Photo shows Alex Gemmell, of Maybole, with Hugh Bryden and Jim Begley sharing a humorous moment with Prince Charles. The three men are members of the Ayrshire Yeomanry Old Comrades Association and they were at Alnwick Castle in Northumbria for a special ceremony. Alnwick Castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England, the first being Windsor Castle. Prince Charle, the current Earl of Carrick and Royal Honorary Colonel to the Queen’s Own Yeomanry, presented the Queen's Own Yeomanry, the UK's only Territorial Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment, with a rare battle honour flag at the ceremony.

The Prince carried out an inspection of the regiment before presenting the guidon; a crimson silk damask flag embroidered and fringed with gold with the Regimental Battle Honours emblazoned upon it and the Regimental emblem embroidered in the centre. The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry is Scotland's Senior Yeomanry with an unbroken history stretching back to 1793 when the 12th Earl of Cassillis formed, from local farmers and townsmen, a troop of yeomanry known as "The Earl of Carrick's Own Yeomanry" in honour of their royal feudal superior, the Earl of Carrick and heir to the Crown.

Breast Cancer Campaign is hosting a range of fantastic events nationwide throughout October, the official Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Heather and Duncan Muir, local organisers for the Breast Cancer Campaign, say, “Friday October 26 is 'Wear it Pink' day - look out for the pink boxes - wear something pink and donate £2 to the appeal.” Heather added, “Maybole Concert Party is holding a concert in Maybole Town Hall on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th November with proceeds to BCC. Tickets priced £5 and £3 concessions are available in Fringe Benefits, JD Cameron, Concert Party Members or ourselves.” Last week the local branch of the charity was presented with two substantial cheques. Ruth Blakley ran the women’s 10K in Glasgow earlier this year and raised the sum of £985 for tbe Breast Cancer Campaign. Jean and Jim Pollock from Crosshill chose BCC along with the Heart Foundation as the charities to receive donations at their Golden Wedding in September. Allthough the cheque shows £381, another £100 was donated later by the Round Table. Heather and Duncan are grateful for these fantastic donations and would like to thank Ruth Jean and Jim for their generosity. As Christmas approaches, Heather told us that Santa's secretary will be available for Santa letters again this year. Please contact 01655 884439 for details. (Photos show Jean and Jim Pollock with Heather Muir; and Ruth Blakley with BCC committee member Elizabeth McCrindle.)

SUBSTANCE ABUSE AWARENESS DAYS. In Strathclyde, some of the money seized from the assets of drug dealers is being put to good use to educate local secondary school pupils. Over 350 pupils in Carrick Academy, Maybole, Girvan Academy and Queen Margaret Academy, Ayr attended Substance Abuse Awareness Days held recently in their respective schools.

The three, one day events are in their ninth year and are organised by Carrick Crime Prevention Panel in conjunction with Strathclyde Police and are aimed at all 3rd year pupils of the schools These are very high profile events and Cathy Jamieson MSP attended the event at Maybole where she was pleased to open proceedings. Bishop John Cunningham, Bishop of Galloway, opened the event at QMA and Sandra Osborne MP opened the event at Girvan.

The event consists of a series of workshops presented by a number of different partner agencies on the dangers of Substance Abuse. Workshops include Police Drugs and the Law; Fire Service Fire Safety; British Transport Police Railway Safety; Addiction Services Alcohol Abuse; Fresh Air-shire Smoking Cessation; and School Nurse Sexual Health.

At the end of the day each pupil received an information pack containing various literature concerning the above topics as well as the usual "freebies". The event would not have taken place without the hard work and commitment of Panel Chairman Alex Kelly, his vice chair Sandra Scott and PC Bobby Bell of Ayr Community Safety Department who between them had the unenviable task of organising three events and making up over 350 packs.

PC Bell added "The event is yet another excellent example of partnership working between Police, Fire and Rescue, British Transport Police and agencies from the NHS. I am sure the pupils will have enjoyed the day and hopefully the inputs will help them make more informed choices concerning drugs and alcohol".

What an Achievement!!!!

