A CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Pharmacy with a family history turns 100
McConnell Pharmacy is marking a momentous milestone having supported the local community with their health and medication for 100 years.
Now part of the Deans Pharmacy group, McConnell Pharmacy first opened its doors as a dispensing chemist in Mauchline Rd, Hurlford, near Kilmarnock. It was run by Robert Wight McConnell who had just completed his apprenticeship in Ayr and joined the Pharmaceutical Register. Two years after opening, Robert married Agnes Mathewson and they set up their lifelong home within view of the pharmacy. Robert was very well known and respected in the community, not only as the village pharmacist, but also through the church and the Boys Brigade. The couple went on to have two sons, Bill and Scott, one of who would later go on to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Scott registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society after studying at the Royal College, Glasgow, (now Strathclyde University). He joined his father’s business after undertaking his national service in Kenya with the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Thanks to Scott’s efforts, the business expanded, opening branches in Kilmarnock and the Irvine Valley. Scott went on to marry Elizabeth (Liz) Ramsay and together they had four children, Beth, Morag, Robbie and Katy between 1965 and 1972, coinciding with Scott’s purchase of four further pharmacies.
As the local community pharmacists retired from the Valley towns, Alan Wilson in Galston, James Auld in Newmilns and Bill Anderson in Darvel each sold their business to Scott. While running the growing business, Scott also established a wholesaler, Ayrshire Pharmaceuticals with fellow independent pharmacists, initially using the basement of the Hurlford premises and then trading out of a former factory in Townholm.
Recognised by RPS
Robert died in 1974 and Scott and Liz jointly owned the partnership R.W. McConnell & Son. Scott was active in local and national committees and was held in the highest regard by the wider pharmacy community. He represented pharmacy on various committees at Ayrshire and Arran Healthboard and was chairman of the Pharmaceutical General Council (Scotland), now Community Pharmacy Scotland. His contribution to the profession was recognised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society when he was awarded a Fellowship in 1986.
Scott had many interests away from pharmacy, including golf and curling, and relished every opportunity to spend time with his family on the Isle of Arran. He was active in his local community of Strathaven, South Lanarkshire and served on
the parole board review committee at Dungavel Prison, which involved visiting many of Scotland’s prisons to attend hearings. It was for this work that he was awarded an OBE in 1989.
Scott was well respected by his colleagues with some staff remaining loyal to the pharmacy business for more than 40 years. Several members of staff recall him visiting all four pharmacies every Christmas Eve armed with a basket of drinks. Many still happily reminisce about the day trip for staff, past and present, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the business, to Loch Katrine in the Trossachs, Stirling, for an outing on the steamship ‘Sir Walter Scott’.
Morag Joins the Business
Scott’s second daughter, Morag, studied Pharmacy at RGIT in Aberdeen, graduating in 1989 in the same week that Scott received his award from the Queen. Morag joined the partnership and gradually took on the management of the business. The business was incorporated and remained in the family until it was sold in January 2020. Morag sat on local pharmacy committees in Ayrshire representing community pharmacists, and it was there she met John Connolly, Director of Deans Pharmacy, who would go on to become the new owners of McConnell Pharmacy.
Morag lived in Darvel with her family and became involved in the Valley community as part of volunteer organisations and organising an annual walking festival. Valley WalkFest is still supported by McConnell Pharmacy today and members of the pharmacy team lead a walk every year. Morag said her greatest honour was being asked to lead the Darvel Gala parade and ring the Town Bell around the town.
Fundraising walks have been a staple in the calendar for McConnell Pharmacy team since 2007, raising over £100,000 for local and national charities thanks to the generosity of patients and customers. Health and wellbeing were drivers for participating in health campaigns like the British Heart Foundation’s Know Your Numbers at the Newmilns Food Festival and competitions with local schools.
In January 2020 Morag handed the reins over to John Connolly and Arif Hanif, Directors of Deans Pharmacy, who purchased the shares of the company from the McConnell family and who are now guiding the branches through a new chapter.
MORAG LEADING THE DARVEL GALA MORAG AND SCOTT THE MCCONNELL FAMILY
SCOTT RECEIVED HIS OBE IN 1989
SCOTT RECEIVING THE 1997 CHARTER SILVER MEDAL
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