Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine
Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine
The Scottish Maritime Museum Trust is a charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee, founded in 1983 to care for Scotland’s maritime collection and share its history. One of their sites, the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, is housed within the vast, glass-roofed Victorian Linthouse. This A-listed ‘cathedral of engineering’ was formerly the Engine Shop of Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyard in Govan before being salvaged and relocated to Irvine in 1991. The museum runs community activities, events, workshops and exhibitions.
At the beginning of 2025 we met with the community lead at the Scottish Maritime Museum. The goal was to bring together community groups of different ages and connect with the heritage and climate action concerns from this intergenerational combination. It seems they were all talking the same story, awareness and working together was the way forward.
From those initial workshops grew TRASHION, a creative project that turned waste into wearable art.
Working with the Irvine Youth Legacy Centre and the Irvine Seniors Forum the project connected generations and skills, plus a lot of chat to produce this amazing exhibition.
From ring-pull chainmail clubbing tops to cloaks and gowns, everyone reimagined waste into fashion.
Our Heritage, Our Future was there to support the participants with any questions and delivered the Climate Change Impacts on Heritage Training. This sparked new conversations on how local stories and good choices can make a difference. The groups also had a chance to meet the new CEO and build on links with the groups that wish to use the space.
The grand finale, a fantastic display of not only reuse but creativity and humour. True to the nature of the project, there will no doubt be further endeavours with the community of Irvine.
News
The thought-provoking intergenerational community exhibition challenging everyone to help look after our planet open has been curated by a group from Irvine Seniors Forum and Discovery Group and Irvine Youth Legacy Centre with the support of the Museum team.
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