Female residents of Crosne Street had an "away" day recently - away from the men that is! The ladies decided to have some quality time and treated themselves to cheese and wine and they were offered a personal make over by Diane McKissock, of Creme de la Creme in Maybole High Street.

The complete text of the headlines above and more articles follows.

June 2006

Two options for a Maybole bypass are to be taken forward following a detailed study into the transport issues facing the town centre. The study looked closely at the transport problems in the town where the A77 trunk road passes a narrow section of carriageway in the town’s High Street between shops and the “A” listed Maybole Castle. The main problems for Maybole residents come from the narrow width of the trunk road, and in particular the narrow footways in the High Street combined with the volume of heavy goods vehicles coming from and going to the Ireland ferries. This leads to road safety problems, inconvenience for pedestrians and traffic delays. full article

The next day of action for a by-pass for Maybole is this Saturday, June 3. Anyone interested in joining the protest is invited to meet at the Town Hall car park at 10.45am. Peter Mason, chair of the By-pass Committee said at the weekend, “Because of holidays, trips, etc. we expect our numbers to be down and would ask the people who regularly turn up to bring one other person with them, people they know agree with the protest but have never been on it.”

In the background there is still an argument going on about signs saying the pelican crossing lights were not working at the Easter weekend. Mr Mason and others in Maybole maintain that there were no signs erected until after Easter Sunday but Amey and Transport Scotland insist they were there before the holiday weekend. They also maintain that the signs were collected by Amey on April 20 – yet Mr Mason has photos showing the signs still there in mid-May! He has been in touch with Cathy Jamieson MSP who has been subsequently in touch with Amey and Transport Scotland. more about the by-pass.

Lorraine Mason, Rev Dave Whiteman, Beverley Watson, John Beck, Louise Dyle, Gavin Loch, Moira Fotheringham, Jimmy Murdoch, Julie Watson and Davie Anderson. “Rockin’ for Rocky” was a tribute night in memory of Allan “Rocky” Watson recently. The top Ayrshire rock ‘n’ roll musician died in a motorbike accident in May last year and family and friends wanted to have a night in his memory and raise money for charity.

The night was a great success starting off with a presentation of photographs of Rocky at various times in his life. He had also been the front man in Rocky Bean and the Black Eyed Peas, a fun band who specialised in rockabilly music. Four of his colleagues Davie Anderson, Gavin Loch, Jimmy Murdoch and Michael Andrew provided the music on the night and had the joint rocking. Kenny Brown also joined in later.

Gavin officiated at an auction and soon had some huge bids coming in. The family would like to thank everyone who attended the night especially those who donated auction items, raffle prizes and those who bought raffle tickets and put in bids during the auction. Special thanks to the Peas and DJDK. A total of £1,920.50 was raised and last week John Beck, chief executive of Ayrshire Cancer Support Group visited Maybole to  accept a cheque for £1,800. A cheque for £120.50 has also been sent to Ward 64, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow.

Mr Beck was delighted to receive such an amount of money and thanked all who had contributed to it, and the family for considering his group. He said, “Ayrshire Cancer Support was founded in 1982 to provide emotional support and practical help for cancer patients, their families and carers in Ayrshire. We have grown, in direct response to the needs of those affected by cancer, to become the largest organisation of our kind in Ayrshire.

We deliver a range of services which can be used, free of charge, by anyone affected by cancer. Our emphasis is very much on improving the quality of life of those living with cancer and our aim is to ensure that assistance is readily available for all those who need it. Early on in our work we found that many Ayrshire cancer patients faced real problems getting to and from hospital for treatment. Our Community Transport Service was set up to address this issue.

Staffed by volunteer drivers, we take hundreds of patients to and from hospital for treatment. For many patients this means travelling to Glasgow on a daily basis for a period of up to eight weeks and many people rely on us to get them there. Patients are collected directly from their homes, accompanied to hospital and driven home after treatment is completed. The service is especially useful for those who feel unwell after treatment, those living in rural areas, the elderly and parents taking children for treatment.

Our drivers now make approximately 1000 return journeys each month on behalf of Ayrshire cancer patients. We need to raise approximately £1,500 each week to cover this cost.” He concluded, “Our Services include: Counselling, Support Groups, Complementary Therapies (reflexology, aromatherapy, relaxation), Arts & Crafts, Telephone Counselling plus Advice & Information.” For further information on any of the above services, telephone the Ayr Centre 01292269888. A Macmillan Support Nurse is available by appointment as well.

