libby - were at the Cooperative Supermarket in Maybole last Saturday raising funds for the Bonnie Babies, a national registered charity dedicated to helping “UK Special Babies” Supporters knit, crochet and sew tiny premature clothes also burial outfits for the little ones who sadly don’t make it. They also help individuals who ask for their help.

Bonnie Babies boxes go out to almost 200 UK Special Care Baby Unit, Children and Baby Hospices and they help SANDS. Last year they were able to send out an amazing 64,820 items and with help they feel they could do so much more. After being asked for help by the wife of the British Ambassador to Rwanda they are now also able to send out regular boxes of baby clothes, teddies, baby bottles and toiletries.

With over 1,000 helpers worldwide they appreciate any donations of materials to share out amongst the group. Wedding dresses are often donated and turned into tiny burial gowns and Angel Pockets. Wool can be shared to make some of the tiny items which are always needed. All funds, donations and sponsorships given to the charity are very much appreciated and help a great deal with the growing costs of the charity.

Debby Lamont, of Campbeltown, first created Bonnie Babies on her own, just her and her needles, 10 years ago this month and the first box was given to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow and from there it grew. There was never any plan, Debby just thought, “Hey, if I can knit so can the rest of you” and it just grew from there. A couple of years ago, a disco was held in Memorial Park Bowling Club in Maybole in aid of the Bonnie Babies Charity and two monkeys called Mad Mental Mary and Loopy Libby, Mary Caldwell and Libby Kerr, turned up.

They had so much fun that these two monkeys decided to become members of Bonnie Babies and to do what they could to help both with knitting and fundraising. To this day they are the only two monkey members of Bonnie Babies who can knit.

During their time with the charity, these monkeys have kidnapped Debby's stamina and her chair and ransomed them off for any basic office stuff such as envelopes and sellotape as well as wool, thread and buttons. These two monkeys then came up with the idea of bag packing in the local supermarket to raise funds and on approaching the manageress, Nicola, were given the go ahead to enter the store together with some humans on 27th November to bag pack to raise funds for Bonnie Babies.

Mary and Libby would like to thank Nicola, all the staff and customers of the Co-operative and also Allison and customers at Johnstone’s Bakers in Maybole. They raised a total of £257.69 which they described as “fantastic”. Debby's dad, Thomas Graham, who came from Kilwinning, was instrumental in the very early days of Bonnie Babies, and remained a true supporter and friend until he passed away very suddenly three years ago this week on November 30, aged 69. He served in the Royal Air Force regiment, affectionately known as ROCKAPES and also as a Crash Crew Firefighter.

2009/2010 Chess Achievements

Earlier this year, Ali Roy, from Maybole and a pupil at Queen Margaret Academy, won the British Under-15 girls title at the British Chess Championship in Canterbury, Kent.

Ali is ranked 2nd in the all-time charts for Scottish girls aged 15 and represented Scotland at the under-14 girls championships in Fermo, Italy where she scored a respectable 4/9 points.

Last month, she also represented Scotland in the World Under 14 Girls Championship in Antalya, Turkey, where 10 of her opponents were higher rated. Ali scored a remarkable 6 1/2 points from 11 - only missing out in the top ten by one point and again had a rating performance of almost 2000.

She recently played top board for Scotland in the Faber Cup, where they came runners-up. Ali also represented Scotland in the under 16s team at the Liverpool Quadrangular championships, where the team won the under-16s section against England , Ireland and Wales .

She is joint winner of Carrick Chess Championship and plays Board One for the Chess Club in the Ayrshire League. She also plays for Prestwick Chess Club in the Scottish Chess National League. Ali is hoping to represent Scotland in 2011 by defending her title in the British Championships in Sheffield and representing Scotland in the European under-16 Girls Championships in Bulgaria.

Unfortunately, Chess Scotland will not be sending a team to the World Championships in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil due to expense but Ali is hoping her parents will fund her to take part and go with her! Ali is also a keen golfer and has participated in and enjoyed the Maybole Junior Golf Club run by dedicated volunteers from the Maybole Ladies and Gents Sections.

This has been a tremendous success for Junior Golf in Maybole during the summer and winter months. Excellent coaching is provided by Barry Wortley from Roodlea Golf Academy at Ayr Driving Range. Another excellent contribution to Maybole Junior Golf has been the funding for practice equipment and special golf coaching from professionals at Old Prestwick and Gareth Hardy at Maybole Golf Course.

