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New Cumnock in the Sixties

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Please note, you can enlarge any picture by simply clicking it.

Can you recall Geordie Ewing's greenhouse that sat behind the plumber's at the side of the Afton? John Walker recalls Davie Condie commencing work there upon leaving school in 1943. The Greenhouses were major suppliers of tomatoes in the area. The outhouses and chimneys would have provided the heat etc for the greenhouses. At the side of the Afton was a well worn path where walkers would trek up the side of the river, when walking was a key pastime before the days of TV, games consoles and other indoor activities.

There have been various people linked with the plumbers business, situated to the left of the house. Hugh Turnbull, who employed son’s Hugh, Harry and Andy along with Jimmy McKnight, was the brother of Peter Turnbull, a well known barber in the area. The business at some point was owned by McAlpine although I have little data of this era but it was taken over by Billy Hastie, who retained the name McAlpine. The house was once owned by the Rogerson family after they sold Lochside House and before that was possibly the Ewing family. I have learned that a Tom Ferguson also resided here around the period when the picture was taken. The spare ground to the right was the location of New Cumnock’s first school and was converted into accommodation, where such local worthy's as Donald McIver and Roddy Currie dwelled. The Glens Club was built on this site but the building now operates as the Evangelical church.

The next picture is at the other side of the Castle across from the Railway Station and shows the Afton Cottages as the only remaining building. However, up until 1963, the Afton Hotel stood in front of the cottages and directly across the road was the Afton Buildings, both of which were destroyed by fire. The hotel was owned by the Lind family and many pictures are available, which feature the hotel elsewhere on the site. I know the family had three sons, Robert, Andrew and Ian and a daughter whose name I haven’t manage to source. Can you help with family names?

The small track in front of the entrance to the station was the road up to Waterside Farm, once owned by the Fitzsimmons family and employed a young Donald McIver. There is a red sign, which is prominent at the left side of the Nith Bridge. Any idea what it says? Back to the Afton Cottages....The top floor of the brown side of the building, housed Mrs. Currie and her son David with the remainder of the building leased by tenants such as Logie Davidson, Grinner Johnstone, Bobby Pollock, Hugh Nisbet and Lacey Dickson and their respective families. The outhouses were used for storing coal, the main form of heating households in the 1960s and years before the pits closed. Mrs. Currie was known to keep hens in and around the outhouses too.

In this picture we can see the Crown Hotel which was constructed by the McKnight family, who owned the Castle Hotel too. The hotel was built on the site of an old coach house to feed and water those attending the new parish church. An extension was added in the form of a new hall opening in 1959. The Dick's were also associated with the Crown Hotel.

Then we have the Parish Church. Building commenced in 1829 and it opened in May 1833 with the clock appearing in 1872 and behind the church is the Church Hall. Rev McPherson was the minister when this picture was taken.

The next building is the Town Hall, opened in 1889 and behind it is the Bowling Club which was inaugurated in 1870, with Alec McKechie's Grandfather bowling the first ever bowl. The local drama club presented plays in the Town Hall until they disbanded in 1965. Of course, another regular occurence was the dances, to local and well travelled live bands. If you look behind the Bowling Club’s Clubhouse, you can see what appears to be a burn. This was the Lade, used to carry the water away from the Old Mill to the River Nith but as you can see, the Lade is dry, suggesting the Old Mill has ceased operations.

The bowling club encouraged youngsters to attend, taking on many teenagers straight from school. Because bowls were expensive, the youngsters would often borrow them from the older players. Just to the right of the Bowling Club is the Scout Hut. This was possibly the second Scout Hut to occupy this location, being rebuilt at some point after the 1970s and it replaced the original that sat on the banks of the Afton at the far end of the Castle Green. The Greenhouses were owned by the Kozicki family and have been demolished to make way for Miller Road houses. Names given for the families who occupied the houses to the right of the Town Hall are from left to right are McDonald, the local dentist, unknown, Davie and Anna Shankland, unknown, the Lees family who once owned the shoe shop across the road and then Davie Gillies who was a tailor and had two daughters, Nan and Jean.

Onto the next one then. Logie Wilson the Chemist is the centre piece in this one. Of course the chemist shop is now occupied by Lloyds Pharmacy. Back in the sixties and beyond, the shop was divided in two with the chemist on one side and Jean Walker had her greengrocers on the left. Jean also worked as an usherette at the picture house in the Castle whilst Brother Joe, worked with Kennedy, the builders as a labourer. Both lived above the shop at one point.

To the right of this building, is a garden but many years ago, this was the site of the original Police Station. During the late 40s and early 50s the policeman was Sergeant Leslie and he lived in the old station with his wife and son Stuart. Depicted in the photograph behind the gardens are the second Police Station and police houses. Even in the 1970s the village had a number of Policemen living in the area such as McChesney and Shannon, who, along with their families, lived in the scheme. One of the police houses shown, was occupied by the Kirkwood family. The 1960s police station has been sold off as houses and the village’s only police presence is now in the Town Hall on a part time basis. To the rear of the police station was until recently Halls Factory. Halls of course commenced business at the old Ex-Serviceman’s Club behind McGarva’s Garage before building their factory in the early 1960s. There is a car emerging from Halls car park, which was occupied by a wooden hut and utilised by the silver band for practise sessions.

You can see the portacabin type building attached to the main building, which was the Bank of Scotland and has since been replaced by Lewis’s fish and chip shop. The main building for information’s sake is known as Inverafton.

Picture five shows the Community Centre which opened in 1958 and cost £35,000 to build and the tennis courts to the rear. To the right is a swing park just before Halls factory. The building with the four skylight windows was the changing rooms for the swimming pool constructed in 1966. The white fenced area on the left was the long walkway in open air, which you had to endure to reach the pool. This was often a shivering experience in colder days. Today there is a games hall where the tennis courts were and the swing park has long gone. Of course the tennis courts were often in a state of disrepair – changed days when you consider we had a tennis and cricket club in the late 1800s. John Walker can recall when he was a kid, the swings being locked to prevent them being used on a Sunday, possibly by order of the church. Changed days! The swings were also closer to the road in the 1950s but due to building amenities, there were moved further back.