Black Belts for TKS

TKS had the privilege of holding their first Black Belt Grading, at Fairfield House Hotel on Saturday 29th September. Keller and Jade Pryde from Wellington School and Callum Cairns from Prestwick Academy were TKS’s first Black Belt candidates since coming to Ayrshire from Peterborough four years ago. Tom Hibbert from Derby was the chief examiner and presented certificates to the students along with personalised silk black belts. Mr Hibbert is the president of WAKO (World Amateur Kickboxing Organisation) and also President of the AMA ( Amateur Martial Arts Association). He was very impressed with the standard and gave TKS lots of praise for the work and commitment that Chief Instructor Dave Thorpe imposed on all his students. Sensei Dave Thorpe and Sensei Luke Thorpe also achieved their 3rd Dan and Sensei Jamie Gray his 2nd Dan. If you require any more information about classes for both children and adults alike in your area then contact Corinne on 01655 889977 or corinne@thorpekarate.co.uk and she will be only too happy to help.

Maybole Bowling Club Prizewinners 2007

Gents

Club Champion (Wm Gray Trophy)      Lee McCulloch r/u Hugh Paterson

President’s Cup            William Grant r/u William Kennedy

Vice President’s Cup    Alex Davidson r/u Hugh Paterson

Novice             Geoff Smith

Senior Trophy              William Kennedy r/u Jim McGarrie

Matthew Reid Pairs      William Johnstone & John Carlyle r/u Robert Mattless & Lee McCulloch

SBA Triples (Robert Turner Trophy)    Geoff Smith, Peter Ogg & Frank Potter r/u William Young, Hugh Paterson & Alex Davidson

SBA Pairs (John Conkie Memorial Cup)           Geoff Smith & Lee McCulloch r/u Robert Smylie & Ciaran Smylie

Mixed

Nominated Mixed Pairs (SBA) (Shield)            Dorothy McGarrie & Lee McCulloch r/u Janetta Rodger & Alex Davidson

Mixed Two Bowl Pairs (Hannah trophy)           Christine Malone & Lee McCulloch r/u Sheena Brown & John Carlyle

Mixed Pairs (William Reid Memorial Cup)        Helen Sloan & Alex Davidson r/u Sarah Chapman & Robert Mattless

Mixed Triples               Ciaran Smylie, Christine Malone & John Carlyle r/u Bette Coulter, Frank Potter and Sheena Brown

Peter McEwan Shield               Betty Hannah, Avril Reid & Geoff Smith r/u Isabel Johnstone, Elsie Hoggitt & William J Grant

Peggy Kilpatrick Trophy (Senior nominated mixed pairs)           Janetta Rodger & Alex Davidson r/u Margaret McCulloch & Peter McCulloch

Tom Hind Memorial Cup          Pat Webster r/u William J Grant

The William Bulloch Trophy (Mixed singles)      Jimmy McGarrie r/u Ciaran Smylie

Marble Bowl    Geoff Smith r/u Avril Reid

Memorial Park Cup (Mixed singles)      Ciaran Smylie r/u Lee McCulloch

Ladies

Club Champion (Ericson Rose Bowl                 Helen Sloan r/u Pat Webster

President’s Cup            Sheena Brown r/u Helen Sloan

Vice President’s Cup    Dorothy McGarrie r/u Avril Reid

Novice (Mrs Matthew Reid Trophy)     Carol McAdam

Ladies Pairs (Flora Conkie Trophy)      Helen Sloan & Sarah Chapman r/u Dorothy McGarrie & Pat Webster

Senior Ladies Pairs (Rose Bowl)           Isabel Johnstone & Pat Webster r/u Sadie Scobie & Sarah Chapman

 P6 pupils at Cairn primary in Maybole had a coffee morning on Friday in aid of Macmillan Cancer Care. The class raised over £300 in total. (Pictures include P6s at the cake table, Mr Glass, the Janitor, guessing the weight of the cake kindly donated by mum Lynn Sloan and mums enjoying tea and cake.

