Ayr memories
Here are memories of Ayr and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Ayr or a Ayr photo.
Does Anyone Remember The Rag And Bone Men?
Does anyone remember the rag and bone men that used to come round the scheme looking for old rags etc? I was so desperate to own a red balloon, nothing was to stand in my way, but where would I get enough good quality rags from? Being a wee lassie and not really understanding,that you shouldn't take your mums best towels, and sheets got me into hot water. My poor wee mum had to chase the rag and bone man down the road to retrieve her stuff.........I got to keep the balloon as the old man had a good laugh! Does anyone remember the bird on a stick? It used to whistle when you spun it round your head, it was great fun! I have so, so many happy memories of growing up in the 1960s and maybe that's why I tend to live in the past too much... It's a fault of mine.
Days at Newton Green
playing down the docks on a sunday when there was no trains .fishing off the old peir .collecting sea coal of the shore . building a fire and roasting potatoes .listening to the man in black on a saturday night .a bottle of careys cola and a fourpenny bag of peter tortellys chips magic
Shop in King Street
My great-gran Lizzie Mcgill had a shop at 54/56 King Sstreet, Ayr. If anyone remembers or has pics of her or the shop could you please leave a post. Thanks.
Dear or Dear House
I am attempting to trace my grandfather. I cannot find his birth place, but third child registered as born at either Dear - Deer or Dean House - Monkton - Prestwick. Can anyone provide any information?
Buying Sixpence Worth of Stale Buns.
I remember as a wee girl going with my brother Donald to buy sixpence worth of stale buns. I don't remember the bakers but it was behind Boots the Chemist. It was always a treat if your mum had a spare sixpence and told you to go and purchase some buns. The temptation was always too much and the buns were often scoffed long before we got home. I remember we would disappear for hours in the summer holidays on boiling hot days, no money in our pockets for a drink, or food. We would look for lemonade bottles as we knew there would always be money back on them, and we could buy a drink! I loved going on the boats in Craigie Woods, I can't remember how much they charged to get on but it wasn't that much and it was great fun. I loved it when it was my birthday as it fell on the 4th November. I would always get ten bob from my... Read more
Dalmilling Primary School
In the 1960s, I remember watching Dalmilling Primary being built from my Ganny's window, my first day there when I was about eight and meeting all the new pals, school sports that I was useless at, egg and spoon was torture and getting into trouble for holding it down with my thumb, skinned knees from doing the sack race, scrap books, beds, drawn with those chalk ornaments I won at Cadonna's Shows, frying pan lollies, gobstoppers, love hearts, MB Bars, the Ritz, Gaumont and Orient Picture house, getting let in the back door of the Gaumont, one pal paid, and let the rest of us in, the bug hunter, Dettol-aaarrrgh! writing my name on the pavement with tar using a lolly stick, rounders, kick-the -can, chap-door-run-away, sitting in a big inner tube from a tractor, at least 6 of us, going from the big dam to the wee dam down the river Ayr, Curry's ginger, cream soda, the ice cream from the cafe at the Low Green down Ayr... Read more
The Mid Fifties
I recall my pals and I going to Ayr harbour and picking up the herring and mackerel, which dropped off the baskets when the boats were unloaded, and selling them round the nieghbours' houses. Herring were 1 old penny and mackerel 2 old pennies. Today (2008) a herring costs £1 each! 240 times dearer.
We would make dens up Craigie Woods and sleep out. No dangers then. My wee sister aged 4 walked to High Street from Fotheringham Road and got a bus to to Heathfield School and back herself. Try that today!!
Cheers, Jimmy Manson, Ayr.
Fish & Chips
Having fish & chips from the Vesta Cafe on the New Road, they were the best.
Playing the puggy at Favali's in the New Road.
Playing down at the Newton Shore. Skating at Ayr Ice Rink.
Climbing the fence and getting into the dog track from Elmbank Street on Sunday morning to pick up anything of value the drunks had dropped the night before at the races, usually money. Working for Cowan the Butcher as a delivery boy and apprentice.
