Beast of Birmingham - Laura-Jane Gibson, of Maybole, is currently making her Scottish professional debut in Edinburgh with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Laura-Jane, 20, is at the Festival Theatre performing the role of the vixen in Beauty and the Beast and says it is a dream come true for her. She trained locally with Kerry Bolland and Penny Withers before joining the Scottish Ballet as a Junior and then Senior Associate. She began training with Elmhurst School for Dance in 2004, and as a student danced with Birmingham Royal Ballet in The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, La Fille mal gardée, The Firebird, Checkmate and Symphony in Three Movements. She joined the Company in 2007. more

Gordon Cockburn marked his fifth anniversary of buying his gallery in Maybole by holding a pre-Christmas exhibition last weekend. Also on show were some excellent pieces of work by JD Fergusson, Byrne and Howson. Gordon told us he was delighted with the response from the many people who turned up. Photo shows Gordon looking at the JD Fergusson work that was loaned to him for the exhibition. Also on show were contributions from Patrick McCann from Girvan, whom Gordon described as an up and coming talent saying that Patrick was being assisted by Peter Howson. In addition the famous actor John Cairney had provided some pieces from his latest book.

Left: Maybole remembered its war dead as a whole community on Sunday November 9th with an ecumenical service in the Town Hall led by Rev Paul Russell, Rev Ian Merideth and Fr Stephen McGrattan. more
Right: Maybole remembered its war dead again on Tuesday, November 11 with an Armistice Day service at the Greenside at 11am. more

Calcutta Cup with Carrick Academy’s 1st XV (In Black) and U15 (In Blue). The Calcutta Cup visited Carrick Academy on Tuesday 4th November.  more

Carrick and District Homing Society held their annual prize giving and dinner and dance in Memorial Park Bowling Club in Maybole recently. It was a well attended event and a good night was had by all. Highest prizewinners on the North Road were Jamieson and Mc Whirter and highest prize winner on the South Road was Alec Lothian. Carrick and District would like to thank guests of honour Mr and Mrs Cooper Hay and Mr and Mrs Willie Semple, they would also like to thank all of the members for their raffle donations.

Carrick Academy is South Ayrshire’s School of Ambition with a focus on active learning, active partnerships and active leadership. As part of that programme, all Carrick Cluster primary schools as well as Dalrymple PS from East Ayrshire were invited to send their P7 pupils to a special Leadership Challenge Day at the school. Around 110 pupils came together for the first time in a series of physical team challenges within the PE department with tasks such as Bucket Head, Hockey Dribble and Helium Stick! more

Last year, schools, churches, clubs and thousands of individuals donated over 140,000 filled shoeboxes to the Blythswood Care Shoebox Appeal. These gifts brought much joy to the children and adults who received them. Over the last five years over 500,000 boxes have been distibuted. This year, many local churches have again been doing their bit to help. Holy Trinity, Ayr completed 30 boxes and St Oswald's Church, Maybole, part of the South Ayrshire team, completed 110 - a staggering total of 140 shoeboxes. Evan McLaughlin (3) from Maybole helped carry every single one into the back of the collection van....well almost!

Pudsey would like to say a BIG THANK YOU To all pupils and parents at Cairn Primary School who organised a Children In Need fun competition held on Friday 14th November. A very special thanks to all mums and dads for their contribution in both money and bandanas!! A great day was had by all and the school raised over £118 for the appeal and got a mention on the TV programme. Well done everyone!

Jim Grant and Kathleen McCrorie would like to thank family and friends for donations in aid of "Breast Cancer Care". They recently did a walk on board the HSS Stenna-Line crossing from Stranraer to Belfast raising £265 for the worthy cause.

As part of the St. Cuthbert’s Year of Reading initiative the school celebrated the National Story Telling Day by having “Tell Me A Story” sessions for the children on Friday 31st October. Parents and friends of the school came in to the school to read a favourite short story, picture book or a chapter from a book that was read as a child. Readings ranged from Charlotte’s Web to The Twits to We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. All the children (and the volunteers!) enjoyed the reading sessions and the day was a great success.