Ayrshire - Skelmorlie couple's magic memories of much loved Hydro hotel

Mary Margaret Law, 70, says that her 'heart was broken' when the Skelmorlie Hydro was knocked down in the 1990s.
It was an innovation for its time when it was built by Dr Ronald Currie in the Victorian era, with Turkish and salt water baths and an elevator which shuttled people from Shore Road to the hotel up the cliff face.
Mary has even kept original paperwork from the hotel in 1971 - the year of decimalisation - which shows the hotel prices of the period with a double room costing the princely sum of £3.10 per night during the peak period in summer.
Margaret, who still lives in the village, loved the hotel so much that she and well-known Burns performer Jimmy held their wedding reception there, pictured.
She said: "It had a lovely sprung dance floor in the conservatory area which was fantastic to perform up on and was very popular with all the local groups.

"I worked there for a season before getting a job at St Enoch's Hotel in Glasgow, but I returned again to work the summer season there - I loved the place.
"It was a fantastic place and it was irreplaceable really.
"When the hotel came down, it had been running for a few years as an old folks' facility.
"The elevator which provided access from the Shore Road was quite an innovation when it was launched decades before, but it was on its last legs and kept getting stuck.
"It was another of these places which should never have been knocked down, it was magnificent to look at and admire.
"It had three levels and was very popular with coach parties - it could take two full busloads at a time."
Mary believes the building itself should have been preserved been converted into flats for generations to come to enjoy.
She added "There should have been a campaign to save it.
"I remember the large bay windows which fully capitalised on the spectacular views of the bay looking over to the Isles of Bute and Cumbrae and Arran.
"It was also used as a place for people to recuperate after illness and for health reasons and it had its own resident doctor - it was quite a place.
"It broke my heart when it was demolished."

In recent weeks, Ron Muir, a Largs tourism champion, bemoaned the loss of many local hotels in the area - and Mary agrees.
She added: "The ironic thing is that with the pandemic we could go full circle and people won't be going abroad as much any longer. Instead they will be looking to go on 'staycations' but sadly hotels like the Skelmorlie Hydro and others are long gone."
The business was owned and run by the Scottish Highlands Hotel Group, whose portfolio included the lavish Marine Hotel in Troon.
Dr. Ronald Currie, who was responsible for building the Hydro, was a member of the great professor Joseph Lister's first surgical class in Glasgow in 1860. He lived in Skelmorlie until his death in 1923.
Built in 1868, the Hydropathic Hotel as it was first called was an immediate tourist draw, and created a major stir in 1875 when Turkish and salt water baths were installed
The pumping of salt water at that time was considered a ground-breaking innovation.