A Day Trip to Kilmarnock

[chriso]

When I went to the baths in the late fifties, we used to go for a combine tea which consisted of a pie and beans with bread, butter, and a cup of tea,in the Queens cafe just next to the baths.
I recall one time when a group of us were coming back home we had split into 2 groups and arrived back in Stevenston at different times.We used to take a shortcut across the railway line at the Quarry, this was before the new road was built,and both groups got caught at different times by a plain clothes railway policeman who was hiding behind a bridge pillar.
We were charged with Tresspassing on Railway property and were eventually fined 10 bob each.
I think Jarneilh,one of our posters was there as well.

[brian f]

In my day after swimming at killie baths we went to tesco, chips and beens 12p no as good as what you had at queens cafe chriso but as hughie mentioned one would be famished after a swim even though it was fairly short session as all bathing pools was strict about times in those day.
what court would you have had the 10 bob fine ? Kilmarnock court had a sheriff called Smith in my teenage years no one liked paying him a visit especially the girls who would shop lift make up etc from boots in the town which was a rather large store compared to the shops in the threetowns.

edit . I am starting to think now that smaller criminal offences could have been at an Irvine court ??? for the Kilwinning offenders .
Anyway Sheriff Smith was a man to avoid.

[chriso]

As far as I can remember it was next to the polis station in green street saltcoats

[Penny Tray]

Chriso,

Did your mother or father or both have to attend the court with you? If so, this would suggest it was the Juvenile Court, the process which existed before Childrens' Panels.

The Juvenile Court for the Threetowns convened in Green Street, in the building immediately adjacent to Saltcoats Police Office.

[Penny Tray]

Brian f,

Sheriff Smith was indeed a character:-

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl ... h-1.451823

And young people from Kilwinning, as I recall, went to an Irvine & District Juvenile Court in the Townshouse at Irvine.

[wmh]

You were all wandering to far , just 10 yards to the right of the entrance to the baths was Ferries café, they had a side entrance which always had a line of people with towels in hand waiting to be served, They were at one time supposed to be the best fish and chips in the town. They also had an ice-cream factory across from the baths in Douglas street , nearly every ice-cream van in the district sold Ferries ice-cream

wmh

[chriso]

Chriso,

Did your mother or father or both have to attend the court with you? If so, this would suggest it was the Juvenile Court, the process which existed before Childrens' Panels.

The Juvenile Court for the Threetowns convened in Green Street, in the building immediately adjacent to Saltcoats Police Office.

You are right, my father took me there.

[meekan]

On our way home I seem to recall the group I travelled with visiting a café. I think it was called the 'Moka'.

The 'Moka' Cafe sat on the corner between the baths and the traffic lights, I was seldom in it.
On night school nights I would finish my work and walk round to the baths but not to swim. They had what was called slipper baths, which was basically a house bath in a cubicle all ready and filled with piping hot water. I used lie in one of them and relax after my work and of course get cleaned up ready for night school at the Killie academy. Unless shouted on I would lie till the water was cold and my skin was wrinkled.
The old fire station as I remember was next to the baths.
Then there was a picture house, maybe two,the 'Empire' rings a bell and the 'ABC' if I remember correctly,I think there was also a pub and then the Moka cafe I think???
Chriso,
Unless my memory is playing tricks with me the Queens cafe, where I went to to eat after my slipper bath, was along the road a bit passed Halford's and round the corner from the main street. But then it was a long time ago and I may be getting mixed up.

[Penny Tray]

You were all wandering to far , just 10 yards to the right of the entrance to the baths was Ferries café, they had a side entrance which always had a line of people with towels in hand waiting to be served, They were at one time supposed to be the best fish and chips in the town. They also had an ice-cream factory across from the baths in Douglas street , nearly every ice-cream van in the district sold Ferries ice-cream

wmh

wmh,

Thanks for pulling us back towards Kilmarnock. You reminded me that at the Tech we had an 'English' teacher called Mr Ferrie. I wonder if he had any connection to the family you mention?

[brian f]

Dont forget about Kilmarnocks famous roll an mince which member Imajrk pointed out was sold in the kiosk near the bus station

[jarneilh]

When I went to the baths in the late fifties, we used to go for a combine tea which consisted of a pie and beans with bread, butter, and a cup of tea,in the Queens cafe just next to the baths.
I recall one time when a group of us were coming back home we had split into 2 groups and arrived back in Stevenston at different times.We used to take a shortcut across the railway line at the Quarry, this was before the new road was built,and both groups got caught at different times by a plain clothes railway policeman who was hiding behind a bridge pillar.
We were charged with Tresspassing on Railway property and were eventually fined 10 bob each.
I think Jarneilh,one of our posters was there as well.

Aye yir right Chris.
There were three in oor family that got caught that day.
How do you plead??? Guilty....Guilty...Guilty..so on and so forth.
Cost the auld man Twenty Five bob that day.
He draged us home and made us paint the garage.
All the best Jim

[down south]

This must have been one of the cinemas you mentioned, Meekan; probably the ABC as that's listed as being in Titchfield Street.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.60584 ... 56!6m1!1e1

It looks identical to this building , the King's Theatre, so I'd guess that was how it started life:

http://www.ayrshirehistory.com/kilmarno ... heatre.jpg

Kilmarnock did still have another theatre in the sixties: the Palace Theatre on Duke Street, this handsome building which by the looks of it is still in active use:

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Kilmar ... 2,135,,0,0

The other cinema I've found listed in 1960s Kilmarnock was the Plaza. I remember that one; it was on Mill Lane, a little winding back lane which has presumably now been swallowed up by the mall. It was a good short-cut to the shops from the car-park we used, the same one that's now behind Tesco's; back in those days it was a car showroom that was there . In the late 1960s it cost 6d in old money to park there.

Susan