Kilmarnock Pupils Enter Photography Competition

The Scottish Civic Trust organises annually a Scotland-wide heritage photographic project for schools entitled "My Place".  It encourages children to look at their local heritage and, through the medium of photography, develop an understanding of the environment around them.

Pupils of Kilmarnock schools entered the competition while exploring The Kilmarnock Town Trail with Graham Boyd and were encouraged by him to take interesting and some rather unusual photographs. 

All entries to the competition will be displayed at The Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Design and Architecture (in the lane off Buchanan Street), in Glasgow from Friday 27^th March 2015, for six weeks. It's well worth half an hour of your time if you're in the vicinity to take a look at the entries.  Entry to the exhibition is free.
 

If you can't manage along to the Lighthouse you can see the Killie entries at

Primary

http://www.scottishcivictrust.org.uk/my-place-photography/competition/competition-galleries/primary-2015/

Secondary
http://www.scottishcivictrust.org.uk/my-place-photography/competition/competition-galleries/secondary-2015/

The photographs will be on display locally in the Dick Institute from Friday 24th April 2015.
The exhibition is called  'Kilmarnock Schools - Our Town Through A Lens'

Stop Press
Well done to the pupil from Annanhill Primary who was Highly Commended in the Primary competition and also to the Gargieston pupil who gained a Commendation.

Upside Downside by Max H. (age 11) Annanhill Primary School, East Ayrshire

Mirror Mirror on the Wall by David K. (age 11) Gargieston Primary School, East Ayrshire

Upside Downside by Max H -Annanhill Primary

Mirror Mirror on the Wall by David K, Gargieston Primary

Great Work Graham Boyd.

KDHG in the community

In addition to hosting our twelve lectures over the winter months, KDHG takes part in and carries out many projects in the community. Most members are probably not aware of the following –

• KDHG have acted as advisors to the Kilmarnock THI and CARS initiatives for many years. THI, or Townscape Heritage Initiative, provides funding for upgrading, restoration and preservation of commercial and residential properties in and around the John Finnie Street / Bank Street Conservation Area. CARS, Historic Scotland’s Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme also provide funding in this area.

• KDHG have been actively involved in East Ayrshire Council’s Ensign Ewart Memorial Project. Ensign Ewart, as you will know, is famous for capturing the regimental eagle of the 45e Régiment de Ligne at the Battle of Waterloo. He was born in Kilmarnock District in 1769 and is buried on Edinburgh Castle esplanade.

• KDHG is actively involved as advisor in East Ayrshire Council’s World War I Memorial Project which will create a lasting memorial in each of the district’s ‘hub towns’

• KDHG is actively involved in producing a Galston Town Trail.

• KDHG have built a website which is visited in large numbers and which generates a number of enquiries from around the world each month. It has the capacity to evolve into a significant archive hub.

• KDHG has helped the Kilmarnock Station Railway Heritage Trust to take shape and secure funding to regenerate the empty units on the platform area to the benefit of the community. Work has now started.

• KDHG committee member Graham Boyd received the Scottish Civic Trust Award for his work in promoting local history in local schools.


KDHG has had a positive impact in the community since foundation in 1972 and will continue to play an active and leading role going forward.

Keir Hardie

Keir Hardie has very strong links to Ayrshire. He was a founder of the Labour Party and became its first parliamentary leader. At the turn of the nineteenth century he was Labour's most famous face. Hardie was  voted Labour's 'Greatest Hero' at the 2008 Labour Party Conference, but recently  his  story and ideology seems to have become somewhat forgotten, even within the party he helped to establish. Born illegitimate just outside Glasgow in 1856, he didn't have an easy start to life. Before the age of 10, he was the sole wage earner in his family. He never went to school but was self-taught, avidly reading books lent him by a kind young clergyman.
Come along to our meeting on Tuesday 3 March at 7.30pm in the Kilmarnock campus of Ayrshire College and hear Hardie's biographer Bob Holman's talk on this important socialist figure.

 

Keir Hardie

The Dukes of Portland

If you are a Kilmarnock resident or were raised in Killie, you will be familiar with the names Portland, Bentinck, Fullarton and Scott-Ellis.  Come along and discover the origins of some of these names at our next meeting on Tuesday 17 February in Ayrshire College Kilmarnock Campus at 7.30pm in the Lecture Theatre.
One of our own members, Hugh Watson, will be giving a talk entitled, "The Gambling, The Winnings and The Dukes of Portland".

 

William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland 

 (28 December 1857 – 26 April 1943

Andrew Fisher (29 August 1862 – 22 October 1928)

Tonight's talk is by John McHarg from Crosshouse, the village which was the birthplace, in 1862, of Andrew Fisher.  Fisher was a miner who emigrated to Australia, became involved in politics and rose to become Australia's fifth Prime Minister. He seems to have become somewhat forgotten in recent years in his native Scotland.

Andrew Fisher

The talk takes place in the Lecture Theatre of the Kilmarnock Campus of Ayrshire College, Holehouse Road and begins at 7.30pm 


Read more about Andrew Fisher here. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas to all our members and visitors to our website.
Have a prosperous 2015 !

Clydebank Blitz

Our final talk of 2014 is tonight (Tuesday 16 December) and is being given by David Carson, Chairman of Clydebank Local History Society.  His topic is the Clydebank Blitz.
Clydebank and nearby parts of Glasgow suffered the heaviest civilian casualties in Scotland due to Geman bombing during the early years of World War II. Many of our members, who were very young in 1941, can still recall hearing the Nazi aircraft flying overhead and being able to see the glow of burning fires away in the distance.
The only fatalities in Kilmarnock as a result of enemy bombing were killed in the early hours of Tuesday May 6 1941.  The 4 victims were living in flats in Culzean Crescent and the houses were struck by one bomb from a single aircraft, although the aircraft dropped 14 bombs in total, in a line from around New Farm Loch, across Kilmarnock Cemetery, Culzean Crescent and finally Riccarton Moss.