Sunday May 21 was a special day for Rachel Campbell, Sam Currie, Ronan Hunter Blair, Amy Malone, Niall Murphy, Aaron Packer and David Welsh of Our Lady & St Cuthbert’s Church in Maybole. They all had their baptism confirmed in the Sacrament of Confirmation by Bishop John Cunningham who presided at Mass.

Rachel, Sam, Amy, Niall and David also became full members of the Church by receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time. Ronan and Aaron had already made their First Communion in other parishes.

The church was full for the young parishioners’ special day and Fr Stephen McGrattan congratulated them and urged them to be “good disciples”. He added, “It is a day of celebration and fun - even laced with a touch of glamour. We love to rise to the sense of occasion on 'Communion Day'! It is a day that means a lot to many people.”

Fr McGrattan also said that the day was a wee bit like passing a driving test! “This is only the beginning,” he told the rest of the congregation. “Today our young people become full members of the Church in the parish of Our Lady and St Cuthbert. Please continue to encourage them to use all of their gifts for the good of the parish and wider community. Truly, these young people are our future. Please pray that they will continue to be people of Christian values, substance and generosity to build up and keep alive the already strong sense of community in the area where we live.”

Recently some local children helped raise £1000 to donate to the paediatric intensive care unit at Edinburgh. Claire Struthers' daughter had to spend some time in the unit and Claire and her family were very grateful to all staff for the care Quinn received. She says, "They were absolutely fantastic and we really wanted to give something back to show how grateful we are. We want to say a big thanks to all the doctors and staff at Edinburgh and a huge thanks to all the children who took part in the sponsored walk."On Monday 29th May, local friends and family participated in a sponsored walk to raise money for Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital. (Claire and Quinn are on the extreme left of the photo above)

Once again the Jean Falconer Literary Competition produced such a high standard of writing among Maybole school pupils that the judges had an incredibly difficult task to pick winners in a competition which commemorates a founder member of Maybole Community Council.

Winners were:

Primary School Award
1st        Stephen Sweeney       St Cuthbert's Primary

2nd      Heather Kerr                Gardenrose Primary

3rd       Ali Roy                         St Cuthbert's Primary

            Highlv Commended
            Daniel Wallace              Cairn Primary

            Rebecca Milligan          Gardenrose Primary

            Lauren Wardrop           Gardenrose Primary

            Rhiain Collins                St Cuthbert's Primary

            Patrick McCallum         St Cuthbert's Primary

               Maeve Murphy            St Cuthbert's Primary

Secondary School Award

1st   Angharad Barclay   Carrick Academy

2nd  Michael Paton         Carrick Academy

            Highlv Commended

            Iona Haston                   Carrick Academy

            Jason McKay                Carrick Academy

            Greg Montgomery        Carrick Academy

            Jennifer Wilson             Carrick Academy

Prizes were presented by Jean’s mother Mrs Nell Samson. The competition is organised annually by Maybole Community Council and chairman David Kiltie said, “Maybole Community Council would like to congratulate all of this year's prize winners and to thank everyone who entered the Jean Falconer Literary Competition 2006.

The competition has been held annually for many years now and our judges have consistently praised the high standard of writing - even if this has made their decisions very difficult! We are grateful for the continued support of all our local schools and delighted that the competition is now part of Carrick Academy's curriculum.

The contributions from Cairn, Gardenrose and St Cuthbert's Primary Schools are also very much appreciated. Our thanks to all teachers who assist with this. The late Jean Falconer was a founder member of Maybole Community Council in 1977, and played a key role in its formation over a number of years. When she sadly died, members wanted to remember her in some way and it was felt that a literary competition would be the most suitable way.

Maybole Community Council would like to thank everyone who has been involved in this year's competition and assure them that the part they have played in it is very much appreciated. Special thanks are offered to our judges Elizabeth McCrindle and Norman Paton, for their time and expertise, and Carrick Crime Prevention Panel for their sponsorship.”

St. Cuthbert's Primary School’s Chess Club has reached the end of the Chess Land Challenge. Our photo shows the competitors with their badges, mascots, certificates and trophies which they have won. The top three players won the chance to go to the Megafinal in Dunfermline. Ali and Zak Roy and Kieran Mackin qualified for the megafinal but only Ali and Zak went. Ali won her section and Zak was 2nd in the Under 7s. The Club meets on a Wednesday at lunchtime and the next competition is for the School Chess Trophy.

