March 7th

From Years Gone By

LOOKING BACK IN TIME The following was contained in the Town’s newspaper of 25 February 1888. At a summary JP court held in Beith Court-Room on Tuesday last before Messrs J F Patrick of Grangehill and J Muir of Mains, Thomas Rourke, dyer, Kilbirnie, for assaulting Gilbert Alexander, hotel keeper there, and further committing a breach of the peace, was fined 15s or seven days imprisonment. John Colligan, carter, Beith, for breach of the peace was fined 7s 6d or three days. John McClure jun, and Robert Dobie, Beith, two incorrigibles, for contravention of the Trespass Act, they being found on the premises of Robert Cumming, dairyman, the previous evening, were fined 10s each or seven days. They went to prison along with Rourke. We understand that the Road Trustees have granted an application by the National Telephone Company to extend the lines along the roads in the parishes of Kilbirnie, Dalry and Beith. This week workmen have began erecting poles preparatory to mounting the wires. It is said that several firms in the locality have negotiated for connections with Glasgow, but until the system is further developed it will be of little utility to the general public. Kilbirnie folk have at last won the Ayrshire Cup and no one should grudge them the honours attached thereto. Possibly it is this victory which has emboldened some of our own young men to resuscitate the game here. It is eight years since the Beith club, then in its zenith of It’s fame, in the most memorable final ever played, routed the Kilbirnie team, and carried the trophy in triumph home. And why should a Beith team not do so again? We hope that there will be a representative meeting of young men at the meeting on Tuesday in the St. Inan’s Hall to form a football team for Beith.