The Odeon club for kids on Saturday morning, to see Flash Gordon and the likes.
Newton Park Higher Grade School.
Holiday Memories
Happily walking along Ayr beach with an ice cream from the Wellington Cafe, paddling in the sea with my parents! Eating wonderful fish and chips on a windy day. Getting breakfast rolls from one of the many bakers to take back to my aunt's. Going skating at the ice rink with my cousins.
Memories of Ayrshire
Primary School
St Quivox had a primary school in the 1950s and while my family lived in farm cottages near Prestwick airport, my brother and I attended the school. The only two teachers were a married couple but I cannot remember their names. We had to move from the area when the cottages we lived in were being demolished because another runway was to be built for the airport. That said, it was a nice area to live and we often walked to the beach at Prestwick or Ayr. However, I do not have such happy memories of the school, for example at the Christmas party every child got a present except my brother and I merely because we had not been at the school long enough. My father was a farm worker and, as is well documented, such workers moved around the country on a regular basis but being left out at Christmas never happened at any of the other schools. I was at 11 primary schools during the years 5 and... Read more
Annbank Hotel
I remember my dad asking me to go to the hotel in Annbank for his fags (funny how it was always at night), if it wasn't for the promise of getting a bag of crisps for going, I'd surely never go. This was the most scariest hotel, in the most scariest wood I'd ever seen. Sadly in the mid 1960s the old place got knocked down. Now that time has passed, I always think of the old hotel with affection. I no longer live in Annbank, I live in Barnsley, South Yorkshire now, but I always make a pilgrimage to my old home and stand where once the hotel stood, overlooking the river Ayr.
Aroon'' The Raws
AROON THE RAWS
l9th.March, 1980
Memories of bygone days,
We now live in different ways,
A modem world..treats us proudly,
This we acclaim, oh so loudly,
Yet somewhere, hidden in our minds,
We all live in different times,
Mine is runnin’ doon the raws,
Late for schule, get the tawse,
Big Annie, pokin’ on ma airm,
Though awfu’ sair, it did nae harm,
Keekin’ in the Readin’ Room,
See the smoke go swirlin’ roon,
Joiner Tham’s horse an’ cairt,
Sittin’ high, an’ feelin’ smert,
Maggie Hazel’s cups o’ peas,
“Sa’t an pepper”? “Yes please”,
Doon tae Neillie’s,pinchin’ eggs,
Through the nettles, stingin' legs,
Sneakin’ ahin’ the playgr’un’ wa’,
Rabbie’s gairden’s lookin’ braw,
Tumshies, grosits, carrots tae,
We’ve got enough, we’ll away,
Johnnie Widburn roars an’ shouts,
Will the snotter put oot his dout,
Roon the loch for stankies’ nests,
What Happend to Barassie ?
I remember my childhood, going to the chippy and playing on the beach, everyone was nice and happy. I still live in Barassie but now all I think of is how dull it has become with new buildings everywhere (some better than others ). My grandparents have lived in Troon/Barassie now for nearly 40 years and say things have never been the same, it has gone from bad to worse. It might seem as though I am going on a bit, there are however some good things that come out of Barassie. The chippy is very good with fresh fish and lovely chips. The beach is good for a family day out with many ice-cream vans about. I also remember meeting the person I love most here, he has lived here all his life too and he agrees that there is much to be done to better the place a bit.
Smugglers Inn, Troon
Hi, I remember the Smugglers Inn on Portland Street when it was owned by Harry Scoffin, what a character, he had a large handlebar moustache like Jimmy Edwards. For those who can remember him, he came from Plockton, he had a tape of 'God Save the Queen' which he used to stick on and all the longhairs including me had to stand to attention or he said you were out the the door. Nobody tested him, he was a big bloke, but good natured all the same. The pub looked like a museum with guns and swords on the walls, they dont have atmospheres like that any more, all these restrictions nowadays. Happy memories. Bye for now, Colin
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