Ayrshire Chess League prize giving and lightning tourney took place in Greenwood academy recently. Photo: The Ayrshire champion is Stephen Robinson (3rd from left) holding the trophy who scored 6/6!!! 2nd was Elliott Frew (not in pic) with 5 pts. 3rd equal were (from left:) Kenny Malkin, Gary McPheator & (on the far right:) John Calder with 4 pts. Best Carrick player was Siegrun Macgilchrist with 3.5 The 1st division trophy was won by Irvine. Robert Loughran is proudly showing it off! The 2nd division trophy was won by Carrick. The club won it twice before ~ 30 years ago. Photo from left: Athol & Siegrun Macgilchrist, Stuart Lampard and Dr. Kenneth Brooksbank. The 3rd division trophy was won by Largs, but nobody attended the prize giving from that club. The lightning tourney is a very special competition. A buzzer sounds every 7 seconds & the moves have to be made on the tone! There were 4 groups with 5 players each. The players started to play & when one pair was finished, another 2 decided to play each other, sat down, waited for the next tone & started the next game. Three clubs entered a team of 4 players. Kilmarnock won, Carrick was 2nd & Greenwood last. The individual best was decided by a knock out system. Stephen Robinson won once again. Carrick's best was Kenneth Brooksbank with 3.5/4

Maybole Community Council.  It was a case of “as you were” at Maybole Community Council’s 2006 AGM recently when the office bearers were all re-elected. This means David Kiltie will continue as chairman for the next year with Alex Kelly as vice chairman, Anne Walker as secretary and Gillian Durrant as treasurer. In his report for the year April 2005 to March 2006, Mr Kiltie pointed out that his report covers the second year of the community council’s three year term of office from 2004 - 2007.

He continued, “Office bearers elected for 2005-06 were David Kiltie, (chairman); Alex Kelly, (vice-chairman); Anne Walker, (secretary); and Gillian Durrant (treasurer).

Brian Connolly was successful in last year’s by-election. Unfortunately, Moira Auld tendered her resignation last year and we would like to thank her for her time with us. This meant that we were back to having two vacancies on the Council for the East Ward. These positions were filled by Karen Simpson and Wendy McClure. Alan Martin was co-opted from Maybole Business Association. Brian Connolly was also elected to South Ayrshire Council in a by-election in February this year so had to resign.

We currently have only one main committee - our General Purposes Committee. This committee is meant to be the driving force of the community council but there seems to be problems with members attending and for the last year of our term we really should address this.

A Bypass sub-committee was created and it works with others in the town to draw attention to the lack of response from the Scottish Executive. There have been several successful demonstrations in recent months.

Other groups we were represented on included: Maybole Resource Centre’s Advisory Committee, Maybole Town Twinning Association, Carrick Crime Prevention Panel, Carrick Community Transport Group, the local Sports Association, the Community Association, Maybole Sick Nursing Association, Maybole Carnegie 21^st Century Halls Committee and the new Association of South Ayrshire Community Councils.

Thanks are due to all community councillors who put in extra work as part of all these groups.

 The rest of the report

A sunny Friday afternoon last week helped ensure that pupils and family had a Fun Day to remember. The fun included skipping, playing beds, parachute games, line dancing, football, hockey, golf, basketball and suitable breaks for fruit and juice.

Carrick Sports Club held its annual dance last Saturday evening and presenting the prizes were Bill McCubbin and his wife Rena. Winners were:

Snooker Chris Campbell r/u Ian Irvine

Darts David Galloway r/u Billy Galloway

Table tennis David Kiltie r/u Billy White

Dominoes Bill McCubbin r/ David Kiltie

Pool David Kiltie r/u Robert Armstrong

Bowls Willie Parker r/u David Galloway

Don Raby Quiz Julia MCulloch, Fiona McCulloch, Alex Davidson and Craig McNair

There was also a presentation by Alex Meek, convener, to Bill McCubbin for over thirty years service to the Club. Paul Phillips was in great form and thoroughly entertained members with a mix of hilarious comedy and vocals.

The Second-Hand Book Shop at Culzean Castle is now doing so well that the shop is running short of books and is appealing to anyone who may have unwanted books, to donate them for the benefit of Culzean and the National Trust for Scotland.

The shop moved from its old home in the visitor centre to the former ‘Country Park’ shop last November and is staffed by a team of dedicated volunteers who ensure it is open every day from 11.00am to 3.00pm. 

In addition to paperback and hardback fiction, biographies, and children’s books, the shop has shelves devoted to non-fiction categories such as gardening, sports, cookery, music, art, history and travel as well as books in foreign languages, poetry, classics and text and reference books. There are also magazines and periodicals such as ‘National Geographic’, ‘The Scotsman’ and ‘Country Life’ and also a small music and video section with CDs, DVDs, LPs, singles and a few 78s.

If you are searching for a particular title which may be out of print, the shop offers a free service to try and find that book for you. The shop also serves tea and coffee and all are welcome to browse the shelves whatever their footwear and whatever the weather!