OPEN NIGHT AT CAIRN PRIMARY A GREAT SUCCESS! Cairn Primary School opened its doors on Thursday night to parents, pupils and friends of the school in order to celebrate the excellent HMIe follow-up report on the school and to show off all the newly decorated classrooms. Visitors to the Open Night had the opportunity to visit every classroom and look at various different resources used at each stage. P5 organised their very own "Treasure Hunt" and each visiting family has a folder with all the equipment they need including fabulous photographs of old Maybole. The idea is to try to find the exact spot the photographs were taken and mark it on a map. Happy Hunting The rest of the town should look out for the Cairn Treasure Hunters! Senior pupils served tea and coffee in the gym hall and visitors had a chance to chat to Pupil Council members, members of the Eco Committee and Junior Road Safety Officers. Members of the Parent Council were also present and asking all parents for ideas for future social events. The open night was well attended and everyone commented on how attractive the school was looking. Cairn Pupil Council Are Go! Pupil Council Cairn Primary Pupil Council are getting set again this year for 'the big spend'. At Cairn Open Evening representatives from the Pupil Council, Shannon Andrew, Andrew Wallace and Rebecca Kirkwood set up a stand and explained to parents what they are going to be involved in this year. The Pupil Council members have decided, through the process of asking their classes, and consulting with the Pupil Council co-ordinator, that they will continue the Playground renovation project started last year, when they added new benches, planters and plants to several areas of the school, and bought two new pieces of Trim Trail, which everyone loves to play on. They also purchased new welcome signs and information signs around the playground to make the school more attractive and interesting. This year they wish to add further to the Trim Trail, as it is so popular, and add some more trees, shrubs and ground games painting. They will again need to prepare a bid, using a power-point presentation, which they will present to the Carrick Academy Approval group. If successful they will add the money they get to the school's Determined to Succeed budget, making a total of around £1000. They hope to fund-raise further to add even more at a later stage. They are very keen and are 'Determined to Make A Difference!' Eco-Cairn! Cairn Primary is well and truly on the road to being an Eco-Friendly school. The recently set up Eco-School Committee, containing one pupil from each class, has been organising what needs to be done, using an audit to decide the school's prorities. They feel very lucky to have a Parent Helper on the committee, which will be an enormous help in the quest for an Eco School Awards. Morgan Hetherington, Georgia Wallace, Libby Purdie and Ryan Maxwell, representatives from the committee set up and presented information about the work of the group, and Eco Warriors group to parents at Open Evening. Everyone was delighted to hear about the new innovations! The new Eco Warriors after school club each week work on various activities - litter picking, watching energy conservation, 'tidy monitoring', and tending the school garden area and planters etc. They have designed posters to encourage others to consider how they can help in the Quest! Parent Helper, Mrs Graham, also helps out enthusiastically with the Eco Warriors. Everyone is having a great time! They are working closely with BCTV, a charity based at Auchincruive, to make changes also. Julie, from BCTV, and her colleagues, are coming to Cairn for the day to kick start the 07/08 development programme on 29th October designing and making an Eco friendly items for the garden area. The Action Plan includes a log pile to encourage insects, a raised butterfly garden for the infant play area, a wooden compost bin, an allotment on which to grow their own vegetables and fruit, a greenhouse made entirely (almost!) of recycled lemonade bottles, and more trees and shrub borders, which South Ayrshire Council have kindly said they will donate. They a seeking funding from various areas and continue to seek assistance in any way from any company interested in a partnership to further the Eco School projects. Primary 7 already organise and run the school paper recycling project and made heat reflectors for the radiators along with 'hippos' to go in the water cisterns to conserve water. How Eco-Friendly is Cairn! Be Road Safe! Erin Kennedy and Rhianna Hamilton are this year's Cairn Junior Road Safety Officers. Both girls did a sterling job manning their stand at Open Evening, telling parents what is gong on at Cairn this year, and current initiatives October is Walk to School Month. They both designed a display board to show off their ideas and explain their role. Well done, girls! Harvest Assembly Cairn's harvest assembly was a huge success this year, with lots of wonderful presentations by the Cairn pupils themselves. Lots of parents attended and were delighted to se the P7s present their Harvest song, poem and prayer. The P3s did a super song and dance about a very silly farmer at Harvest Time, who did all the wrong things! The Nursery presented a delightful song and the choir sang two superb renditions of beautiful harvest hymns. The school is proud of every one! Well Done to all!