Letter: A village reborn

Kenneth Roy's dismal impression of the Ayrshire villages (25 February) would be at least partly dispelled if he went a few miles east along the A70 from Auchinleck to Muirkirk.

As one who remembers the former mining towns in both their prosperity and their subsequent dereliction, I was surprised and delighted on attending the Lapraik Festival last year to see how effectively that small community has regenerated itself, entirely by local initiative.

Building its recovery on its literary associations, its industrial history and - notably - its proudly-preserved Scots tongue, Muirkirk is now an attractive village with a palpable air of confidence, visible from primary schoolchildren enthusiastically reciting Scots poems to retired citizens showing visitors the Heritage Park or the Poets' Trail.

If Muirkirk can do this, so could Auchinleck; the aura of despair which Kenneth Roy found there need not be as immoveable as he fears.

Derrick McClure

Rosehill Terrace

Aberdeen