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TravelTravel, and the cost and methods of transport, have changed a lot, as have the ways in which some people later moved away from Ayr to work. During the Second World War, perhaps because petrol was in very short supply, steam lorries were still an everyday sight. "I also saw steam lorries using Castlehill Road quite often. The market was full of bustle and I often went home that way on market days. "I often... spent hours at the docks looking at the Irish coal ships..." (David McRobbie, 1941 and later) Some pupils' families travelled a long way from Ayr to work in the British Empire and Commonwealth countries. "I went to Holmston in 1954. Then I went back to Assam, India. Father was Superintendent of a Tea Estate in Assam, from 1930 to 1960." (David Willet, 1954). When it came to going to work, Former Pupils could get work in a number of ways which would lead them to travel abroad, then perhaps change career. "I worked at (what was then) Scottish Aviation at Prestwick Airport between 1955 and 1958 and then took my B.Sc (Honors in Physics) at the University of Glasgow (1958-1962). All of my working life following those years has been in the Aerospace business, first in the UK with Hawker Siddeley Dynamics (now British Aerospace) near London (1962-1966) and then in California up to the present." (James C. Cuthill, 1944-50) "I became an apprentice engineer, actually in an engineering shop at Millbrae, which is down from the (old) hospital, on the banks of the River Ayr and not far from Holmston School. Later I joined the Merchant Navy as a ship's engineer, eventually settling down in Brisbane, Australia in 1958 then becoming a teacher in Papua New Guinea. "Later, I transferred to the House of Assembly in Papua New Guinea and became a researcher for members of parliament, returned to Australia in 1975 and joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a producer of radio and television programs for school children." (David McRobbie) Now, people can travel a long way even for holidays and recreation, though it's perhaps not so easy to find steady work doing it. "We have travelled a lot. Coast to coast in Canada and a great deal in the US and Bahamas. Some of it by private plane (my husband, from Ayrshire, is a recreational pilot), some of it by trailer (caravan) and some just driving." (Susanne Nixon, now McMillan, 1948-55). "I went on holiday to the resort of Santa Ponsa in Majorca. I was there for two weeks. The weather was brilliant and I loved it. ... There were seven of us there altogether... On holiday I learned how to dive and my little sister learned how to swim. We went out on the Banana Boat at the beach. I really enjoyed my holiday."(Kelsey, P6, 1999).
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