All this expert help for Junior Golf was achievable because of the success of the Junior Club and much appreciated help of local funding. Ali was recognised by the ladies who help run the junior golf programme and was delighted and honoured when Maybole Ladies Golf Club invited her into the women's section last season, at which she won many trophies.

Ali's main success was winning the Bronze championship at 15 years of age. Ali also plays with the County & West of Scotland girls and in September she won the bronze section over the Kintyre golf course at Turnberry. Ali's achievements are saddened as her grandpa Alistair McDowall, who died suddenly last Christmas, is no longer around as he would have been so proud of her achievements - especially her golf success. He was the one who taught Ali how to swing a golf club at the age of 5 and was a dedicated member of Maybole Gents section with a handicap of 6 when he was an active player. He was also a past Captain of Maybole Gents Club.

Gordon Cockburn welcomed guests to his Christmas Collection exhibition in his Maybole Gallery last week. He had laid on some festive treats including wine and was showing some of his own work as well as that of other artists. New this year is a calendar of old photographs of Maybole in days gone past. Gordon was born in the town and some of the photos are as he remembers the town. His Auschwitz collection continues to get a great deal of interest in the media. This initially was via the local press then nationally and the commemorative exhibition in honour of Ernest Levy OBE will again tour early in 2011. Documentary film-maker Alan Pinder is exploring the possibility of recreating Gordon's initial visit to Auschwitz, and the years following, when he felt a need to transfer onto canvas the horrific images flooding his mind. This collection is not for sale and Gordon hopes that the continued exposure of these works will in some way continue the life long work of Mr Levy, who tirelessly attempted to raise awareness of the horrors of the holocaust and to promote the virtues of a humanitarian society across the various creeds and cultures.

Humph The Camel Primary 1/2/3 at St Cuthbert’s Primary in Maybole had been looking forward to participating in the eagerly awaited Nativity play: 'Humph' at the beginning of December. Unfortunately the bad weather meant it had to be postponed but finally went ahead on Monday December 20 in the church. Humph is a grumpy camel who normally shows not the slightest interest in anything. He has but one word to say to the world “Humph”! He is lucky enough to witness first-hand the journey to find the baby Jesus and only when he sees the baby does he find the words to express his feelings clearly. To everyone's surprise and delight, when he meets the new-born King he just can't contain his excitement and joy! The children taking part and their audience thoroughly enjoyed the entertaining show.

This year St Cuthbert's Primary School show for senior pupils was “Miracle Child”. Written by Ruth Kenward this Christmas musical was highly entertaining as it explored the meaning of Christmas over 2000 years on from the birth of Jesus. The story began with a family party and ended with a problem solved on Christmas Day as the main character Rikki learned the real meaning of Christmas.

The main lessons learned were about the importance of giving rather than receiving and that the events of so long ago can still have an impact on children today. With a number of catchy songs it was a thought-provoking experience for the audience. The staff and children of St Cuthbert's Primary School would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thanks them for all their help and support throughout the year.

Cast Rikki- Cain Patrick Dad- Patrick McCahill Mum- Rebecca Campbell Tessa- Dani Struthers Charlie- Josh Malone Uncle Martin- Jason Tomlinson Auntie Joanna- Toni McLaughlin Sam- Aidan McQuillan Hannah- Jorja Macnab Mr Jones- Brody Wright Mrs Jones- Millie Hannah Gwen- Lara Valdrighi Kevin- Dara Hunter Blair Owen- Deaglan Hunter Blair Gran- Zara Cole Grandad- Darra Murdoch Charity Workers- Blair Hannah, Ben McLaughlin Carol Singers: Jack Menzies, Alex Sallens, Finlay Wright, Zak Tomlinson, Zoe Campbell Cat- Zoe Campbell Door Bell- Finlay Wright

Primary 7 at Gardenrose had a great success at the school jumble sale, where they raised £163. They have set up a business, which they have named ‘Fitness Flingers’ to promote Health and Fitness and are raising money to purchase t-shirts and fitness equipment. They have organised a healthy eating poster campaign and are running fitness sessions at lunchtime. Pupils designed logos which they had printed on their t-shirts. P6 and 7 also participated in a national online maths challenge called the Four Nations Maths Challenge. Ryan Speirs came 85th , P7 came 32nd and the school came 14th on the Scottish Leaders board. The school was 55th on the UK leaders board. Pupils completed maths problems online at home and at school and the position reflects the tremendous effort they put in.

