Looking Back - Herald files

[hahaya2004]

It was the name of a farm and plantation, PT
From the OS Namebooks:
"A dwelling house and farm yard with plantation adjoining the property of the Earl of Eglinton."
It's shown here just north of Border farm.

https://maps.nls.uk/view/82867017

[Penny Tray]

Thanks for that Irene, spot on with detail as usual .

[meekan]

Thanks for that Irene, like Pt I have been wondering about where the name came from along with other local names. Did your research come up with the reason the farm was called “New England”? Is there a connection between the USA New England or maybe our neighbours down South?

[hahaya2004]

I couldn't find out where the name came from, Meekan.
The earliest reference I found is from 1775, on a map by Andrew Armstrong. It was shown as N. England.
In 1789 Andrew Ainslie surveyed it and used the name New England.

Irene

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on February 23, 2011

150 YEARS AGO on March, 1861
THE effigy of an old Stevenston woman was burned in that town because she did not display patriotism and devotion to her country.

Mr JM Willoughby, auctioneer, exposed for sale by public roup within the Hall of Brisbane Arms Hotel, Largs, the tenement situated on the south side of Main Street. The upset price was £180. After keen competition Mr John Orr, tailor, was declared the purchaser at £220.

Messrs Boyd and Stewart, shipbuilders, Saltcoats, launched three smacks from their yard in one day.

100 YEARS AGO on March 3, 1911
The office-bearers were elected at the closing meeting of the West Kilbride MIA held last week in the Lesser Public Hall.

In the course of the present week three stained-glass windows, designed and executed by the British & Foreign Glass Co, Glasgow, have been placed in the Landsborough United Free Church, Saltcoats of which the Rev WDM Sutherland is minister.

At a meeting of the Olive Branch Lodge of Ancient Free Gardeners, help in the Masonic Hall, Beith on Tuesday evening, Bro A Crawford, presented on behalf of the members a suitcase and a purse of sovereigns to Bro John McAughy, who has resigned the post of secretary which he has held for thirteen years.

The annual general meeting of Garnock Golf Club was held in the Clubhouse on Thursday evening.

50 YEARS AGO on March 3, 1961
A policeman in this area was one of a party who went out on a titled gentleman's estate in Dumfries shire and shot more than 200 hares which had overrun a large piece of grazing land.
The policeman told us it was a great sight to see the hares, almost white in colour, making for the hills in large numbers. He also said that he had landed some fine salmon with the rod.

The first twelve employees of the new factory being built at Irvine by the Skefko Ball Bearing Company Ltd have now started their initial training at Luton, Bedfordshire.

An increased number of services and the introduction of more jet aircraft on Atlantic routes mean that Prestwick, with a total of 103 flights a week to and from the United States and Canada, will have its busiest season this summer.

Beith is to get a kerb and four new bus shelters in the grounds of the Admiralty Depot for safety reasons, Ayr County Council said this week, appointing a surveyor for the purpose at a cost of £35.

25 YEARS AGO on March 7, 1986
Copies of newspapers published by News International, the company owned by Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch, have been banned from Cunninghame District libraries. The decision to ban The Sun, News Of The World, Times and Sunday Times was taken at a meeting of the recent meeting of the district council's ruling Labour Group.
Secretary John Donn said the decision had been taken after a discussion by the Labour members condemning the union-bashing management of the company. And he said that if any News International reporter contacted him he would refuse to speak to them. However a spokesman for the local Library Association commented this week that she was against all suppression of information, adding that the principle of freedom of information supersedes any other principle that is involved.

Tempers frayed during a heated debate on the future of Ardrossan Port. The strong-worded exchange took place at a meeting of CDC's Economic Development Committee last week. Ardrossan councillor Diane Davis lambasted vice- chairman Tom Dickie for the lack of local involvement during a recent meeting between CDC and Shell. Ardrossan councillors hadn't been invited, she said. Councillor Dickie said he hoped that he hoped the matter would be resolved soon and that all local councillors would be involved in future.

