Museumplanchoices

Thank you for the recent excellent Ayrshire Post published pieces on the Museum of Ayrshire vision for Ayr Grammar School - which are already generating a great response, overwhelmingly in favour of the project, from readers in the local community of South Ayr.

However, while the Post articles detailed our museum proposals, they did not cover the dearth of good community facilities in South Ayr, and how we anticipate Wards 4 and 5 communities to benefit greatly from new social facilities we plan to incorporate within the museum complex on this very central site:

1. Apart from the small Alloway Village Hall, 35 listed Ayr clubs, societies, and other groups largely seek venues for their meetings in church halls and schools.

However, these building are not always available due to parallel usage by church and school bodies, leading to the frustration of club secretaries frequently searching around for alternative arrangements.

2. Our South Ayr Community Facility will provide much-needed stability and security of venues for many groups.

3. Plus the added benefits of a good tearoom, gift shop, tourist information, mother and baby meeting place, outside play area, etc.

4. Halls for various club and society meetings, lectures, symposia, rehearsals and concerts.

5. Perhaps providing ‘quiet room’ facilities for students studying for school or college exams.

7. Employing 6-7 people - and providing enjoyable volunteer opportunities for scores of others.

7. Ideal for a local, volunteer-run Tourist Information and Visitor Centre. (The nearest Visit Scotland offices are at Dumfries - or Brodick!)

Community involvement is hugely important to the criteria stipulated by major grant funders. Therefore we are keen to confirm and maximise the level of local support for this aspect of our plans. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we have been unable to hold any public consultation meetings, and must rely on social media and the press to gather opinions and support for the facilities planned for the community hub.

Forced by a council decision in March to bid for the community against commercial developers on the open market, we lodged our purchase bid on July 22, which along with others will subject to a report to the Council Leadership Panel on August 24, 2021.

What we’d really want to ask the people of South Ayr (Wards 4 and 5) is their preference between two choices:

1. Do they prefer Ayr Grammar School to be developed as a Community Facility for their long term benefit - with tearoom, gift shop, meeting places for mother and toddler groups, clubs, societies; a large multipurpose room for evening talks, rehearsals, concerts; a tourist office - plus a prestigious, environmentally carbon-neutral, heritage Museum of Ayrshire continuing its educational tradition, and attracting many tourist visitors?

Or - 2. Would they prefer to see another of our publicly-owned properties sold off by the council to commercial developers (for a oneoff, short financial gain of just a few hundred thousand pounds), to be converted into 8-10 small flats for private profit and the benefit of a few well-off house buyers - and with no benefit to the wider Ayr community?

To fully inform their decision, we would invite the people of South Ayr to visit our Museum website (www. museumofayrshire.org) to download and read the Support Document PDF which accompanied our Bid submission to South Ayrshire Council.

If you like what you read, please speak to family, and friends in your community, and encourage as many as possible to write in with their support - and ideas - to info@ museumofayrshire.org where we have already gathered many expressions of community support - which are vital for funding - as well demonstrating to our council the strength of public backing for the South Ayr Community Facility and the heritage Museum of Ayrshire.

With enough of the community backing from this online public consultation, it would be great to be able to persuade SAC to support our vision and come on board with enthusiasm. After all, the Council motto is “Ne’er forget the People”.

Thank you and best wishes,

Dr Jimmy Begg, Secretary to MOA Company Ltd.