Gatesiders (son of) Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Park on Geilsland Road at the old entrance to Geilsland School and enter via the Geilsland gate or park off Barrmill Road at the main entrance.
Gateside Primary school pupils planted trees and daffodil bulbs at Spier's in 2008 and this cache commemorates their efforts.
Spier's school, at Beith, in North Ayrshire was opened in 1888 and closed in 1972 and demolished in 1984 after repeated attempts to find a new use came to nothing. The school was built using Ballochmyle red sandstone and was reminiscent of the ancient Glasgow University.
The gardens and woodlands are open to the public.
John Spier was the son of Robert Spier of the Marshalland and Cuff estates. John predeceased his mother, Margaret Gibson Spier, who decided to erect a school as a memorial to her son. It may be that the family were related to the Speir family of Elderslie, large landholders in the Parish of Neilston, as this would help explain the considerable financial resources that Margaret Spier was able to call upon.
The peak school roll was 310 in 1933 and over 350 after new classrooms were added. By 1932 the school was in financial difficulties and the County Authorities took over the school in 1937. In 1968 the staff consisted of 19 full-time and four itinerant teachers in the Secondary department and two in the preparatory. The school had three 'houses' to which pupils belonged, Cuff, Spier's and Marshalland.
The school closed on 30 June 1972 when a modern Garnock Academy was erected at Kilbirnie, taking in the secondary pupils from Spier's, Kilbirnie Central, and Dalry High.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur pnivgl orarngu gur natyrq gerr fghzc pbirerq jvgu yrnirf.
Treasures
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