History of the Carrick Centre:
The Carrick Centre was born, like a phoenix, from the ashes of plans to merge two churches in Maybole, South Ayrshire.
What emerged was a unique centre, aiming to serve the needs of all age groups with the vision to be: “At the heart of the community for all citizens”.
The seeds of this ambitious project were sown around the Millennium when two Maybole churches, the Old and the West, were in the process of merging to form Maybole Parish Church.
The Church of Scotland gave an grant of £200 000, from its Millennium fund to refurbish only one of the two churches to be the base for a newly formed church. However, the merger committee decided to investigate building a new church. This decision was endorsed by both congregations and by the governing body of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh which offered to fund a feasibility study to find out what the community of Maybole wanted. The answer was that there was a crying need for a community centre in the town. But the Trustees insisted that the building must be open every single day of the week – not just on Sundays.
Once agreed, the committee now known as MNCP (Maybole New Church Project) spent long years considering plans, sites and, most of all, funders who would help to pay for the project. The original plans included a detached Youth Centre for which the Church granted a further £100 000. However MNCP agreed that the Youth Centre was better in the main building, because they were adamant they did not want to isolate the young form the older people, but have an all age centre.
The job was now tackled energetically by the committee but there were many hurdles to overcome and hoops to be jumped through, with the result that a brand new modern building, now called The Carrick Centre was opened in January 2012. By agreement with the church’s Trustees the whole building was leased for 25 years at a peppercorn rent to The Carrick Centre Limited, a charity run by a board. Within the centre, the Maybole Parish Church is the main anchor-let and pays an annual rent to cover its heating and overheads.
So the process was complete but much is still being done to achieve the Vision which the committee had set out.
Vision: A project at the heart of the community for all citizens.
Values: Inclusiveness, Openness, Partnership Working.
Purposes: To work for a safe and sustainable environment. To work for all age groups. To build community capacity. To promote healthy living. To combat deprivation. To promote and support volunteering. To promote lifelong learning. To play a part in making Maybole a destination for tourists and visitors.
The Carrick Centre will aim to achieve the above by working with all public, voluntary, community and commercial organisations who embrace our values.
Since The Carrick Centre opened in 2012 it has grown and developed to be an integral part of the local community and surrounding area.
Our centre is a modern, flexible and welcoming environment where people come to meet, greet, play, learn, socialise and do business.
The Carrick Centre is a Registered Charity and Not-for-Profit Social Enterprise and work in partnership with key organisations and groups to provide the service required today and for the future from our facility.
Our vision is to be at the heart of the North Carrick community, supporting one and all, no matter what their needs are .At the heart of the community, The Carrick Centre provides facilities, services and a programme of activities to meet the community life and leisure needs of local people, neighbouring communities and visitors through and to North Carrick, regardless of their age or circumstance.
The Carrick Centre is currently open Monday to Friday from 9.am – 4:30pm and Saturday form 9.00am – 2.30pm pm and the Café and children’s Soft-Play is open at those times and very popular with both locals and visitors. There are also lots of activities at the centre.
We also have the KA19 Youth Hub and all the programmes and events are on The Carrick Centre Facebook Page. For further information about the facilities please contact the Carrick Centre office via their website https://www.carrickcentre.co.uk/ or on (01655) 883222, or drop-in to the building.