Sunday March 16 was Passion or Palm Sunday and, as usual, parishioners at Our Lady & St Cuthbert’s Church in Maybole started their service a little differently. As there was some slight rain, rather than gathering outside the church for the traditional blessing of palms they met in the church hall. The Gospel of the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem was read, and then there was a procession from the hall outside and then back into the church with parishioners holding blessed palms and singing “Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising”. Immediately afterwards, the theme changed radically with the reading of the Passion from St Mathew’s gospel. Photo shows Fr Stephen McGrattan with altar servers in the procession from the hall to the church.

Churches in Maybole united for several services during Holy Week, the days leading up to Easter. Our photos show a gathering at the war memorial at dawn on Easter Sunday, and Stations of the Cross in St Cuthbert’s Church on Good Friday.

Last week Maybole Town Twinning Association held an Open Night and had invited members to take along any photographs of past events. Sue and Tony Staple presented a framed photograph to chairman Hugh Anderson in memory of Jim Sym. William Grant showed members the twinning’s updated we site and others took the opportunity to look at photograph albums.

List of winners from Pontoon Golf Club. March Medal - Scott Anderson, Bogey Competition - Scott Anderson, 5 Club Competition - Scott Anderson, April Medal - Robert Green, Spring Outing - Ricki Scott R/up - Kevin McSorley, May Medal - Rod McDowall, Stableford - Alex Gemmell, Campbell Milligan Trophy - Kevin McSorley, ..more

The Ayrshire chess league has 3 divisions. Carrick plays in the first division. There are eight teams & every club plays every team once. Carrick had a draw with Troon in round 6: Siegrun Macgilchrist 0-1 John Calder; Eric MacKinnon 0-1 Len Weir; Kenny Brooksbank 0-1 Duncan Malcolm; Ali Roy 1-0 Michael Chapman; Steell McFadzean 1-0 Stuart Lampard; Athol 1-0 Alice Lampard Later Carrick won in round 7 against Largs 4 -2, which puts Carrick in 7th place (14.5). Largs is last (5) & Troon (17.5)is just in front of Carrick. Irvine (33) & Greenwood (33) are leading the race. Now every team is playing three matches - the top 4 are playing each other for the trophy: Greenwood, Irvine, Prestwick & Kilmarnock, the bottom four to avoid relegation: Ardrossan, Carrick, Largs & Troon.

The Animal Man paid a visit to Maybole Youth Club last week and it was a very educational and fun time. Members of the youth club were shown a duck, a cockerel, a cockroach, a tarantula, a lizard, a tortoise, a rabbit, a rat, a guinea pig and two snakes – one of which was a boa constrictor! A few brave volunteers even had the tarantula and the cockroach put on their faces.

The Annual General Meeting of the Maybole and District Branch of the Scottish National Party was held in the Town Hall recently. William Grant was re-elected as Convener with Bill McCubbin as Vice Convener. Karen McMillan is the Branch Secretary and Peter McMillan continues as the Treasurer. Karen and Peter are both from Straiton. Tom McMillan from Maybole is in charge of Organization. Isobel Smith from Dunure is the delegate to National Council along with William Grant. Bill McCubbin will attend to press matters.

Fairknowe House Nursing Home: Winners in the Easter Bonnet competition were 1 Alistair McKechnie 2 Jean Galloway 3 Nessie Chirnside Lucky squares draw winners £30 Robert Galloway £20 Cecilia McDowall £10 Rita Glynn Thanks to everyone who made it such a wonderful afternoon especially the staff and family members who helped make the bonnets and the kitchen staff who provided the Easter lunch and cakes. Thanks also to the entertainers singer Jessie Gray and guitarist Colin Balfour.