Following on from our previous articles related to when Glenfinart House was used for summer holidays by the Friendship Holidays Association, we are grateful to Richard Woolley who has provided us with the above photograph taken in August 1939 and shows a group of FHA guests outside Glenfinart House. The photo includes Richard’s Mother (back row, third from the right).
Glenfinart Walled Garden – Newsletter
Read the December 2017 Glenfinart Walled Garden newsletter from Ardentinny Community Trust.
Childhood memories of Ardentinny 1926
Mr. Ian MacPherson-Blane’s 91-year-old mother, Margaret MacPherson has written about her childhood in Ardentinny where she lived for 19 years from 1926. Her parents, Cecilia and Jack MacPherson lived at Seaview Cottage from 1926 until 1954, prior to which they had lived at The Steading.
The photograph of schoolchildren at the jetty is c.1929 and Mrs MacPherson started school shortly after it was taken. 10th from the right is Jackie MacPherson, Mrs. Margaret MacPherson’s brother; 13th from the right, Donnie MacPherson, another brother; 5th from the right is Jock McIntyre. She thinks 12th from the right is Renee Gardener who was much older than her and who used to wear a lot of makeup.
She recalls she (Margaret) once plucked her eyebrows but didn’t say anything and her father looked at her for a while then said “there’s something different about you and I don’t know what it is but you look like Renee Gardener”. Margaret then confessed and got a row. Renee happily married a Commando and had a family. 20th from right is Ian MacLean “who was a nice, quiet lad who was taken prisoner at Dunkirk and at the end of the war died on the long walk home, too malnourished to make it.”
Further recollections are that “Jake Cairns, a widower lived in the Octagon (the row of cottages near the jetty) and Glencairn cottages although they let out Glencairn in the summer and lived in the Octagon, moving back to Glencairn in the winter and shutting up the Octagon.
Jack Cairns had two daughters, Nelly and Jenny and a son, Joe, who drowned in the loch as a youngster. They moved to Glencairn and the Octagon from The Bothie at Stronvochlan after Mr Cairns, who worked for the estate, had a heart attack, and lived there rent free, which was most unusual. Nelly married Jake Longmuir who had come from Carluke to Ardentinny in search of a wife after losing his second wife and Mr. Cairns went to live with them in Carluke. Jenny married Tommy Greer and, after working in Edinburgh for a few years, they settled in Newton Stewart.
Next to Glencairn was Blink Bonny but Mrs. MacPherson can’t remember the name of the end house (now part of Blink Bonny) although someone called Mrs. Rhodes bought it. She was a widow from England and had a son called John.”
We are grateful to Mr. Ian MacPherson-Blane who provided the photograph and his mother’s recollections.
Santa entertains at Village Hall party
Organised by Anna and Maryjane, more than 35 youngsters enjoyed themselves at Ardentinny’s annual Christmas party in the Village Hall.
Hall adopts free membership model at community meeting
Ardentinny Hall Management committee held an open community meeting on 10 October to inform residents on the status of the village hall and to discuss the possible future role of the asset within the community.
For the moment the committee is keeping the hall ‘ticking over’, having reopened it for club and other bookings; ensuring that it is cleaned, that regular outgoings are paid; and making the relevant official changes of office bearers.
Management committee member Guy Elder reported on the fabric of the building. The gutters and downpipes were blocked and water is overflowing and seeping into the building and, despite clearing the back and side, the actual source of the ingress has yet to be determined. There are also no obvious drains taking water away but once they obtain field drawings of what drainage exists the committee will then decide what needs to be done before hiring a digger to make the appropriate provision. In the meantime they have applied for a National Park (building) grant to cover the cost. This has successfully reached the second stage whereby a further application has to be submitted by 20 October.
The Chair then referred to the 2015 Community Action Plan and the likes, dislikes, wants and needs of the residents expressed therein, with a view to discussing if/how the village hall asset might play a part in achieving the community’s vision for its future. There were various suggestions from the floor including the need to consult the whole community. This was agreed along with scheduling another open community meeting in the near future.
For the moment the committee is keeping the hall ‘ticking over’, having reopened it for club and other bookings; ensuring that it is cleaned, that regular outgoings are paid; and making the relevant official changes of office bearers.
Management committee member Guy Elder reported on the fabric of the building. The gutters and downpipes were blocked and water is overflowing and seeping into the building and, despite clearing the back and side, the actual source of the ingress has yet to be determined. There are also no obvious drains taking water away but once they obtain field drawings of what drainage exists the committee will then decide what needs to be done before hiring a digger to make the appropriate provision. In the meantime they have applied for a National Park (building) grant to cover the cost. This has successfully reached the second stage whereby a further application has to be submitted by 20 October.
The Chair then referred to the 2015 Community Action Plan and the likes, dislikes, wants and needs of the residents expressed therein, with a view to discussing if/how the village hall asset might play a part in achieving the community’s vision for its future. There were various suggestions from the floor including the need to consult the whole community. This was agreed along with scheduling another open community meeting in the near future.In addition, after many years of charging an annual hall membership fee, it was decided to provide free hall membership to all the community in line with other village halls along ‘the shore’.