Strathleven  Artizans widened their horizons by travelling south west to beautiful Ayrshire and stopping off at Maidens Primary School near Turnberry. After being kindly invited by head teacher Mrs Nan Blackley, King Robert and his wife Queen Elizabeth de Burgh, Brother King Edward Bruce of Ireland, Sir James Douglas, Duncan the stout and bodyguard Frank the quiet travelled down in haste to meet the children of primary three and four. Our day was spent chatting with the children who were studying Scottish history, particularly medieval history and Robert the Bruce who graced the sea and lands around the school.

Paintings of Bannockburn, family shields and knights in battle adorned the walls in all their splendour, created so wonderfully by the children themselves, adding to the medieval atmosphere of the class plus the pupils had drawings in their jotters of knights in armour holding shields and swords coloured in different crests and of battle scenes.

Once the children got used to the visitors they were really interested in our clothing and weapons and enjoyed hands on with the helmets, crowns, swords and chainmail and listening to our many stories and facts. Lots of great and interesting questions were asked by the children who were really well behaved throughout the day, so a big thank you to all of the children and the teachers from the Artizans for being great and making our visit a brilliant experience.

Before we left we were treated to three cheers from all the children and we promised to come back in the future. And we will. A gift of the ‘Bruce Seal’ was given to Maidens Primary as a thank you from the Strathleven Artizans and as a momentum of our visit and hope it will be hung with pride. It was a wonderful sunny day in Maidens and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely and our visit will be spoken about for a long time to come.

A big thank you also goes to the Artizan’s good friend Jean Brittain and Maidens School Admin: Mrs Gail Davidson who put up with all our phone calls and making this possible.

Thank you Maidens Primary School and well done from the Robert the Bruce Heritage Centre. Hip Hip Hoorah!! The Bruce!!

 

Paul Hunter  (KRB).