THE community of Netherthird showed off their jewel in the crown to a special couple.

Less than 24 hours after rubbing shoulders with presidents and pop stars, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay talked to residents of Netherthird.

Among those sharing their pride in the garden project was Sandy Murray, who works for Stagecoach and lives close to the site.

Prince Charles stopped to speak to Sandy, who said: “He asked where I live and what my job is. The garden here is fantastic and it has been great for the community.

“It is brilliant that a man like Prince Charles has been so involved in helping the community here in Cumnock.”

It has been a culmination of six years of toil and applying for grant aid and encouraging volunteers to help develop the garden, the brainchild of mother and son, Margaret and Jamie Campbell.

Known to all and sundry as Maggie, she was bursting with pride as she showed Charles and Camilla round the site, which is now part of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme.

She said: “This has been a huge day for us, even the build-up to it has got everyone excited. We have all been working hard but it has been therapeutic and we all love it.

“Really there are only a handful of volunteers but Jamie’s group, Netherthird Community Action Training (NCAT) have been helping a lot.

“They look after the grass and things like that, so we could not really do without them.

“It is quite hard to get funding, and we will lose European funding after Brexit, and it would be great if we could find some alternative.”

Among the dedicated group of volunteers are people from all walks of life, including children and staff from the school, especially teacher Kerry Baird.

“Kerry is over here every Friday with all the younger classes and it is a great asset for them,” added Maggie.

Class P1/P2 from Netherthird, who were there with Ms Baird, headteacher Cath Crombie and Early Learning practitioner Louise McClure, also spoke to the duke and duchess.

Ms Baird said: “I work a lot with Maggie and we are linking up this year after being lucky enough to receive a Food For Thought grant from Education Scotland.

“We got £3,000 to enable us to put more flower beds for the school and they are also providing us with money to provide waterproof clothing for the older children.

“Also utensils to make food — that is what it is all about, the preparation of food and where it comes from.

“We have also worked with Shire Housing, who are providing waterproof clothing for the infant school.

“The children don’t mind being out in the rain, as long as they are dry, and they have been very excited today to come and meet Charles and Camilla.”

An older pupil of Netherthird PS, nine-year-old Ella McAllister whose reward for working in the garden from an early age was to present flowers to the duchess.

P6 pupil Ella’s brother Jordan, aged four, also met the couple along with his fellow early childhood pupils.

She said: “I am here all the time helping Maggie and looking after the kids, and that is why I was chosen to hand over the bouquet.

“I have been coming here since I was in primary one, we used to come in twice a week. The flowers I presented to Camilla were picked from the garden.”

Mum Lynnette said that Ella had been excited and nervous for days beforehand but she was very proud of her and Jordan on their day in the company of the royals.