A new
Inverclyde Festival of Heritage is being introduced in May by tourism group
Discover Inverclyde, the Inverclyde Community Development Trust, the Inverclyde
Tourist Group and other local groups to help highlight Inverclyde’s history,
some of its heroes and its industrial and maritime heritage.
The
Festival, which runs from Monday 13th to Sunday 19th May
makes use of a number of venues including an exhibition unit in the Oak Mall
shopping centre, the Dutch Gable House in William Street, the Waterfront cinema,
the Beacon Arts Centre and the McLean Museum, as well as potentially the area
alongside the Egeria statue at the west end of West Blackhall Street and Ginger
the Horse at the entrance to Cathcart Street, weather permitting.
As well of
being of considerable interest to the local community, the Festival of Heritage
is timed to appeal to thousands of cruise line passengers and crew arriving in
Greenock that week on the Queen Mary 2 (Wednesday 15th May), the SS
Mein Schiff Ein (Thursday 16th
May) and the Caribbean Princess on Sunday 19th May.
Activities
on offer will include an exhibition all week long in the Oak Mall unit, drawing
from the Community Development Trust’s Identity project, funded by Heritage
Lottery Fund Scotland,
which is a time lined
story of the history of Inverclyde dating back to the earliest recorded period
and following through to major developments in Inverclyde’s industrial and social
past.
The
Waterfront cinema will be showing a compilation of films and animations
covering topics including the ‘Identity’ project film, St Patrick school’s animated film and song
The Shipyards, St John’s animated film The Comet, plus films from Aileymill
Primary School, Glenburn School and the St Andrews documentary style film on
the history of Larkfield and Schools Past and Present. There will also be also
the ‘River of Steel’ film highlighting the history of the
local shipyards, and ‘Into the Past’, a 20 minute film showing the changing
landscape of the towns of Inverclyde.
A number of
major Scottish characters will come to life during the exhibition including
Robert Burns, Highland Mary and James Watt with storytelling of Burns’ life and
his poetry. On the upper floor of the Beacon Arts Centre on Wednesday 15th
May there will be a performance of the drama ‘Guerra, Guerra’, written and
presented by young people from St Columba’s High School on the impact of Italy
joining Germany in the early part of the second world war and how this
developed into a harrowing journey for the Italian community living in Scotland
and the Inverclyde area.
Two new
books will be launched as part of the Festival. On Monday May 13th
in the Dutch Gable House a new book entitled ‘Kith & Kin’ and telling the tales of local people’s roots and
how their families came to be in Inverclyde will be launched and on Thursday 16th
Magic Torch will be launching their new
children’s book Wee Nasties also in
The Dutch Gable House. Wee Nasties is beautifully illustrated
by local artist Mhairi Robertson and introduces younger readers to the myths
and legends of Inverclyde. Free copies will be available throughout the day,
with a storyteller in attendance, sharing local stories in the afternoon and a
display of the original sketches and artwork from the book.
There will
also be a small exhibition featuring local pirate Captain William Kidd, with an
exclusive free exhibition booklet, while a comic featuring the exploits of
Captain Kidd will be available for purchase from the Dutch Gable shop.
There will
be no cost to attend any and all of these activities. In addition, throughout
the Festival a number of pubs and clubs will be offering live music with an
accent on music concentrating on the past.
Chris
Jewell of Discover Inverclyde said, ‘We are excited to be able to introduce
this new Inverclyde Festival of Heritage with the Inverclyde Community
Development Trust and the tourist and other groups, and the Festival is
something we intend will develop into an annual event with an ever increasing
number of elements to it. We anticipate that a number of other events will be
added to this year’s Festival and a leaflet detailing all that is going on is
being produced and will be distributed shortly, as well as appearing on the
Discover Inverclyde website www.discoverinverclyde.com
and the Inverclyde Festival of Heritage Facebook page at www.facebook.com/InverclydeFestivalOfHeritage’.
Paul
Bristow of the Inverclyde Community Development Trust added, ‘This brand new
Festival has given us the opportunity to showcase much of the work we have
undertaken as part of our major ‘Identity’ and other projects involving lots of
local groups and we would encourage everyone in Inverclyde to be a part of the
Festival by coming out to see all that is being displayed and portrayed. I know
that we will all learn a good bit more about our history and the local
population.'
Councillor Ronnie Ahlfeld, a
Director at Discover Inverclyde is enthusiastic about the Festival and its
interest to the local community. He said, ‘It is great to make an opportunity
for Inverclyde to showcase its past and a lot of very interesting history has
been unearthed as part of things. The plan is to broaden the scope of the
initiative in future years to include projects in Gourock and Port Glasgow. I
also would like to thank Inverclyde Community Development Trust for their outstanding
contributions to this project.’
Discover
Inverclyde will be introducing alongside the Festival a new Greenock Town
Trail, with 21 plaques located around the central Greenock area, accompanied by
a new leaflet telling much of the history of Greenock
and its people. There will also be the introduction of six new double sided
information panels along the route from the Ocean Terminal to Cathcart Street,
providing valuable and new information about what Greenock has to offer
visitors, cruise line passengers and crew, all aimed at making their visit to
Greenock an increasingly interesting and memorable one.
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| Dunrod by Mhairi Robertson |
