A Time Capsule was placed in the foundations of the Carrick Centre, Maybole last week as the building, which will incorporate Maybole Parish Church, moves closer to its official handover. An invited audience of councillors, local clergy, representatives of all the town’s schools, community representatives, Ryan Speirs and Jacqui Gibson who are the current Gala King and Queen of Carrick, committee members, the local moderator and clerk were welcomed by the convener of the project, Bill Miller. He said, “It is only 17 months ago that we held a symbolic event to commemorate the cutting of the first turf by the then Gala King and Queen, Robert McEwan and Alix Anderson.

“Then in October last year we saw the arrival of the contractors on site who have toiled tirelessly since then to deliver our new building on time and on budget. Despite the fact it is not due to be finished till later this month it is already looking very attractive and promises to be a new landmark in South Ayrshire. “Here we hope to welcome our neighbours and visitors alike and provide a place to meet and enjoy each other’s company. That is what the Church is about and that is what The Carrick Centre is about too.” Mr Miller then invited the school captains of Carrick Academy, Heather Kerr and Eilidh Blondin, to comment on the importance of the occasion and to place the last few items in the stainless steel box.

Eilidh spoke first and their shared speech was completed by Heather. “We feel privileged to be invited to speak at such a prestigious event in the calendar of the Church of Scotland and of everyone who has been involved in creating this impressive building which we see becoming an integral part of our community. “In Primary 2, we both remember being told about such a project being started. The Minister came to assembly to share the ideas for the Carrick Centre at their first stages. Now 11 years on, the project is almost complete costing around £2 million, which has impressively been raised by the Church of Scotland and friends.

“We know that this building is something to be really proud of in our community as it will profit everyone, from the youngest in the soft play jungle gym, to the oldest in the auditorium and day care wing. We are sure that everyone who participated in the erection of this building will be overwhelmed with joy seeing it all coming together and as it becomes a multi-purpose centre. Its aim is to hold everything from funerals and birthday parties to badminton club and pilates. “Inside the time capsule is everything from a child’s toy to a mobile phone representing our lives today.

“We hope that when this time capsule is found and opened, it will allow the community of Carrick to have an insight into our lives and the community we live in as it stands today, which hopefully they will enjoy comparing to their lives generations on. “We have added personal information about ourselves and a picture of us together in our school uniform. We included where we live, our dates of birth, and our favourite things – book, film, and hobby which possibly they will never have heard of.

“We have also added in information about our school and pictures of it as this will allow the people in years to come to see how it looks today as there are already plans for it to be gone in the foreseeable future. In addition to this we have included pictures and information of our feeder primary schools. Hopefully people will be intrigued to see changes in our community as no doubt the village primaries will have changed or even disappeared.

“Finally, we decided to add a local and national newspaper of today’s date to give the future people a snapshot of today’s life and current events. “We hope you all learn a little more about this impressive project today and hope you all have plans to use it in the New Year. Thank you.”

The box was the gift of Fairbairn and McQuiston of Girvan and is buried in the main entrance hall of the building. It has been agreed that the position of the box will be recorded in the Book of Heritors which will list those who have provided financial support to the project. A suggested re-opening date for the box will also be there. After the ceremony, everyone was shown round the building and then headed to the project office in School Vennel for some refreshments.

A Job Well Done. The Carrick Centre has been completed to schedule and prior to the imminent hand over of the keys a group of volunteers and employees met to thank Andy Lambert , site agent for Flemings the builders, for his hard work and cooperation.

Giving Andy a gift on behalf of the Centre management Bill Miller commented on Andy’s unfailing helpfulness and good nature. Andy , a keen low handicap golfer, will be provided with a round of golf on Turnberry’s Championship course with one of his pals and a meal in the Dormy House courtesy of the Centre.

It is anticipated that this community facility will be open for business early in 2012 with a fully functioning café and adaptable spaces for many activities. It will also house Maybole Parish Church enabling the congregation to leave the Baptist Church which has been kindly accommodating them for the last few years.

