Cairn nursery teachers provide a wide range of cultural activities and last week it was Scottish songs and dance which were on display for the families of the youngsters - although there was one who showed our photographer how he had been dressed recently to mark the Chinese New Year.

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February 2006

Lodge St John Maybole No. 11’s Burns Supper is one of the most popular in the area and this year’s was an excellent tribute to Scotland’s National Bard. Chairman was the present RWM Davie Anderson and Master of Ceremonies was Tony Barton. The haggis was piped in by Billy Kenny and addressed by Willie Cuthbert. The Bill o’ Fare was prepared by Paul Allan and everyone enjoyed the traditional scotch broth, haggis, neeps, tatties and steak pie.

After an interval there were songs and poems from Brian Scobie, John Porter, Davie Anderson. Bryce McCulloch then played a selection of tunes on the lowland pipes and John McMaster proposed he Immortal Memory. In the next part of the evening David Kiltie proposed the toast to Auld Maybole, there was more entertainment from Robin “Gus” Geddes, John McMaster, John Porter, Davie Anderson and Billy Kenny played a selection of tunes on the more traditional bagpipes before Alistair Hastings prposed the Toast to the Lassies.

The final part of the night’s ongoings was a feast of entertainment Brian Scobie reciting “Holy Willie’s Prayer”, Davy Hunter with “Tam O’Shanter” and “To A Mouse”, plus songs from John Porter and Tony Barton, and more pipe tunes from Bryce McCulloch. Chairman Davie Anderson proposed a very comprehensive vote of thanks to all who had contributed to what he described as a great evening.

The P7s at Cairn Primary School in Maybole excelled themselves at their annual Burns Supper on Thursday 23^rd February, planning, organising and setting up the programme as an Enterprise Venture.  Daniel Wallace was the chairperson, and he did a super job, linking all the entertainment and speeches very well, and with good humour. Some pupils from St Cuthbert’s Primary from the town attended, with their teacher Mrs McEwan, and all had a great time. They sang for their supper - a beautiful rendition of Ye Banks and Braes!  Cairn P6/7 choir also sang, a lovely version of Ae Fond Kiss.

The haggis was brought in by Ewan Parker of P7, and was piped superbly in by Louise Allan, first year pupil of Carrick Academy.  The Address To The Haggis was read by Caitlin Davidson, and the Selkirk Grace said by Kassie McCoy.  The Immortal Memory was written, and read superbly by Lauren Murray, and gave everyone a real insight into Rabbie’s life!  The Toast to the Lassies, and the Reply from the Lassies were very humorously done by Joe McSorley, and Shannan Brown. Everyone had a good laugh!

Various poems were recited – The Tartan, read by Jonathan Webster, Tam O’Shanter read by Lewis Clark, and To a Mouse, read by Ramsay Watson, Melissa Scobie, Dale Hamilton and Jack Hill, all of P7. Jade Heath from P6 gave a lovely Vote of Thanks from her class, who also were invited. Special thanks went to guests, Mr David Kiltie, MBE, himself a former pupil of Cairn, Mr David Whiteman, Cairn School Chaplain, Mr Brian Connolly, newly elected councillor for Maybole ward, Mrs Alison Davidson, PA representative, and Cairn Head Teacher, Mrs Fiona McDougall.

The P7s would especially like to thank all the Kitchen staff for the wonderful meal, and Mrs Feldmann for taking the part of Poosie Nancie, and for playing piano so well for all the good Scots songs sung!  Roll on next year, say the P6s, for their turn to organise another successful Burns Supper!

This coming Sunday, February 12, Our Lady & St Cuthbert’s Church starts a process to elect a new Parish Pastoral Council for the next three years. The present PPC was given an extension as Fr Stephen McGrattan arrived during its final year and this gave him an opportunity to pick up on what had been happening in the parish.

A new constitution was agreed last Sunday evening at the last meeting of the current PPC and this will form the basis for the new one. On Sunday Fr McGrattan will explain the nature of a PPC and the requirements of membership. Nomination forms for new members will be available from that date and all current members will be standing down although they are eligible for re-nomination.

