On the warm, balmy evening of Saturday, 5th June, the annual Skinners' BBQ was held at the home of Craftsman Eric Park and his wife Jean in Bank Street, Irvine. In the secluded garden Craftsmen and their guests enjoyed ample food and refreshments and the conversation of the company well into the wee small hours. As usual, Eric and Jean proved the perfect hosts.

Our BBQ raised in excess of £200 for local charities.

On the evening of 3rd June 2010 several Craftsmen from the Skinners' Court, the Late Convenor John Neil and Deacon Convenor Bill Black visited Hollybush House outside Ayr.The purpose of the visit was to present a cheque for £300 to Combat Stress which is the UK's leading military charity specialising in the care of Veterans' mental health.

Mr Robert White form Combat Stress gave us a guided tour of the excellent facilities of the House which is set in beautiful and tranquil grounds. We met several of the residents who were relaxing in the games room or TV room or enjoying a quiet stroll in the gardens.
Ex-serviceman and women (including Merchant Navy) are admitted for short periods - 1 or 2 weeks - and there is an increasing number of Veterans requiring the services of the charity.

Mr White explained that Combat Stress provides a dedicated service for Veterans whose mental health condition is often complex, chronic and long term. He noted that this service is not routinely available in the NHS or elsewhere. Treatment and care is delivered on-site by a highly trained, multi-disciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, occupational therapists and nurse therapists, many having had direct experience of Service life themselves.  All have respect for – and empathy with –the ethos of duty and sacrifice that generally sets Service personnel apart from their civilian counterparts.

After a most enjoyable cup of tea and sandwiches the cheque was presented and all from the Incorporation left knowing that the money had indeed been donated to a most worthwhile and deserving charity.

For more information on Combat Stress visit the website www.combatstress.org.uk.

On Thursday, 8th April members of our Deacon's Court along with Deacon Convenor, Bill Black and Late Convenor, John Neil presented on behalf of the Incorporation a cheque for £300 to Victim Support (Irvine).

Linda Brandon noted that up until recently the group were supporting 200 referrals each week but now that number has increased to 700. In light of this fact, she said she was delighted to receive the money which would be put to use to help to cope with the increased demand being placed on the organisation.

On Friday, 19th March 2010 we held a Wii Games Night at Marress.

Although not as well attended as had been expected, 40 guests took part in the 10-pin bowling competition. There were 5 lanes set up and as everyone had been given a number, as these numbers were called at random to their lanes, it allowed guests to meet people they perhaps didn’t already know. This helped to make the evening very convivial. After a closely fought competition Jennifer Niven was champion with a very impressive score.

There followed a gourmet supper of pie and peas during which our raffle was drawn. Many thanks to all who donated the prizes for this.

There then followed a golf competition which eventually led to a tied position of  -1 below par. After a play off the winner was Gordon Ballantyne with Jennifer Niven being runner up. (This is a lady who said she’d never played Wii Games before!!!)

Thanks to everyone who came along and took part at what was a very successful social evening and also helped raise the net sum of £240 for our charity pot.

Despite it being one of the coldest nights of the year, the Skinners held its Games Night in Eric Parks conservatory and garage on 18th February.Nine Craftsmen were joined by the Deacon Convenor, Bill Black at what turned out to be a most enjoyable and friendly evening.

We held two competitions - darts and putting.John Leitch went on to win the darts competition. The challenge for several of us being to actually get all three darts to hit the boards, never mind get the last double! After a close competition, Deacon Convenor Bill won the putting competition. In order to decide our 'victor ludorum', John and Bill played another round of putting at which John was the eventual winner and so won the prize of a bottle of whisky.

Thanks to all who turned out to take part and our special thanks to the Deacon Convenor for joining us. Once again the Skinners are indebted to Eric for his generous hospitality - especially the hot pies and beans.

The date for the Skinners Annual BBQ is Saturday, 5th June.

As usual the venue will be the garden of the home of Jean and Eric Park in Bank Street.

Everyone is welcome (£5 entry) 

Each year the Incorporated Trades donate food hampers to people within the town. Each Trade is responsible for distributing three hampers to those it thinks is deserving of them.

This Christmas, the Skinners decided to donate their hampers to North Ayrshire Women's Aid, which is a local charitable organisation which supports women, children and young people who are experiencing domestic abuse.

We recently received a letter from the Administrator of the charity who writes, "Please accept our thanks for your recent donation of hampers for the Women, Children & Young People of North Ayrshire Women's Aid. This helped towards making their Christmas more enjoyable at this difficult time of the year. Your support is invaluable to us and we appreciate your consideration towards us."