Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine
Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine
The Scottish Maritime Museum Trust is a charity and 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 their intergenerational heritage and climate action concerns. With everyone sharing similar stories, raising 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, as well as inspiring a lot of chat and fun, to produce this amazing exhibition.
From ring-pull chainmail clubbing tops to message-carrying cloaks and gowns, everyone collaborated to transform rubbish into fashion.
Our Heritage, Our Future was there to support the participants with any questions and deliver 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 of the Museum and build on links with the groups that wish to use the space.
The grand finale was a fitting celebration: a 'Trashion' show, complete with a Museum catwalk and the chance for visitors to see the exhibition. The project was a fantastic demonstration of how to reuse waste creatively, along with strong messages and humour. There will no doubt be further intergenerational endeavours within the community of Irvine.
News
The thought-provoking, intergenerational community exhibition challenging everyone to help look after our planet 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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