Whoever said lightning never strikes twice in the same place is wrong- and a Saltcoats man can prove it! For last Friday a lift in which he was travelling got stuck in the town's Lambie Court at around 8.20pm- and just eight days before he was stuck in the same lift for two hours. Firemen from Ardrossan attended to release him from the lift a short time later, none the worse for wear.

A Kilwinning computer company has shed 50 workers. They were made redundant last Friday after EPS (Scotland) Ltd said it doesn't have enough contracts to keep them on.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on March 9, 2011

150 YEARS AGO on March, 1861
A LARGE number of West Kilbride farmers sent their servants with horses and ploughs to Lawhill Farm, Ardeer to give a day's ploughing to the incoming tenant, Mr William Clark.

At the weekly meeting of Saltcoats Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society, Mr James Pollock gave an essay on 'Pride'".

The Presbyterian Examination of the Established Schools in Arran has been completed with the exception of Corrie.

The new building at Shedog has excited hearty commendation, both as to the building and the ability of the teacher. The new girls' school at Whiting Bay is also well-attended and the teacher fully qualified for her task. Great praise is due to His Grace the Duke of Hamilton for doing so much for education.

100 YEARS AGO on March 17, 1911
Councillor AW Syme, Ardrossan has been appointed Chairman of the English Society of Scotland.

At the annual business and social meeting of Whiting Bay UK Church last week, addresses were made by several prominent clergy.

Kilwinning Bowling Club met for their annual general meeting in the Masonic Hall last Thursday evening.

50 YEARS AGO on March 17, 1961
On Monday night two heifer calves strayed from an Ardrossan farm and any information regarding their whereabouts should be given to local police.

This week we received a note from a retired sea captain, Mr Charles Taylor, Eglinton Road, Ardrossan commenting on budgies and their span of life. Two years ago Mr Taylor wrote to Edinburgh Zoo on this subject and was informed that zoo officials had heard of a budgie living for 13 years. Mr Taylor states that he had a budgie which was 13 years, nine months and 11 days old when it died.

Fire which broke out on Monday night aboard the 765-ton motor vessel Lairdsbank, berthed at the old dock at Ardrossan Harbour, completely destroyed a cabin and all of its contents. Three other cabins were damaged. Firemen from Irvine and Ardrossan had to wear breathing apparatus to fight the flames.

The first phase of the Prestwick-Ayr by-pass road, a four-and-a-half miles dual carriageway built at a cost of £750,000 and completed four-and- a-half months ahead of schedule, was officially opened last Friday by Mr John McLay, Secretary of State for Scotland.

There is never a year goes by but folk arrive back in Arran to see or find out where their forebears dwelt. Strangely, these people in many cases know more about the sites of the old homesteads than the people who live in Arran. Many of them after three generations can still speak Gaelic and are greatly surprised that at home, Gaelic is almost an unknown tongue.

25 YEARS AGO on March 21, 1986
Ecstatic screams filled the air when a helicopter carrying Prince Charles appeared over Stevenston on Tuesday afternoon, signalling the first-ever Royal visit to the Three Towns. Hundreds had congregated at Auchenharvie Playing Fields to welcome the Prince of Wales on a whistle-stop tour of the area.
Flags were waved and the school band struck up a tune when the helicopter swooped in from the north and there was a further outburst of shouts when the prince disembarked from the area.
Lord-Lieutenant of Ayrshire, Colonel Bryce- Knox, accompanied him as he met local dignitaries and then took an unscheduled detour to meet the crowd.
And even without Princess Diana he put Saltcoats - his next stop on cloud nine with a walkabout. Asked by well-wishers, he said Prince Andrew's new fiancée Sarah Ferguson was marvellous.
Further meet-and-greets with local elected members and ASSET staff followed, before it was on to Ardrossan for a tour of Ardbride Products in Glasgow Street and some more hellos' from delighted residents, who were kept in check by barriers lining the street.

Ayrshire's most popular radio disc jockey is all set to change his airwaves. Gary Marshall (22) from Saltcoats, who has been a DJ on Westsound for two years, is to join Radio Clyde in Glasgow.
"It's a great radio station and I have always wanted to work for them," said Gary this week. "But I will be sad to say goodbye to all my friends at Westsound in Ayr."

