The speaker at the February meeting of the Stewarton & District Historical Society was Jill McColl from the North Ayrshire Archive Centre in Irvine who gave an illustrated talk about the Glasgow Vennel, where the Archive Centre is housed, entitled 'The Glasgow Vennel - Not Just Burns.'

The street contains the house where Burns lodged when he was learning flax dressing, and the heckling shed was restored, as was the whole street, some years ago. In addition, the street was the main route to Glasgow via Stewarton in the old days, despite the fact that two carts had hardly enough room to pass. Ms McColl ended by displaying some of the old books which are on display at the Archive Centre, including old maps, and a book of engravings of scenes from the Eglinton Tournament.

The speaker at the March Meeting of the Society will be Mr Ronnie Breingan, from Ayr, who will be speaking about the History of Scottish Bank Notes.