Tuesday 31st January - change of meeting room

This week's meeting is our 'Member's Night' when we will be providing updates on various community programmes and having a brief talk on vintage cars.

The usual venue, the Open Space, is required for an awards function. We will therefore be meeting elsewhere in the college. Committee members will be in the Foyer area from 7pm onwards to guide you.

We look forward to seeing you.

Please remember - there is a talk this Tuesday (17th Jan) at 7.30pm

Lecture Programme 2016-17

Upcoming Lectures

Our next lecture takes place at 7.30pm on Tuesday 10th January when Ben Shepherd will talk about 'The German Army in World War II - and why it lasted so long'

Please note - the second lecture of 2017 is on 17th January. A bit like the Leap Second applied at midnight on Hogmanay, we have had to schedule our meetings slightly differently this session to bring us into line with term times at the college.

That lecture will be delivered by Stuart Cochrane when he will talk about 'Robert Burns - The Fat of The Land'

The third lecture of the year is a members' night. There will be updates from the committee about recent, ongoing and planned community events and involvement. However, this is also a chance to talk about any matters of interest you may have. You might want to bring along an item of interest, or wish to talk for a few minutes about a project you have been involved in or somewhere you recently visited which might interest the members. If you have any photos or postcards you want to share then please forward them in plenty of time for us to prepare these to be shown on the screens - or bring a memory stick along on the night.

An interactive night - so please think of how you may be able to take part - even if it just to blether. We would be delighted to hear from any member wishing to present a small talk.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our members and friends.

We are now half way through this session's talks and have settled into our new home at the brand new Kilmarnock Campus of Ayrshire College. 

The new facility is quite different to the old lecture hall in Holehouse Road but we seem to have become used to it now after it all feeling a bit strange at first. 

Attendances are in line with those of previous years. However, the new venue has a larger capacity and, with the seating being arranged horizontally rather than vertically, it seems that we are more spread out. Overall though, the venue is up to date and will suit our needs going forward with a higher quality of equipment available  - and no noisy air conditioning units.

Membership numbers remain strong with just over 100 having paid subscriptions. We also have a number of visitors at most meetings and usually have about 70 to 85 people at each talk. This is the envy of local history groups - thank you for your commitment. Please continue to encourage friends to come along to talks - many visitors do join and we need to maintain and increase or membership levels going forward.

At our last meeting in 2016, members were invited to donate a small cash sum in return for old books and maps we were given by the family of the late John Hood. We are happy to advise that, after a small rounding up, we have forwarded £100 to The Ayrshire Hospice. The 'unsold' books were donated to the Killie Browser at the station and will raise funds for their Trust. Many thanks to all who contributed.