Tricia McCann, the burly 16-stone woman who wants a job as a docker at Ardrossan Harbour has lost her case for sex discrimination. An industrial tribunal did not uphold the case she lodged where she claimed she was being obstructed in her application because she is a woman.
"I'm disappointed but determined to fight on," said Tricia.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on March 16, 2011

100 YEARS AGO on March 24, 1911
At the annual general meeting of the Saltcoats Bowling Club held in Holly House Temperance Hotel last Thursday evening, the office-bearers for the coming year were elected.

Office-bearers were elected at the annual general meeting of Fairlie Miniature Rifle Club held last Friday evening.

The Saltcoats Boy Scouts held a successful concert in the Parish Hall last Friday evening when Dr W Carrick Allan, president of the NW Local Association, on behalf of the Troops No. 6 and 18, presented the Rev DD Rees with a gold "Thanks Badge'.

At the annual general meeting of Ladeside Kilbirnie Bowling Club which was held last Friday, office-bearers for 1911/12 were also elected.

50 YEARS AGO on March 24, 1961
At the annual dinner and dance of Ardrossan Co- operative Employees Social Club held in Castlecraigs, Ardrossan on Tuesday night of last week, Miss Dorothy Rae, Fleming Crescent, Saltcoats was selected as Miss Ardrossan Co-operative 1961.Miss Lexa Miller, Adams Avenue, Saltcoats and Miss Sybil Nicol, High Road, Saltcoats were placed second and third respectively. An enjoyable meal was purveyed and Miss Rae was presented with a silver cup, a bouquet of flowers and a small gift.

"I don't think there's much we can do about that. It's something outwith our control," commented Provost James Dorrian when, at Monday's meeting of Ardrossan Town Council, it was reported that the Board of Management of Northern Ayrshire Hospitals had decided to take no action to acquire the former Miners' Welfare Home in Canal Street, Saltcoats for conversion into a Home For The Chronically Sick.

Seventeen Ayrshire school children were involved in road accidents during the month of February - 12 pedestrians, three passengers and two pedal cyclists. Fourteen of the casualties were slight and three were serious.

A proposal to use a plot of ground south-west of St Andrew's Road, Ardrossan for garage sites has been turned down by Ardrossan Town Council who also resolved not to use an area adjoining Mossgiel Road for this purpose.

A happy evening was spent at Arnhall recently when the old folk were entertained by some of the members of the Whiting Bay WRI. With Mrs Shaw at the piano the programme opened with community singing followed by country dancing by members of the WB Dancing Club plus a reading and songs. A delightful tea was served and Mrs M Miller, the WRI president, handed over to the matron gifts of sweets for the ladies and tobacco for the men.

Winter snapped back with a vengeance last week when winds gusting at up to 103 miles per hour buffeted the Ayrshire coast, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

The Belfast to Ardrossan ferry, the Belard, broke free from its moorings at Ardrossan harbour on Thursday morning and drifted in the docks. It eventually crashed into the other side of the harbour, battering the quay and causing severe damage to both its hull and to the harbour wall.
Dockers struggled in driving rain and high winds to ease the problems of the stricken Belard. It began to take water and several gashes appeared in the side of the ship. Concrete on the harbour wall buckled under the sheer might of the vessel battering against them.
The Belard was not offloaded until Thursday night once the storm had abated. Two large holes in the ship's hull have been plugged and the Belard is again sailing. She will be placed in dry dock next month for her regular service.

Astronomical rent charges have forced Cunninghame District Council to look for a new site for its headquarters. The current charge for the use of Cunninghame House in Irvine is currently £158,000 a year and on Tuesday CDC met with the owners, Land securities Ltd to decide on a rent for the coming year.
Council Convener Teresa Beattie stated: "It is essential in view of the astronomical rent the landlords are asking, that we look for a site to build a purpose-built headquarters."
"With only eleven years of its lease remaining, the council would be wise to prepare now for a move and have instructed our officers to start looking for a new site," she added.

