South Ayrshire Council News

History Fair 2009

The annual South Ayrshire History Fair, that took place in the Walker Halls in Troon, once again attracted local people and many visitors to the town who were keen to find out more about a range of historical matters

Councillor Margaret Toner, Depute Leader of the Council and Portfolio Carrier for Community Services opened the fair, she said: “The South Ayrshire History Fair is always a great event and I really enjoyed it. There were a large range of stalls that that included family history societies, local and national history organisations, professional and commercial businesses and a specialist Scottish bookshop, with books covering a wide number of topics. There was something for all age groups and the guest speakers were informative and entertaining.

“I would like to thank everyone involved and in particular the Council library employees who worked so hard organising the event. The South Ayrshire History Fair is an established annual event and one is already being planned for 2009, details of which will be publicised early next year.”

The programme of events included the following guest speakers:

• Robert Cunnynham of Glengarnock and the West Indian Plantocracy - Dr Eric Graham, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
• Celebrating 100 years of the work in the West of Scotland of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland - Dr Alex Hale, Archaeology Projects Manager, RCAHMS
• Early Maps of Ayrshire, an Ayrshire centred introduction to Scotland’s Map Library - Laragh Quinney, Map Services Manager, National Library of Scotland
• How to use the National Archives of Scotland without coming to Edinburgh - Pete Wadley, Search room Archivist, Historical Search Section, National Archives of Scotland.