Sunday February 19 will be the last date for nominations and forms will be collected at Mass that day. Everyone nominated will be invited to attend a meeting later in that week. The election for the new PPC will be held on Sunday 26th February and Fr McGrattan comments: “Parish Pastoral Councils are not an end in themselves, but are at the service of mission and evangelisation. Parish Pastoral Councils should enable priests and people to work together to build up a dynamic Christian community that is characterised by faith, mission, worship and service.

In particular they should facilitate the coordination of parish services regarding proclaiming the Word of God and forming the faith formation, especially for the young; fostering the sacramental, liturgical and prayer life of the parish; supporting marriage and family life; enabling the lay faithful to carry out their particular vocation of shaping society in accordance with the Gospel; strengthening commitment to social justice and caring for the marginalised, thereby ensuring that the parish communities be true witness to the love of Jesus.”

He added: “Parish Pastoral Councils should also encourage leadership in reaching out to young people and engaging them in their questioning about faith; look to new members of their communities and ensure that people of different nationalities and culture find their place in the liturgy and parish life; address the particular social challenges of the parish and ensure that the parish community is sensitive to the needs of all.”

The new PPC will be made up of the parish priest who will be ex officio President of the PPC and twelve members elected by the parish in general. These twelve will serve for three years and to ensure the continuity and smooth running of the PPC, elections will be every year for 1/3^rd of the seats. Members who will retire at the end of year 1 and year 2 will be decided by ballot at the first meeting after the initial election. Retiring members will be eligible to stand for re-election.

Rwanda - Off We Go To School. End of Project Report.
The Episcopal Diocese of Glasgow & Galloway have a companion link with the Diocese of Byumba in Rwanda.  Following the civil war in Rwanda in 1994, there are many very poor widows and orphans living there.  The Sunday School Children at St Oswald’s, Maybole, have raised £4590 to sponsor seventeen children in Rwanda, through secondary school for six years. On Sunday 19^th February there was a special evening service in St Oswald’s to celebrate the end of the project.  The Right Reverend Doctor Idris Jones, Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway, was guest speaker.

“Six young Christians in Maybole determined to help six young Rwandans gain an education at secondary school for six years,” said Bishop Idris.  “They asked for support and help, they worked with basic materials and turned them into goods for sale.  As a result, funding is now in place for seventeen children to receive an education.” When asked recently in Sunday School why they had wanted to take part in this project so much, two of the children’s responses were:

“To give people a chance so they can help themselves,” and “to make the world a better place.” Their achievement has far exceeded their original target of six.  Bishop Idris went on to say, “They might have said, ‘It’s too big, we can’t help,’ or, ‘it’s someone else’s problem, let them deal with it.’  But what they actually did was to look at what was available and at what they could do – and to get on and do it.”

The Maybole Branch of Save the Children held their annual Dinner Dance at Malin Court, Turnberry, recently. Over 100 loyal supporters responded with their usual generosity and enthusiasm and a fantastic £4,400 was raised. Alex Fergusson MSP performed his duties as auctioneer quite brilliantly and the dancefloor was packed all night thanks to a great local band, Backstage. The committee would like to thank all who attended, those who donated such interesting and varied auction and raffle items, Alex Fergusson MSP, the band and all the staff at Malin Court who provided a wonderful meal and outstanding service throughout.

The next fundraising event is a concert in Maybole Town Hall on Sunday 26th March at 7.30pm featuring the renowned local violinist Nicola Benedetti. The committee is obviously thrilled that Nicola has agreed to come to Maybole and help them raise funds for Save the Children. They are urging to please be quick in getting tickets as they are already selling fast.  They are £20 each and available from Save the Children Maybole Branch committee members, Mackays Music and several local shops.

January was a good month for Maybole’s web site www.maybole.org with over a million hits! One of the monthly reports on the site’s activities gives the number of hits on the site as a result of search strings which are the words used in Google and other search engines. For Maybole the word castle is at the top of the list and second is the auld lang syne mp3 file on the site which for January is no surprise.

The Spring term of Computing Classes is well underway in the Carnegie Building with waiting lists already started for the new session of classes due to start after the Easter holidays.  If you would like to receive information about new classes please contact:  Carol George (01655 882105) at the Community Education Office to register your interest.