An angry Ardrossan councillor claims he was 'snubbed' by ASSET when he was excluded from last week's Royal visit guest list. David Munn was the only Three Towns councillor not to be introduced to Prince Charles at Saltcoats town hall last Tuesday- and that was an insult to the people of Ardrossan North Ward, he believes.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on March 23, 2011

150 YEARS AGO on March, 1861
A ewe belonging to Mr G Harvel Gill, West Kilbride, gave birth to five lambs, two of which later died, but the other three are progressing favourably. The same ewe gave birth to four lambs two years in succession, making her the mother of 13 lambs in three years.

The contractors of mines in the Dalry district have received notification from the mines masters to reduce miners' wages by 6d per day - 3/- per week.

During the last week in March, 2938 tons of pig iron were exported from the Ardrossan Harbour and for the same period 3057 tons of coal.

Barr and Shearer, shipbuilders, Ardrossan, have purchased the ship, "Caroline" from Mr Colvin, Troon, and Mr Hugh Crawford, Ardrossan, has purchased the ship, "Ariel", Limerick.

100 YEARS AGO on March 31, 1911
AT the annual general meeting of Ardeer Ironworks Bowling Club on Tuesday evening the following office-bearers were appointed: - President, Mr Robert Main; vice-president, Mr William Reid; secretary, Mr Thomas Symington; treasurer, Mr James Gilmour; Committee Messrs P Reid, A Wilson jnr, William Vallance, J Patrick, R Murray and W Bell.

On Tuesday evening the congregation of Shiskine Free Church presented a purse of sovereigns to the minister, the Rev W McDougall, on the occasion of his leaving to take up the charge of the congregation of Farr, Sutherlandshire.

At a meeting of the Standing Joint Committee of Ayr County Council on Tuesday, Mr Colin Campbell Robertson, District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary, was appointed Chief Constable of Ayrshire in room of Captain McHardy, who recently retired.


50 YEARS AGO on March 31, 1961
AN application for permission to erect a prefabricated building as a motor car showroom within premises at Nineyard Street, Saltcoats, has been refused, subject to the observations of Saltcoats Town Council, by Ayr County Council's Planning Committee on the ground that the proposal would not be in accordance with the development plan and would tend to prejudice development of that
area. Mr AM Rosie, County Planning Officer, reported that the present premises were restricted and formed part of a dwelling house with an extension into garden ground attached to the house. He added that the development plan showed the area as required for a future open space.

A single handrail is to be provided at the steps leading from Ardrossan Road to Caledonia Road, Saltcoats.

In order to provide flowers for the Queen of the Sea ceremony, Saltcoats Town Council have agreed to purchase two dozen rose plants.

I hear that the contractors who are building the new school at Stanley Road, Ardrossan, have been plagued with vandalism and theft. One official on the site has stated that in all his years in the building trade he has never experienced so much trouble of this sort on one particular project. He tells me that a large quantity of cement is missing from the site and that mastic on the window frames has been scraped off while soft. Coping stones on the boundary wall have also been dis- lodged and some of them broken. Timber, which is used to protect precast concrete stairs, has been stolen.

Wednesday of last week was an eventful day for Mr and Mrs Alexander Grant, of the Cross Keys Inn, Fullarton Place, Stevenston. The occasion was the official opening by Provost James Forde of the new public bar at the premises. By now regular patrons will have seen for them- selves the magnificent transformation which has taken place. The building has been extended considerably and comfort is, indeed the keynote.

25 YEARS AGO on April 4, 1986
Ardrossan and Saltcoats residents got the chance to see their local hero this week when the Tartan pimpernel himself visited the area. Robbie Coltrane, along with Stuart McGugan of It Ain't Half Hot Mum fame and other leading comedy actors spent the week in Ardrossan filming for a new BBC television series called "Tutti Frutti". The series features Messrs Coltrane and McGugan as part of an ageing rock group still trying to make it to the top after 25 years. They meet up in an Ardrossan guest house before gigs in the town and in Arran. The series was written by John Byrne- author of the Slab Boys.