BUTTERFLY

Boys

10 & Under 25m 1 Jack Broun 2 Robbie Paterson 3 Ryan Maxwell

11 Years 100m 1 Ryan Smith 2 Arran McGarvie 3 Benjamine Brown

12/13 Years 100m 1 David Gregor

Girls

10 & Under 25m 1 Jodie Cooper 2 Leah De Mey 3 Emma Baillie

11 Years 100m 1 Rebecca Campbell

12/13 Years 100m 1 Alice Allan 2 Marisha Wood

BACKSTROKE

Boys

7 & Under 25m 1 Harry Broun 2 Reece Mitchell 3 Jake Campbell

8 & Under 25m 1 Finlay Brown 2 Dean Milligan 3 Ross McAllan

10 & Under 50m 1 Jack Broun 2 Ryan Maxwell 3 Robbie Paterson

11 Years 100m 1 Ryan Smith 2 Liam Cuthbert 3 Benjamine Brown

12/13 Years 100m 1 David Gregor

Girls

7 & Under 25m 1Annie McGarvie 2 Darcy Gibson 3 Kiera Wood

8 & Under 25m 1 Abbie Alexander 2 Emily Maxwell 3 Jenna Milligan

10 & Under 50m 1 Jodie Cooper 2 Leah De Mey 3 Katie Eccles

11 Years 100m 1 Rebecca Campbell

12/13 Years 100m 1 Chloe Cuthbert 2 Alice Allan 3 Marisha Wood

BREASTROKE

Boys

10 & Under 50m 1 Jack Broun 2 Ryan Maxwell 3 Robbie Paterson

11 Years 100m 1 Liam Cuthbert 2 Benjamine Brown 3 Arran McGarvie

12/13 Years 100m 1 David Gregor

Girls

10 & Under 50m 1 Leah De Mey 2 Jodie Cooper 3 Emma Baillie

11 Years 100m 1 Rebecca Campbell 2 Vickie Green

12/13 Years 100m 1 Alice Allan 2 Marisha Wood

FREESTYLE

Boys

7 & Under 25m 1 Harry Broun 2 Reece Mitchell 3 Jake Campbell

8 & Under 25m 1 Finlay Brown 2 Dean Milligan 3 Ross McAllan

10 & Under 50m 1 Jack Broun 2 Robbie Paterson 3 Ryan Maxwell

11 Years 100m 1 Liam Cuthbert 2 Benjamine Brown 3 Ryan Smith

12/13 Years 100m 1 David Gregor

Girls

7 & Under 25m 1 Darcy Gibson 2 Annie McGarvie 3 Amber Gibson

8 & Under 25m 1 Emily Maxwell 2 Abbie Alexander Jenna Milligan

10 & Under 50m 1 Jodie Cooper 2 Emma Baillie 3 Leah De Mey

11 Years 100m 1 Rebecca Campbell 2 Vickie Green

12/13 Years 100m 1 Alice Allan 2 Chloe Cuthbert 3 Marisha Wood

Individual Medley

Boys

10 & Under 4 x 25m 1 Jack Broun 2 Robbie Paterson 3 Ryan Maxwell

11 Years 4 x 50m 1 Ryan Smith 2 Benjamine Brown 3 Arran McGarvie

12/13 Years 4 x 50m 1 David Gregor

Girls

10 & Under 4 x 25m 1 Jodie Cooper 2 Emma Baillie

11 Years 4 x 50m 1 Rebecca Campbell

12/13 Years 4 x 50m 1 Alice Allan

400m Front Crawl

Boys 1 Jack Broun

Girls 1 Jodie Cooper

TROPHIES

Boys

7 & UNDER HARRY BROUN

8 & UNDER FINLAY BROWN

10 & UNDER JACK BROUN

11 YEARS RYAN SMITH

12/13 YEARS DAVID GREGOR

Girls

7 & UNDER DARCY GIBSON & ANNIE McGARVIE

8 & UNDER EMILY MAXWELL & ABBIE ALEXANDER

10 & UNDER JODIE COOPER

11 YEARS REBECCA CAMPBELL

12/13 YEARS ALICE ALLAN

INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

Boys

10 & UNDER I.M. JACK BROUN

11 YEARS I.M. RYAN SMITH

12/13 YEARS I.M. DAVID GREGOR

Girls

10 & UNDER I.M. JODIE COOPER

11 YEARS I.M. REBECCA CAMPBELL

12/13 YEARS I.M. ALICE ALLAN

400m. FRONT CRAWL

Boys JACK BROUN

Girls JODIE COOPER

JUNIOR MERIT REECE MITCHELL RUTH DOWIE

SENIOR MERIT DAVID GREGOR REBECCA CAMPBELL