Meanwhile – if you have been too late to join a class this time round there is still the chance to go along to the Drop In on Wednesdays 1.00 pm – 3.00 pm.  The Drop In is available to anyone who would like help to learn a particular function – anything from address labels to design your own musical greetings card, help with digital photography or just a chance for a bit of extra practice and advice.

The Royalty Burns Club in conjunction with Alloway Publishing have put together an irresistible offer for local schools. Schools throughout Glasgow and Greenock have benefited from this offer over the last few years and now Carrick schools can too. In order to foster the appreciation of the works of Robert Burns, and encourage interest in the Scots language, the Royalty Burns Club are happy to provide secondary schools and associated feeder primaries with a full classroom set of ‘Burns for Bairns’ for each school free of charge!

Ayrshire based schools to have benefited so far include Loudoun Academy and Irvine Royal Academy and their feeder primaries. This is an ongoing project but supply of books is determined by stocks available, so school are being urged to take up this opportunity and register their interest now with Anne or Jim at Alloway publishing, tel 01560 320237 fax 01560 322209.

Carrick Chess Club did well against Prestwick B, winning 5-1 with everyone won but Siegrun Macgilchrist. Results with Carrick players first: S. Macgilchrist- R. Carter; Eric McKinnon -S. Todd; D. Ferguson - K Brooksbank; S. McFadzean - J.Dement; S. Lampard - A. Mitchell; A. Roy - W. Fraser. The other match in the second division was won by Stewarton against Ayr 4.5 - 1.5 The last blitz tourney was won by Siegrun. Macgilchrist, Eric McKinnon was runner up and Ali Roy won the junior tourney.

In the most recent league game Carrick Chess Club beat Ayr; 4.5-1.5. Individual results, Carrick names first, were: Eric McKinnon 1/2 Steven Hamilton; Kenny Brooksbank 1-0 Jim Sands; Steell McFadzean 1-0 Bob Carter; Stuart Lampard 1-0 Ian Gardiner; Ali Roy 1-0 T V Melrose; Athol Macgilchrist 0-1 Steven Cole. Stewarton beat Prestwick B 3-2 in the 2nd division. Both teams defaulted board 6.  Siegrun Macgilchrist won a grading prize on Saturday, 11th Feb in a Hamilton open allegro. Ali Roy got 5/5 in the junior Chess for Kicks in Kilmarnock on Sunday, 12th February. Zak Roy won the P3 prize. He has joined his sister in going for competitions and has won a few trophies over the last five months.

Maybole’s protest to achieve a bypass for the town took to the street on Saturday morning. Outside the Town Hall, Peter Mason, who chairs the Bypass committee, thanked everyone for going along including the four candidates in the by-election. He added that he had also received an e-mail from Cathy Jamieson MSP to say that she was sorry she could not be there because of ministerial duties.

He went on to explain the reason for starting the bypass action, “We are still awaiting the final draft of the STAG 1 report which should have been complete in the autumn. Even after the report comes out, it is still up to the Transport Minister to say whether we are getting a by pass or not, even if the stag report comes out in favour of a by pass. Work will not start until 2010 at the earliest. “The longer we wait to take action, the more damage is taking place to our historical buildings, the more danger to our people “We have written, we have asked , we have pleaded.

“It is now up to the people of Maybole to protest.”

Mr Mason also said that the action they were taking would be the first of many and varied forms of protest that the Bypass Committee was planning. “We are arranging a meeting of all groups in the town to discuss in detail what the next form of action should be.”He outlined what was happening on Saturday saying that the committee were going to re-launch their banner , then walk down the High Street to the pedestrian crossing, and cross over the crossing a few times.

He stressed that the protest would be carried out peacefully and legally using the lights on the crossing as they should be used.“As everybody knows about the danger of this road,” he added, “We would that care should be taken at all times while walking down to the crossing and also while using the crossing.” He then invited anybody who wished to do so to take part in the protest. The action certainly seemed to be effective as even using the crossing legally there was soon a build up of traffic.

Afterwards Mr Mason said he was “absolutely delighted” with how the action had gone and commented, “On behalf of the committee I would like to thank everybody who was there - the infants in buggies, the young people, and the not so young people, who all contributed to make this day a success. I would like to offer a special word of thanks to the police for their attendance. “As I have already said this is only the first in many and varied actions that we plan to take  More details on bypass.