Euro MP, Hugh McMahon has issued fresh demands for a full-scale inquiry into the level of radiation in North Ayrshire. His move follows a report by concerned parents claiming that seven children whose parents had worked at Hunterston Power Station later contracted leukaemia or other cancers. A parents' spokesman said this week they were not claiming a direct link between Hunterston and cancers but that the statistics merited investigation. The report has been submitted to Cunninghame District Council.

A decision will soon be made on how £100,000 of council cash is to be spent on environmental improvements at Ardeer and other housing estates in the district. At a meeting of the district council's housing committee on Tuesday, councillors were faced with reports from sub-committees dealing with each project.
The reports outlined how the council would spend £100,000 or less, on each specific project. At Ardeer a phased programme would swallow up the £100,000 in the first year alone. The first phase of improvements would be centred round Caledonian Road and Lundholm Road areas, which is the main approach to Ardeer. This, say the sub committee concerned, would have a major beneficial impact. The proposals include the facelift of houses at the south side of Caledonia Road and the west side of Lundholm Road, with access from Sommerville Drive.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on March 30, 2011

100 YEARS AGO on April 7, 1911
Mr Hugh Thompson has been appointed Honorary President of Saltcoats Bowling Club and Mr Edward Dorrian has been elected to fill a position on the committee.

A leave application to hear candidates by Park United Free Church with a view to calling a colleague and successor to the Rev Wm Gilchrist was unanimously granted by the Presbytery of Ardrossan on the motion of the Rev A Morris Moodie, Ardeer.

50 YEARS AGO on April 7, 1961
We have been asked how many people there are in this district who are over 90 or 100 years of age. Unfortunately we cannot answer that. Some years ago we did have a list of old people and at that time there were almost twenty who were over 90 or 100. To our knowledge there have been four people over the age of 100 years old in Ardrossan at different times-Granny McGrattan (108), Mr Borland, Mrs Smith and Mrs Gemmell.
During our travels around Ayrshire visiting people who were over 90 and 100 years of age we well remember Mr John Murray, North Street, Dalry, a native of Arran, who had all the answers. It was in the early Forties that we visited him. He was fond of fruit cakes and, there being a war on, he couldn't get them as often as he liked but some kind friend regularly brought them round for him.

Regarding the paragraph last week about Mr AS Millar's tortoise, a Saltcoats reader writes in to say that in the days before motor cars he remembers a man residing in Manse Street who had a tortoise which followed him about and even crossed the roads.

On Tuesday afternoon an attempt was made to break into the shop of Mr Norman Duncan at 74 Dockhead Street, Saltcoats, one of the glass doors being smashed.

This week we received an interesting letter from a received Ardrossan man, Mr Wm Anderson, who has now been in America for over forty years. He says he bought a magazine called 'Scotland' and the first thing that caught his eye was an article giving the history of Horse Island off Ardrossan.
He says the article brought back many happy memories for, as a young lad, he went out to the island with a local postman who set free there many rabbits. That was in 1908. But in 1909 when they went back there to shoot rabbits there was not one to be seen. He relates that on another occasion when they went back to the island they again 'drew a blank. However, he says, there were hundreds of rabbits on the island. He adds that he thinks animals were often taken from the mainland to graze on the island. Mr Anderson will be interested to learn that there are twelve acres off grass-land on the island and every year sheep and cattle graze there.

25 YEARS AGO on April 11, 1986
A train carrying radioactive waste through the Three Towns could be leaving a trail of radioactivity in its wake. Fears about the leakage from radioactive waste from the travelling between Hunterston and Sellafield were whipped up this week when an Ayrshire councillor challenged the safety of the transporting flasks. Kyle and Carrick District Council's environmental services convener, Struan Stevenson, claimed this week that between five and 20 per cent of all spent fuel flasks arriving at Sellafield were 'chronically contaminated. Cunninghame South MP David Lambie has accused the Conservative councillor and the STV programme the claims appeared on of scaremongering.

The Cunninghame Clarion the district's controversial local authority newspaper - seems set to carry on despite new legislation.
Under a new Act councils are forbidden from putting out party-political material, but Labour councillors said party bigwigs like Donald Dewar told them at a meeting that they can more or less carry on as normal.

