A RETIRED Air Traffic controller, has published her first book, about the history of Ayr's St John's Tower.

Yolanda McCall, who has lived in Ayr for 25 years, took early retirement in 2015 to allow her to concentrate on her writing and has competed the children's book 'The Tale of a Scottish Tower'.

Yolanda is one of the founding members of the Friends of St. John’s Tower (FrOST). She is keen to share the rich heritage of the tower with Ayrshire children. 

She hopes that her fictional story, which is informed by fact, will engage children to further explore local history.

The Tale of a Scottish Tower is a fictional story for children, set in the Fort area of Ayr. The ‘tower’ in the book’s title is Ayr’s St. John’s Tower. 

Much of the book’s story takes place in 1652 at the time when Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers were building a citadel in Ayr and took over Ayr’s parish church and used its bell tower as a storeroom and armoury.

 The book tells the story of an 11-year-old girl, Martha, who has an incredible adventure when she travels back in time and meets real characters from 17th century Ayr.

 The author of the story, Yolanda McCall, will be read from her book at the tower on Saturday, May 6. The book is available for purchase from Azure, 7 Sandgate, Ayr.

A teenaged family friend, Joseph Yates, drew the front cover illustration for The Tale of a Scottish Tower. Joseph has been drawing for as long as he can remember. 

He is currently working on a big poster (featuring cartoon mice) to be used in schools with refugee children who need to learn basic English nouns and verbs. In the future he would love to be an architect, but he plans to keep drawing pictures and cartoons for people as a hobby

The Tower – the oldest building in Ayr – is the surviving fragment of Ayr’s original 12th century parish church and has a unique and fascinating history. 

Oliver Cromwell constructed a fort on the site in the 1650s, and the church was commandeered as a meeting room and chapel, with the tower as a storeroom, armoury and look-out. 

The church was pulled down in 1726, but the tower was retained as a navigation beacon.

 Yolanda helped to create FrOST which was formed in 2002, to promote and care for the beauty, history and character of the tower and its surroundings. 

FrOST works in partnership with South Ayrshire Council, to preserve and improve the features of this historic building and its grounds for future generations. 

You can check out their website at: www.stjohnstower.btck.co.uk.