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Skares
Skares maps
Historic maps of Skares and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Skares maps
Skares photos
We have no photos of Skares, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Ochiltree| Sorn| Mauchline| Stair
Skares area books
Displaying 1 of 2 books about Skares and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Skares
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Skares.
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Happy Days
To me there is nowhere like Skares was, and anyone who came from there will say the same. Everybody knew everybody else and they were always ready to help anyone that needed it. You could go out and leave your door open without worrying about anything being pinched. In the summer we used to all go on a picnic doon the blackwater when it was nice, and we'd go for walks roon the pluck. My mother sometimes took us up to the Covenanters monument up the Knockdunder hills. She used to take us picking rasberries to make jam in the summer, and when the brambles were ready she'd take us to pick them and scribes to make jelly. It was guid. We used to take our mother's clothes pole and loup the burn. At Halloween we'd go roon knocking on doors and we'd sing or say a poem and get sweeties, nuts and fruit. We were always made welcome. At Hogmanay some folk would go first fittin'. My granny (Meg... Read more
Ayrshire memories
I Was Born in Rankinston
I had many very happy years spending my summer hols with my wee Granny and Grampa Bowman! I met my first love there too!
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,
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.
School
I remember my first day at St Xaviours in Dalmelington. It was run by nuns who were very strict. I wore a uniform like St Trinians (I cant remember what it was called - Gymslip maybe?). I got the ruler on my hand for dipping my finger in the inkwell on the desk. I was only 4 or 5 at the time. The bus stop to go home was on the main road next to a barn with horses in it. The old bridge was still in use when I went to school. The new bridge was being built, it must be over fifty years old now. How time flies. My dad was a miner and we lived in brand new houses with inside bathroom and toilet. We had our own back and front garden, I think the street was called Barnsheen Ave (16).
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
The People of Mirkirk
I lived in Muirkirk for a few short years and did not want to leave. The people of Muirkirk are fantastic, I moved there about 1978 when I left Edinburgh. My dad got a job in the area, he was not long out of the forces and came from Ayrshire and we have family in Mauchline anyway. When we arrived the very first night a group of teenagers came to our door and introduced themselves and took my sister and I out, from then on we had loads of friends from the village and had a great time there, swimming in the dam in summer, Tibbies Brig, the discos in the centre and who could forget the pie shop where we used to go early hours after the disco. The walks were lovely. The bus journey to Auchinleck Academy was a great laugh and I will never forget the time I made cakes in home ec and the boys from the village threw them at everyone on our bus, much... Read more
