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Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie maps
Historic maps of Kilbirnie and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Kilbirnie maps
Kilbirnie area books
Displaying 1 of 2 books about Kilbirnie and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Kilbirnie
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memories of Kilbirnie.
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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.
Ayrshire memories
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
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
Seafront Zoo
I have vague memories of a zoo on the water front at Largs. It definitely had a monkey that got loose inside the small building on occasions and would steal your scarf. There may also have been various birds. Can anyone refresh or debunk this memory? Any details would be welcome.
Nardini's
I was only a boy of 13 maybe 14 but we Kilbirnie folk regularly did the casual work, waitering ect, to the bus runs. Then on a Saturday night it was a great dance hall. I remember well dancing the night away with some middle-aged bit. The walk home over the Halyie brae was not so much fun but I always got back.
Sea-Front Zoo
I remember the zoo, I used to work in it. Email: teddieboyce@talktalk.net
