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Beith
Beith maps
Historic maps of Beith and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Beith maps
Beith photos
We have no photos of Beith, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Kilbirnie| Dalry| Kilbarchan| Elderslie
Beith area books
Displaying 1 of 2 books about Beith and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Beith
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Beith.
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Through my Grandfather's Eyes
My grandfather, James Cunningham Smith, was a native of Beith, born in January, 1888, who came to San Francisco just three weeks before the earthquake and fire of April 17, 1906 that nearly destroyed the entire city.
My knowledge and love of Beith comes from the fortnightly editions of the Beith Supplement that regularly arrived at my grandfather's home in San Francisco his often speaking fondly of his hometown. He would reminisce of his beloved sport 'football', or soccer as we in America know it, the afternoons indoors spent playing cribbage when the weather was too cold and wet for outside sports, and it seemed to me, as we sat there playing our own cribbage match, that it was an enchanted land that I hoped some day I could visit. He never became a citizen of the U.S. His heart was left there in Beith and I suppose, because of his fond recollections, a part of mine has preceded me there and remains to this day. Maybe I'll be... Read more
Ayrshire memories
I Remember When I Was Just A Little Girl...
I remember when I was just a little girl Ladside won the Junior Cup and the whole town went wild, my brother Tom Storie was on the committee many years later.
BLAIR CASTLE AND GARDENS
From 1975-1985 approx, when we were kids from Dalry we lived in the estate below Blair House about 1 mile from main entrance,The Blair Scheme. Myself and a few lads and girls from there used to go up there walking at evenings and weekends, as you turned into the main drive through those large black gates with stone pillars and walls to match there was a gate house, in all my years up there I never saw anyone in or around, but you knew there were eyes watching you. We walked towards the forester's lodge, we would pass through the high archway of trees bowed over like a protective tunnel of golden leaves and branches high above us. As we neared the forester's lodge we would cross over a bridge with wrought-iron railings, half of which had fallen down into water passing underneath, to the left is the lodge, to the right on the bend is what, if I can remember, was a willow tree whose branches touched the... Read more
Rye Rovers
Walking up Vennel Street, Dalry one afternoon I was approached by a pal's dad, Jimmy Morrison. Jimmy, I'd heard, was putting a junior football team together. He crossed the road towards me and said: "Fancy joining my team? We're applying to play in the Ayrshire league." "Who else have you got?", I asked. "Nobody yet, you'd be the first", he replied. I signed up as the first player in the new 'Rye Rovers' squad of young hopefuls. Remarkably, in our first season we finished fourth top of the league but the following year we scooped two magnificent silver trophies and the Ayrshire League title. We played our home games down at the Public Park. I can still recall the names of most of the lads in the team in which I played for the best part of three years. Most were school pals or lads from neighbouring towns like Kilbirnie or Glengarnock. One very talented player we had was Ian McQueen - he would have passed for a screen double of Hollywood film legend... Read more
Kilmaurs
My husband and I are Australians and went to Britain on a driving holiday in 2007. We stayed in some marvellous B&Bs but one that will always be memorable for us was at Anna Steel's farm 'Laigh Langmuir'. What a welcome we had - come in, make yourself at home, a fire is in the lounge. Tea or coffee?. Home made sponge, slice, pikelets with homemade jam and cream! She made everyone who stayed there (and it was packed to the rafters) very welcome. We stayed there for 3 nights. We travelled on the train to Glasgow one day - what a memorable journey that was! Scotland was playing Lithuania and the train was full of Scottish supporters, mostly decked out in their kilts and tam-o-shanters with red hair blazing! On our way back to the station, we met a few Scottish supporters in fine fettler, who told us that Scotland had won, which made... Read more
Crossing The Moor
My secondary education was completed after spending 4 years at Irvine Royal Academy. The school was broken into two buildings known as the old school (pictured) and the new school in Kilwinning Road. Classes were conducted between both buildings and often meant crossing the moor to and from either building. This was fine and considered a great timewaster in good weather but was a pain in pouring rain and ice & snow etc.
The old school was a beautiful building which was loaded with character and that also included some of the teachers who could be characters in their own right, the older of whom wore the black robes and generally carried a belt for discipline, although I never saw one used. The classes were split following the results from the 11+ exam and we were taught according to capabilities. I loved it.
I loved the old building, the character, and the learning (although the exams were a bit stressful). However we survived and although that... Read more
Irvine Royal Academy
In relation to Margaret's memory of 'crossing the moor', we did the same! I have various memories of gym periods in embarrassing shorts, running around on 'the moor', with the boys from the 'new' Ravenspark School (now Irvine) passing us and whistling etc. Heather C. and Joan R. were my pals -I've used my own name here - maybe someone remembers? The old building was lovely, I loved the 'lecture room', seen top left of the pic, huge windows onto the moor. Yes, teachers with flowing black robes. I bumped into Mr. Rab McGarry (Art) a few years back, loved art, (got my degree just recently!). Mr. McGarry was so cool, he seemed surprised when I told him we thought he was cool - proves he MUST have been! Did we really see Gallagher and Lyle at Ravenspark in 1970-71-just after school bell, walked in still with uniforms on - organised - (remember head teach telling us not to miss the bus)! Met Jean McKee in London... Read more