It was only in September 2005 that TKS Martial Arts started its classes in Maybole in the lesser Hall. They started with with a handful of students that steadily grew and grew. One of those students was Heather Dowie who is still with them. Her younger sister Ruth went along and stood at the side copying the students. She was desperate to start so as soon as she was old enough she eagerly joined in. Neither Heather or Ruth has looked back and both of them are now Black Belts.

Heather has gone on to take two more black belt exams to take her up to a level ready for her senior black belt. They both show talent and are always seen at the front of the class helping Sensei Luke and Sensei Dave at the Maybole class or at the TSK fitness centre that has been established just outside Ayr.

During their years in Maybole TKS have been involved with the Active Schools programme and have been to all the primary schools. At Cairn Primary they also taught Heather and Ruth's cousin Zak Page. He showed promise and thoroughly enjoyed the classes held at the school. Unknown to TKS, Zak constantly nagged his mum for months and months until finally in October 2009 he joined them, putting his heart and soul into every lesson!

Zak took his first grading exam in December 2009 and had gone through the coloured belts taking his belt before black within 18 months of starting with TKS. He then went on to take his black belt along with Ruth this year. TKS has gone from strength to strength and are every proud of the fact that they have a number of Black belts in Maybole. Along with the three cousins, they also have twin sisters who are also black belts and have been with them for a number of years. Taylor Alexander joined us in July 2008 and took her black belt in March this year and has gone on to take another level towards her senior black belt.

Taylor's sister Caitlin joined a few months after and has also been a committed student within TKS taking her black belt along with her sister in March and again her next level towards her senior belt. Maybole is a small town and to have this many black belts is surely quite unique.

Another Maybole community based group TKS works with is Spotty Zebras who hold their monthly fun-packed meetings at TKS Centre. This is a voluntary group for families of children with high level special needs. Everyone has a great deal of fun and it gives parents a chance to let their hair down in a safe environment.

TKS have their own centre with all sorts of different activities including martial arts, weapons, fitness training, family classes and will also be including dance lessons, Zumba and Disco. Either drop in to the class in Maybole at 4.30pm on Wednesdays or call Corinne on 01655 889977 or check out the website www.tkshq.co.uk.

A happy Christmas time was had by all at Spotty Zebras monthly get together on Sunday December 18th. This was a new venture for Spotty Zebras – a family support group for families where there is a child with a significant disability (needing one to one support to get out and about). The afternoon worked very well – first the kids had a run around; enjoyed some team games run by the crèche provided by local charity Stepping Stones and got to jump on the bouncy castle ; then a Mcdonalds feast was provided – half price courtesy of the kind team at the Racecourse branch; astonishingly – the children sat down together and munched happily – the first time this has been tried as a group!

Parents and carers enjoyed delicious mincemeat pies, short bread and cake generously provided by friends of the group. Finally – Santa arrived and handed out gifts to all the children – stopping for a picture before he rushed off to carry out the rest of his Christmas duties. The group meets once a month on a Sunday afternoon at TKS headquarters (at the old Digital site past Ayr Hospital). Spotty Zebras has been running for over two years and has grown from strength to strength. The group was set up and is run by parents of disabled children. The idea is for the meetings to provide a monthly space where families can get together, the disabled children and their siblings can have fun while the parents/carers get to meet and share advice and support.

In recent months we have had a trip to Dolphin House activity centre at Culzean and have had massage sessions for carers provided at our usual TKS venue courtesy of the Princess Trust Carers Centre. Spotty Zebras is supported by South Ayrshire Council, by TKS who provide the marvellous venue plus lots of support and by T.J Adams Plumbing and Heating who have raised hundreds of pounds for the group. The group is always looking for volunteer helpers and is in need of funds to carry out its activities. If you would like to find out more about Spotty Zebras –‘ where being different is fun!’ – or would like to offer your help contact Carrie McKnight on 07950-773899 or Sasha Ratcliffe on 0777- 5638026 or e-mail spotty_zebras@hotmail.co.uk