years. The clubhouse is based at the southern end of the loch where there is a car park, slipway and a jetty as well as the club's changing facilities. KWSW is affiliated to both British Waterski & Wakeboard (BWSW) and Waterski and Wakeboard Scotland (WWS). The club has two tournament standard slalom courses and uses a Malibu Response ski boat. It is open for water skiing and wakeboarding from 1 April to 30 September on Wednesday and Friday evenings and also on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Garnock Rugby Football Club Garnock Rugby Club plays on the Lochshore Playing fields, what was part of the old loch area, infilled by the iron and steelworks in the 19th century. The club is an amateur rugby union club and currently plays in the Scottish National League Division 1. The club was formed in 1972 as the result of a merger of the Old Spierians and Dalry High School FP clubs. This was a response to the amalgamation of feeder schools Spier's and Dalry High (along with Kilbirnie Central and Beith Academy) to form Garnock Academy, which happened around the same time. The Old Spierians club had been founded in the early years of the 20th century and joined the Scottish Rugby Union in 1911. Handkea exipuliformis The Pestle puffball fungus (Handkea exipuliformis) grows at the edge of the mainly birch scrub area. This large puffball fungus releases its spores by the decay of the head portion, leaving a pestle-like stem that persists through to the following summer. Garnock Visitor and Community Hub In 2022 a £4.2 Million visitor and community hub was built at the entrance to Kilbirnie Lochshore. It has changing rooms for sports players on the ground floor and a cafe with community meeting rooms on the first floor. The design of the building reflects the appearance of the now demolished Garnock Steelworks that stood nearby. Water quality The loch has had spoil, effluent and other pollutants discharged into it when the Glengarnock Iron and then Steel Works were operational; the remaining slag in the loch is relatively rich in phosphates which exacerbates the pollution problems. In the 1990s the loch become eutrophic as a result of high levels of nutrient input which has sometimes resulted in algal blooms in the summer, counteracted by bales of barley straw. These algal blooms can be dangerous to both humans and dogs. The source