A slick advertising campaign is poised to polish Cunninghame District Council's public image. A new bid to portray the council as the local businessman's best friend was published this week. Convener Teresa Beattie said CDC are making a determined effort to crush the popular image of local authorities as beaurocratic monsters drowning in red tape.

An ambitious fish farm set up on Arran two years ago has taken a leap forward. The farm in Lamlash Bay, which has grown salmon weighing up to 11lb, will now also become a fish curing factory.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on April 6, 2011

150 YEARS AGO on April, 1861
MR MCCRORIE, Inspector of the Poor, Kilwinning, who was recently married, was met by some friends who presented him with a gold watch chain and and a barometer. Mrs McCrorie received a gold brooch.

Two new cricket clubs have been formed. The one in Saltcoats has been named the Auchenharvie Cricket Club and the Ardrossan one has been named Winton Cricket Club.

The two boat-building yards at the Braes, Saltcoats are having a busy time with work and repairs. Between them they have seven smacks and one schooner on the stocks.

Saltcoats new bowling green is nearing completion.

100 YEARS AGO on April 21, 1911
At the half-yearly meeting of Saltcoats EU Church on Wednesday evening the Rve J Cleminson Bell presided and a musical programme was sustained by the choir and by Miss Barclay and Messrs Mackay and Lee.

The juvenile choir of West Kilbride's Overton Church performed the cantata Riches And Rags in the Public Institute on Friday. Members of the new Kilwinning School Board have been elected.

According to the census returns, Stevenston has a population of 7,794 and Saltcoats 8,585.

50 YEARS AGO on April 21, 1961
Recently a hare was seen at Stevenston Burn near the bridge at the main road opposite the post office.

On Tuesday night when an Ardrossan man was cutting a hedge he found a dead blackbird. When he threw the bird on to a canvas sheet two other blackbirds, he says, made a terrible noise.

This weekend a census will be taken and in this connection we were interested in some papers show to us by a Saltcoats man. They were a set of documents issued for the census taken 100 years ago-April 7, 1861.
There was a form to be filled in by the house- holder and another appointed the enumerator. In this case, Archd. Workman, Clerk, Saltcoats. The appointment was made by John Grimwood, registrar for the district of Old Ardrossan.
Mr Workman was appointed enumerator for the third district of Old Ardrossan and this covered Chapelwell Street, Manse Street and Kirkgate, which, you will have noted, are all in Saltcoats, His instructions were written in a beautiful copperplate style.
One question in the old census paper asks the householder to state whether anyone in his home is either deaf and dumb or blind. This question is omitted from the current census paper.

Mr Fred West, a native of Ardrossan who is President of the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce, British Columbia, asks in a letter what Ardrossan district has to offer in the way of industrial, commercial or residential development opportunities.

Reader Alex Dunn, who has resided in Canada for almost forty years, gets the Herald sent to him every week and wonders in a letter to the editor why he never reads of such places as Wee Dublin' or the Fenian Row. This is because these places have been demolished.

25 YEARS AGO on April 18, 1986
An immediate new Government inquiry has been announced into the killer disease leukaemia in North Ayrshire in the wake of strong public pressure.
Following hot in the heels of the major recent Black Inquiry- which found DOUBLE the instance of the disease among young people living within 10 miles of Hunterston Scots Secretary Malcolm Rifkind's announcement has been hailed as a victory for campaigning parents, groups, MPs and councillors determined to probe further into the frightening figures. Cunninghame North MP John Corrie pressed the minister for more information to be made available on the unusually high instance of the disease in the west of Scotland.

