Ayrshire Chamber’s Education Team have been supporting the Travel & Tourism class in Carrick Academy, Maybole. Along with their teacher Kevin Reilly, pupils from S3 visited the Alloway Railway Tunnel, winners of the Ayrshire Chamber 2025 Community Award.
The young people enjoyed a guided tour by trustee Shelagh McLachlan and learned about this incredible creative transformation project, the benefits to the community along with interesting facts about local history. By sheer coincidence, they were able to meet the mural artist during their visit. Chris Rutterford was installing his latest scenes and was delighted to talk to the class and tell them more about the mural art project.
Shelagh invited the pupils to take part in a competition to promote this new space. Shelagh said, “One of our challenges is how to promote our visitor attraction to visitors and tourists that would increase visitor numbers to the tunnel. Once there, what would motivate them to make a donation?
“We are also thinking about the future of the tunnel and how this space can be used. We’d like to make an income from visitors and tourists that will help us maintain and care for the mural. What guided tours and /or events could we organise that people would be willing to book and pay for? We thought these questions would be interesting for the pupils studying Travel and Tourism to consider and these discussions would help them apply their knowledge and learning and develop essential industry skills.”
The pupils then had four weeks to discuss and research these questions and prepare feedback for a judging panel. On Wednesday 10 December, trustees attended Carrick Academy to hear ideas from the young people and choose a winner.
Shelagh said, “We were delighted to listen to all the ideas which included installing a donations box, organising an annual raffle, installing posters and signs, creating a shop and using local radio to advertise.
The winners were, Aiden Murphy aged 14 from Dalrymple and Mason Steele aged 14 from Maybole who impressed the judges with their rationale for using local radio advertising and the effort they made recording an advert. The winner’s prize is to have their portrait painted and added to the mural in the ‘Last Train to Butlins’ crowd scene and take their place in history!
Class teacher Kevin Reilly said, “This competition was a significant opportunity for the Travel and Tourism students, as it enabled them to take part in a real-world event where they could put their knowledge and problem-solving skills to the test. They excelled knowing that their work could genuinely influence local tourism in the area. Both boys were thrilled to win the competition and will cherish the experience for years to come.”
