Jimmy’s 100th birthday bash
It was a day to remember for a special gentleman as he celebrated his 100th Birthday in fine style.
Not even the lockdown could prevent James (Jimmy) Gebbie from taking centre stage.
With a Telegram from HM The Queen and a Piper leading the tributes, Jimmy’s family lined up outside his property, in Birch Avenue, and made it a birthday bash with style.
Jimmy was said to be “thrilled” with the reception he received.
When Jimmy was born, David Lloyd George was UK Prime Minister and King George V was on the throne.
James Brown Gebbie (Jimmy) was born on 15th June 1920 at Blackwood Farm, Moscow, in Ayrshire and liked to tell people he was “Russian.”
Jimmy attended Cairn Primary School, in Maybole, and walked there and back every day with his brother and sisters. He finished his schooling at Carrick Academy.
When he left school he first worked at Dowhill Farm, Crosshill, then went to work at Kirkmichael Creamery and the whole family moved to Patna Road in Kirkmichael.
When the Second World War broke out Jimmy was called up and he served with the Royal Engineers in India and Burma. After the war he returned to Kirkmichael and at one of the area’s village dances he met the love of his life, Mary Bradley, from Kilkerran.
They married in July 1948, setting up home in Kirkmichael. They went on to have four of a family- Moira, Pat, Fiona and Brian.
Through the late 1940s and 1950s Jimmy was a lorry driver, collecting the milk from farms, working for local haulage companies and also driving long distance for BRS (British Road Services).
At the start of the 1960s Jimmy started work in the big Stampworks in Newton-on-Ayr and he and Mary took the family over the hill to Dalrymple where he still lives. He worked in the Stampworks on the big hammer until he retired in 1983. Always the lorry driver, he worked alongside his friend George Porteous, a local haulier, and continued to help out well into his 80s and loved it.
He can still tell you about all the farms in the area having visited most of them in the lorry over the years.
Mary unfortunately passed away in 2014 aged 92 years.
Jimmy has four children, nine grandchildren and 14 greatgrandchildren in Scotland, England, Belgium and America.
He was a hard worker and still likes to help out and, according to his family, can tell you how you “should be” doing the job!
Granddaughter Jillian said: “It was a good day and my grampa Jimmy was chuffed to bits. We will pull out all the stops for a big celebration once lockdown is over.”
It was a good day and my grampa Jimmy was chuffed to bits