Nobel Explosives Ardeer plant is reeling from a shock ultimatum - pull up your socks or face closure.
The grim warning was delivered by Nobel's new chief executive, Mr Robert Clark, at a company
consultative meeting. His report states: Never before have we faced a situation as stark as today.
The alternatives facing us are simple either we go forward towards a sound future based on efficiently-run business or we abort our current plans because we really cannot afford to make any money from them and the existing businesses slowly wither away. There really is no choice.
Tory MP John Corrie has vowed to rebel against Government support for the Americans' bombing raid on Libya. The Cunninghame North MP says he will not vote with the Government after an
emergency Commons debate on Wednesday.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on April 13, 2011

150 YEARS AGO on March, 1861
WHILE on a visit to Australia, Mr Baillie, of Saltcoats, met Mr John Hamilton, sailor and native of Saltcoats, who conducted Dr Muller's scientific expedition to the top of Mount Baw Baw, where never before, it is assumed, had black or white men's feet ever trod.

The office-bearers were appointed at the annual meeting of Ardrossan Bowling Club.

Dalry Rifle Volunteer Corps was inspected in the pres ence of the Marquis of Ailsa, Adjutant Mancor, Colonel Blair of Blair and Captain Paton.

In the Parish of West Kilbride there lives a son of the Emerald Isle who has reached the astonishing age of 108 years. There is also a woman who is 81 years of age. Lately we had to record the death of a woman belonging to the parish who had lived to see 95 summers.

100 YEARS AGO on April 28, 1911
Last Friday evening Anchor Lodge IOGT held their annual 'at home' in the Good Templars' Lodge when there was a programme of entertainment.

On Wednesday evening the United Presbytery of Ardrossan met in Fairlie UF Church for the induction of the Rev Donald CC Gollan, late of Nigg, Ross-shire to the pastorate of Fairlie in succession to the Rev WW Gauld, MA, recently translated to Callander.

At the annual show of Kilwinning and Stevenston Farmers' Society held last Thursday the Weir Cup for the best animal in the show was won for the third successive year by David Reid of Benthead


50 YEARS AGO on April 28, 1961
A caravan parked within the grounds of Ailsa House, Saltcoats was removed and later found abandoned in Saltcoats.

Four windows at St Peter's School, Ardrossan and four at St John's Church vestry were also broken by vandals.

Workmen who broke up the tug which went aground at Horse Island about a year ago are coming back and with the help of a diver will try to recover certain parts of the ship now covered in deep water.

After an absence of two years the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Players are returning to the stage with a production in the Countess, Saltcoats on May 9 and 10 of The Penny Wedding by Robert Kemp who proposed the toast to the club at their Jubilee Dinner in 1959.

A house in course of construction at Ardrossan housing scheme had the gable-end cemented ready for rough casting but, the following morning, workmen found that the cement work had been damaged by vandals and the work had to be done all over again.

A lamp standard at St Andrew's Road, Ardrossan was struck and damaged by a motor vehicle.

There were 27 arrivals including one oil tanker at Ardrossan Harbour for the week ended Saturday, April 22. The fishing trawlers are still calling regularly at the port

25 YEARS AGO on April 25, 1986
A one-and-three-quarter-million-pound leisure park earmarked for Saltcoats has become the first casualty of a big business takeover.

Plans for a Treasure Island Theme Park at Saltcoats Braes were scrapped when the Granada group took over the developers, Park Hall leisure. This week a spokesman at the Granada Group head-quarters refused to go into details about the reasons for the change of heart. It leaves Cunninghame District Council with a major headache - how to find another developer to play a major role in the development of Saltcoats beachfront.
Council convener Teresa Beattie said approaches had been made to another company whose identity remains a closely-guarded secret, and advertisements are appearing in the trade press to highlight The Braes" attractions in the hope of netting the interest of another developer.

Prime Saltcoats beef from a Saltcoats meat factory was exported to Libya on Sunday - only four days after the American bombing raid on the country. The consignment of 700 tons of steer beef left Scotland from Troon Harbour on board a curfewed ship, the Igloo Lio. And because of EEC subsidies, the Libyans bought the beef at much lower prices than what Scottish housewives are asked to pay. The shipment is originally from Dublin-based Purcell Meats" local premises.

