Fran Farrar | NEW CUMNOCK NOW AND THEN

Fran Farrar’s Pictures

A brief note from Fran:

My dad was Jim Gracie, a New Cumnockian, and my mum was Rene, a Londoner who moved to Scotland when she married my dad. I am their only child, born in 1960. We first lived in Afton Bridgend, before moving to Farden Avenue and eventually moving back to Afton Bridgend in about 1964. My dad was the agent for Prudential Insurance and my mum worked for a short time in the Post Office in The Castle with Mr Caldwell.

I went to The Town School (Nith House!) (eventually Castle Primary) where I was taught by Miss McHallam, Mrs. Bain, Mrs. Climie, Mrs. Laird, Miss Sharp, Mrs. MacSween and Mrs. Murray, and from there to Cumnock Academy (Hillside 1Y and 2Y).

My dad died in 1973 and mum and I left New Cumnock shortly afterwards. We moved to Wellingborough in Northamptonshire and eventually mum moved back to London where she died in October 2000. I now live in Dunstable, Bedfordshire with my husband Paul, who I married in 1985 and our three children, Laura, Craig and Martin.