Campbeltown Shipyard Staff – early 1980’s – Courtesy of Cameron McLellan
First of all we’d like to thank everyone who has “liked” and engaged with our Facebook page and especially to those of you who have been reeling off lots of names! – so far we have collected almost 250 names. We’ll be publishing the updated list shortly and asking for a few more details about each employee. We are aware that not everyone is on social media so we would appreciate if you could spread the word. We don’t want to miss anyone out!
As part of this project we are creating an online archive, similar to the one for the The Road to Drumleman project about Argyll Colliery, which we hope will include biographies for each one of the people who worked at Campbeltown Shipyard Ltd. This will not only serve as a tribute to the employees of the shipyard and their achievements, but it will also be a legacy for future generations.
The biographies we are looking for should contain some basic information about yourself or a family member e.g. name, dates of employment, job description/s, who you worked with and which boats you worked on. Looking at the list of names it seems like there were family connections between some of you – so that is the kind of thing that would be good to know about. It would be interesting to know where you worked before and what you went on to do afterwards. Did you start off as an apprentice? Did that benefit you and if so, how?
We are also keen to hear your stories and anecdotes about what made “The Yerd” such a special place to work. What did you love/hate about it? What were launch days like? Do you have some funny stories to share?
We would like to illustrate whatever you write with photographs of you, along with scans of any memorabilia you might have (these will be credited to you). Maybe you have correspondence, wage slips, drawings, newspaper cuttings, model boats, VHS footage, union cards etc?
These personal testimonies don’t have to be great works of literature, just some facts about your time at the yard and some of your anecdotes, in your own words, because those are what will bring this project to life.
Feel free to email your biography, or one on behalf of a relative who may no longer be around, to Jan, the project facilitator, who will be happy to chat with you about your ideas and who will be happy to help out. Call her on 07981642564.
If you are unable to scan images then you can bring them along to one of our drop in sessions in Campbeltown (dates will be posted here and on the Facebook page). We won’t keep any of your things, we will just scan or photograph them.
So it’s over to you! We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Inside Campbeltown Shipyard: Defiant LK 371 (Yard No. 79) nearing completion. Photo: Bobby Wylie ©
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