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neilmc · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject: Ayrshire; Glasgow's Riviera

Considering how popular Ayrshire used to be as a holiday destination for Glaswegians, I'm surprised no one has started a thread on that area.

Girvan was where my family holidayed all through the 'sixties, thanks to my dad's employer letting his workers each spend a fortnight every summer in a cottage he owned just off Dalrymple Street (cottage now sadly gone).

Here's a photo I took of Girvan harbour, on a nostalgic trip back in 1978:-

Alex Glass · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject:

Brilliant idea for a topic Neil.

My family went to a holiday hut every year in Meadowpark in Irvine. I believe it is now the site where the large papermill is sited.

I have some family photos from the early 60's and will look out my disk and post some photos up.

Saltcoats and Stevenson where also popular with Glasgow folk. When my children were little we took them to Stevenson for a week and usually did regular day trip to many of the town on the Ayrshire coast.
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I had a dream today

ALEX G @ flickr

james73 · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:29 pm Post subject:

Aye, Largs, Saltcoats and Ayr were our regular haunts. My granny used to have
a static caravan down at Sandylands years ago.

Not many pics though.

James H
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The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....

Alex Glass · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:50 pm Post subject:

A wee photo of the hut we stayed in during the summer holidays till about 1968.

We spent the whole of the summer holidays there and my dad came during the Fair Fortnight. One year he built the chimney. He always had to fix something when he came down. The hut was surrounded by a small fence and this was usually broken by cars coming off the hill and missing the corner, going through the fence. He resorted to using the steel from an old bed to strengthen the posts.

Being close to a farm we would often be sent to get fresh milk from the farmer. In the field next to our hut a horse would often appear and we would feed it with some old bread. There was also a large barley field where we would roll through and hide. Being small it was easy to hide in the long barley.

On good days we would walk to the beach at Brassy. On the route we had to cross a railway line. I always remember using a bridge in the middle of nowhere to get across the railway before you could access the beach.

Ever day was an adventure at that age and we had plenty to do during the long summer holidays. Many fond memories of our time at the hut.
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I had a dream today

ALEX G @ flickr

neilmc · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:53 pm Post subject:

Alex: my aunt and uncle had a hut at Meadowpark in the 'sixties; they liked the area so much they moved from Ravenscraig Drive, Priesthill to Dreghorn in 1972. I'm sure they would love to see those photos you've got, so get them posted!

James: I thought the photo which follows was taken at Meadowpark, but now think it may be Sandylands. I don't remember taking it, but it was on a strip of negs with some photos I certainly took. It shows my brother, sister, cousin and some of their friends, circa 1971:-

neilmc · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject:

Alex, just spotted your photo of your hut: absolutely lovely, and somehow reminds me of the old prefabs on Cleeves Road!

I'm away to my bed, to dream about Girvan, Meadowpark and Sandylands......

Alex Glass · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:43 pm Post subject: Meadowpark - Irvine

Heare are some of my family's holiday snaps from the early 60's during our holidays in Meadowpark in Irvine.

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I had a dream today

ALEX G @ flickr

Ronnie · Bag of chips Joined: 26 Sep 2007 Posts: 108 Location: G12

Thank you, all, for your memories of youthful holidays. We always went to Kames Bay, in Millport, because my Aunt Ethel and Uncle Bert had a relative who owned a flat there. We also went to Rothesay one year, and Fairlie another. My mother, sister and I would sometimes be there for the summer, and my father, who worked for Post Office Telecoms, would come down for the Fair Fortnight. I don't have many memories of those days, but I have some photographs, which I will post at some point.
The Fairlie ones belong in this thread, and the Millport and Rothesay ones can go on another one. Childhood holidays is a great idea for a thread. Thanks again to all who have contributed.
Best, R
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ex-tobester · Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:58 am Post subject:

When we used to visit Saltcoats, i remember the monkey house amusements, we occasionally visited Sandylands when people we knew were there, my only memory of that place is the 'stinky house' a wee play house on the park that smelled.

Fjord · Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:23 am Post subject:

We went to Girvan several times in the 1970's and stayed in a hotel on the front overlooking the putting green called the Auchendolly, no idea where they got the name from.
I loved the wee motor boats at the pond with a proper petrol lawnmore engine none of your peddalo crap and I'm sure there was a giant helter skelter and other shows beside the harbour.
Watching the fishing boats land their catch was a daily event and you could hire a rowing boat and mess about the harbour or explore the river.
There was a small private zoo just off the high street although it didn't have anything exotic to speak of just a few goldfish and some budgies in cages IIRC

Like most family's foreign holidays were out of the question for my folks and it was only a few years later we finally went abroad in the early 1980's to Millport!