Cumnock History Group

About

We are a constituted Voluntary Group formed in 2014 by the late Bobby Grierson with 150 members worldwide. Annual membership is £10.

Our ever growing website has comprehensive coverage of all things Cumnock including photographs, films, documents, research articles and much more.

Main Website:
http://www.cumnockhistorygroup.org

Meetings & Events:
The group normally meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month in Cumnock. We invite guest speakers to present talks of interest to members. In 2020, we have taken to Zoom to reach our members. Whilst not ideal, there is the advantage that members further afield can participate.

Research and Projects:
Gravestone and Monumental Inscriptions - Members have photographed, documented and transcribed over 700 headstones situated in the old cemetery at Barrhill Road in 2014 and 2888 headstones in the new cemetery on Glaisnock Road in 2020. Both are available on a 2GB memory stick containing photographs and inscription and location details. It is for sale at £10 plus £1 P&P.

Childhood Exhibition - We contributed many historical items to the childhood exhibition at the Baird Institute entitled "When We Are Young".

Keir Hardy Exhibition - we have successfully completed a street art project using images and the writings for the major 100th Centenary exhibition "Keir Hardie 100 Years On" at the Baird Institute.

Cumnock2016 Flickr Group - was set up and features photos of everyday life in Cumnock to be a resource for the future and to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Cumnock becoming a police burgh in 1866. This culminated in an exhibition at the Baird Institute. http://www.flickr.com/photos/131272167@N03/galleries

WW2 Camp Pennylands - In 2016 we conducted a research project funded by the National Heritage Lottery into the WW2 camp at Pennylands in the grounds of Dumfries House estate.

Cumnock WW1 Soldiers - started as an investigation of the names on the men named on Cumnock War Memorial but soon expanded to cover all local men and women involved in the conflict. In 2018 we got funding to research and celebrate the centenary of the Armistice with various events culminating in a social event, a re-imagining of the Welcome Home Dance in 1919 in the Town Hall and the laying of stones painted with poppies by local school children naming all the local men who took part in the war.

Ploughing up our Past - In 2020 we began another ongoing research project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund under the umbrella of the Coalfields Communites Learning Partnership. Ploughing Up Our Past records the farms past and present in Cumnock and its three neighbouring parishes.

Family history - A long running, ongoing project is to build an online family tree connecting people who lived in Cumnock. It is approaching 50,000 recorded individuals

The Management Committee from October 2020:
Chair & Secretary - Kay McMeekin
Vice Chair – Sadie McNair
Treasurer – Shaun Lowrie
With Billy Anderson, Christine Barrie, Neil Given, Anne Lawrence, Alex Lennox, Ailsa McInnes, Louise Quinn

Contact:
Kay McMeekin
Chair
info@cumnockhistorygroup.org

Location

Cumnock, KA18 1EY

Contact

Kay McMeekin
Chair