On Saturday 3^rd December Maybole’s Greenside hosted a day of festive fun for the families of the area!

‘Carrick Loves Christmas’ was the first event of its kind and was brought to you by Maybole Community Council in partnership with North Carrick Community Benefit Company and NorthCarrick.com, with funding from Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Thriving Communities – Carrick Team.

Children enjoyed a free shot on the jet ride, as well as face painting, balloon models, and lots of crafts to try in the marquee! Local groups had stalls with activities including Community Wellbeing Hub, Girlguiding Carrick District, Maybole Regeneration, Community Learning Development, The Carrick Centre and St Cuthbert’s Parents Committee.

Everyone enjoyed hearing the three primary school choirs perform, as well as local singers, Becca Cameron, and Sian Clark. The wonderful sound of Maybole Pipe Band rang out around the square, and later we were entertained by the Dalrymple Ukulele Orchestra. The Burns Bachelors Performers also made us laugh with their funny festive poems.

The event organiser would like to thank everyone who supported the event! There is a survey live on social media now to get feedback for putting on future events! Check out @northcarricknow on Facebook and Instagram.

Photos by Hibbins Photography

By Stuart Lindsay NCCBC Development Manager

Younger people often tend to be more optimistic, enthusiastic, and ambitious for the places where they live. But here in North Carrick, they are massively under-represented in the organisations that are working to improve the area. We aim to change that.

The money that has been spent on project development work in the Foundations for Recovery programme leaves us with lots of projects that are ready to go to the next stage. If we can get those projects done, then all the communities in North Carrick will be much better places to live, work or visit.

The plan now is to set up a new North Carrick Development Trust to take the lead on driving projects forward. But this won’t be just another committee of older people. We aim to ensure that younger demographics are always equally represented. And we will organise it so that young people, including parents with young children, can take the lead. Simple things can make all the difference. Things like having the Trust’s meetings on a weekend afternoon and having a play group so that children can be looked after whilst the parents take part in the meetings. And who says that the Trustees can’t have fun too? Of course, they have to do the formal work, but we will make sure that there is time for socialising and learning too.

So, if you’re 18-35 and you want to make this place better, why not contact us to see how you can get involved? Contacting Stuart or Claire now will cost nothing  and, who knows, it might be your first step to being part of something big.

(stuart@nccbc.org.uk; claire@nccbc.org.uk)

Come along and find out how things have progressed, ask questions and speak to the consultants and architects working on the projects within Foundations for Recovery!