Customs men seized £16,000-worth of cannabis in an early evening drugs swoop at Ardrossan Harbour last Wednesday... the largest haul ever at the local port. Nearly ten kilogrammes of light-brown herbal cannabis were found hidden away onboard West African ship the City of Tema by sniffer dogs. Customs men made the raid as part of a check on foreign ships coming into Scottish ports.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original

[Hughie]

From the Archives of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald published on April 20, 2011

100 YEARS AGO on May 5, 1911
AT the annual meeting of the Saltcoats Choral Society held in Trinity Church Hall, Saltcoats, the office-bearers were elected.

The office-bearers were installed at the annual meeting of the Ardrossan Hearts Society.

50 YEARS AGO on May 5, 1961
THE Ardrossan and Saltcoats Players, after an absence of two years, are presenting a new production, The Penny Wedding, in the Countess, Saltcoats, next Tuesday and Wednesday. The play was written by Robert Kemp, who proposed the Toast to the Club at the Players' golden jubilee dinner eighteen months ago.

Four Ardrossan Rover Scouts returning from a day's climbing last Sunday rescued a woman who was trapped in an upturned car in a river and went off without giving their names. It has been ascertained, however, that they were Rover scout Leader Robert McSherry, Assistant Leader Norman Laird and Rover Scouts Ewan McLelland and Robert Ferguson. The woman they rescued, middle-aged Mrs Janet Ritchie of Barrangarry farm, Bishopton, was up to her neck in water when the Rover Scouts, motoring back from Arrochar after climbing The Cobbler, stopped at the scene of the accident-a quiet stretch of the Georgetown-Bridge Of Weir Road.
The woman's car had left the road, crashed through a fence and ended up in the River Gryffe. Mrs Ritchie managed to get her head out of the car window and keep it above the level of the water. She was more or less transfixed in that position by the branch of a tree which her car had carried in to the river on its 25-foot plunge over the embankment.
The Rover Scouts hurriedly built a temporary 'bridge' from the riverbank to the car with pieces of broken fence and, using a tow rope from Mr McSherry's car, they dragged the woman free, although not without getting a soaking themselves. Mrs Ritchie was unhurt but suffering from shock.

Elvis Presley's latest film, Flaming Star, is showing at the Regal in Saltcoats all next week. This is a strong dramatic Western about the conflict that exists between the Kiowa Indians and the early American settlers. Elvis sings only two numbers in this film, in which he is given scope to prove his acting abilities.

Columbia Pictures have taken out an insurance policy whereby $500 will be paid out in compensation in the event of any member of the audience dying as a result of watching The Tingler, showing at La Scala all next week. Vincent Price plays a doctor who is able to prove that there exists in all human beings an evil force which can destroy us unless it is quietened by the screaming of its victims.

25 YEARS AGO on MAY 2, 1986
A crumbling Saltcoats bingo hall could be more important to the town than new shops and offices employing ten people.
The Historic Buildings Department has stopped its demolition of the bingo hall at 1-7 Hamilton Street until, it can investigate. Owners The Kemp organisation had hoped to sell it developers. It would be demolished and a new £450,000 shops and office complex built on the site. A survey of the premises revealed they had no foundations and are buckling.

Haulage form Northern Ireland Trailers stand to lose a substantial order because of petty pilfering at Ardrossan Harbour. Crates of Coca-Cola are being stolen from NOT trucks and the company say that although the actual losses are small, they are doing great harm to the company's relationship with Coca-Cola.

Nuclear waste from Europe may be unloaded at Hunterston. But Cunninghame District Council's economic development chairman, Jack Carson, says everything possible will be done to block the plans.

Rumour again surrounds the possibility of a new employer coming to Ardrossan. For months there's been speculation that an Irish firm, in the agricultural products sector, could be about to establish itself in the town-probably at a harbour site. This week the Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston Enterprise Trust were tight-lipped on the plans.

The Jobcentre in Saltcoats was closed all day on thursday after dangerous asbestos was found on the premises. The doors to the Jobcentre and Unemployment Benefit office were closed after ceiling tiles which have been in the building for 16 years were found to include blue asbestos. The Inland Revenue kept its doors open, however, as they did not believe the asbestos to be dangerous.

Thanks to Tom McGrattan for the original