I was delighted to be back in Stair Community Centre, this time to talk to a large and lively group of ladies, on what turned out to be International Women’s Day.

I took them on a time travelling journey back to the streets to Ayr in 1898, as described in the words of locals at the time, in the OCULEUS columns, written by William Gilmour Wallace.

Thank you for the warm reception I received, and the enthusiastic response to my talk.

I had certainly worked up a good appetite for the delicious food provided. It was wonderful chatting with ladies from a variety of Women’s Institute groups, including Ochiltree, the very place my great grandfather had been brought up.

Topics which generated most interest included the problem with pot holes more than a hundred years ago, astonishing views about women’s legs, and apparently my physical likeness to my great grandfather.

It’s all in the cheekbones, by all accounts!