Kilmarnock Railway Station – World War 1 Stories

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Kilmarnock Railway Station – World War 1 Stories

Back in May 2016 I appealed to constituents and local groups to consider applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund for community projects to learn more about the First World War. The Heritage Lottery Fund announced that they were making money available as part of the ‘First World War: then and now’ programme for small, community grants. This was to encourage local communities interested in marking the Centenary of the First World War to learn more about how the First World War affected the local area and the impact it had on communities.

Through this programme East Ayrshire Council Education Services has come together with the Kilmarnock Station Railway Heritage Trust and applied successfully for a grant of £10,000 for their project ‘Kilmarnock Railway Station – World War 1 Stories’.

I was delighted to be visited by Graham Boyd, Heritage Projects Coordinator East Ayrshire Council along with Sixth Year pupils from St Joseph’s Academy, Ann McGiffen and Ava Hepburn to find out more about the project.

Pupils from local primary schools and St Joseph’s Academy have been researching and developing an archive on a number of Kilmarnock Railway Station workers, employed by the Glasgow & South Western Railway Company and other nearby railway works, who volunteered or were enlisted to serve at The Front during World War 1.

The pupils want to build a picture of what the town was like before WW1 and the changes brought about due to the outbreak of war. Their research is uncovering many fascinating and largely untold stories both with a local and international dimension. In order to share this forgotten heritage with the public, the pupils along with many community groups associated with the Station Village are planning to host a display of the archive along with a service dedicated to the memory of these workers.

I have always been interested in WWI and I think this project combining social history along with consideration of some locals involved in the war is a fantastic way to get a wider understanding of what life really was like. I commend them for their efforts and look forward to the displays. 

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Stewarton Academy - S3 Modern Studies visit

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Stewarton Academy - S3 Modern Studies visit

I was delighted to be given the opportunity to talk to the S3 Modern Studies class at Stewarton Academy recently on my role as an MP. The students had prepared a number of questions which related to their coursework and I was impressed with the range of questions that were asked. I was keen to make it clear that although I gave my personal view on the topics they had chosen that I was willing to hear their views as well. It is always important to show that different points of view can be informed, considered and equally as valid and that debating them can add to the understanding of complex issues.

My visit was after the Modern Studies department had held a workshop and a mock election for S4 – S6 pupils, this was to inform those students eligible to vote on the process and what to expect from the Scottish Holyrood election.

I learned that the students were organised into groups and attended a workshop to discuss what qualities and skills their perfect representative would have, what their local policies would be for the local area and their priorities given a budget of £250,000. Each group were given an opportunity to present a ‘party political broadcast’ to the other groups and then vote for the candidate or Party they wanted to represent the Stewarton Academy constituency.

I was impressed that to highlight the importance of registering the process included checking that pupils were registered and if not they were prevented from voting.

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