The 88-year-old lorry driver building a rural care home

Rosemary said the council would not pay for overnight care and older people had to go into care homes, which could be as far away as Girvan, Maybole or Ayr.

"But there were several people in the village who would not go," she added.

After the council turned down requests to build a care home, the group decided to create a charity - Ballantrae Rural Initiative Care in the Community (BRICC) - to build their own care home.

"These people have been in the village all their lives and they do not want to move," Rosemary added.

"It means their families and friends have to travel miles and miles away to visit them, which could mean sitting on a bus for hours."

One of the founder members of the committee recently had to go into a care home miles away from her family and friends.

"It's upset a lot of us because we're not there yet," said Rosemary.

"After 25 years, we can't look after the people here because there's nowhere for them to stay and the council won't pay for overnight care."

Since the committee formed, Rosemary has been driving the lorry around South Ayrshire collecting furniture to sell at the BRICC Shop.

"I quite enjoy driving the lorry, you feel a lot safer way up there," she said.

"Since we got the charity shop, I've been going about South Ayrshire and beyond."

Just before the pandemic, the committee received planning permission to build a care home with 16 beds on land next to the BRICC House.

"We were ready to go but Covid stopped us and we didn't do anything for three years," Rosemary said.

"When we went back to the architect, he said he needed another 15%.

"But by the time we raise that, he'll tell us the same thing again. We've got to get help to do this, but who's going to give us help?"

Audrey Houston, 67, runs the BRICC shop. She joined the charity 12 years ago while she was recovering from breast cancer.

A spokeswoman for the South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership said: "South Ayrshire has one of the oldest populations in Scotland and our population is expected to continue to age quickly until 2040.

"This means that we have more people requiring care and fewer people available to work in care.

"This is especially challenging in our more remote and rural areas such as Girvan and Ballantrae.

"We will continue to work with all of our providers and partners, including BRICC to adapt our care delivery models and meet people’s needs as best we can."

She said the council has a meeting with BRICC planned for this month to discuss the charity's plans for the village.