We are very grateful to Ian McCallum for this piece about his time working at Campbeltown Shipyard. As you will see from the photos, Ian didn’t just work at the shipyard, he also played the pipes at the launches. Ian McCallum – far right: Fidelis II takes to the sea…
Shipyard anecdotes
In Aug 1980 I joined the training centre at Snipefield in Campbeltown and a year later I started my 2nd year apprenticeship at Campbeltown Shipyard. On arrival there it was a relief to be away from the rigmarole of general schooling and exams. The yard was so noisy with metal…
I started my apprenticeship in 1978, prior to that I was a bit lost as to what to do with myself – I did think about Glasgow School of Art. Pete Stimpson, who was the foreman, stuck us in a corner with a propane burner and a welding set for…
We are grateful to Gordon Wilson, a former employee of Campbeltown Shipyard, for this photo of him with the then Secretary for State for Scotland, Malcolm Rifkind. Gordon remembers that the yard had been working on the Thorsvoe (Yard No. 89) in 1990, a ferry launched in 1991 and which…
It was early in May 1977, in the middle of my final exams, and four weeks away from leaving school, when a notice was sent out to all who were interested, that Trevor Perkins, Manager of Campbeltown Shipyard, was going to be in the school on a recruitment drive. Moira…
We are very grateful to those of you who came along to our final drop-in session on Monday 14th October at Campbeltown Town Hall. There will be an exhibition planning meeting late November/early December – dates and venue will be confirmed here on the website and on the Top Skippers’…
Leslie Howarth, former managing director at Campbeltown Shipyard Ltd talking to the children at Dalintober Primary School, Campbeltown. Photo courtesy of Jan Nimmo. One of the aims of SKDT’s Top Skippers’ Choice project was to reach out to local primary schools and to engage in some intergenerational work, so we…
Radar’s tail got injured and the vet cut it off. He was called Radar because he always knew when it was piece time. I think the other cat was called Wee Tommy, although it was a female, it was called after Tommy Galbraith . I remember every day of the…
My dad, John Munro, was a native of Caithness and was born near Wick in July 1923. During the early years of World War II he worked on a farm in Caithness, which was a reserved occupation. However he wanted to join the Merchant Navy but the farm owner would…
Malcolm Cook, former painter at Campbeltown Shipyard. Photo courtesy of Jan Nimmo. Malcolm Cook began serving his time as a painter and decorator in Campbeltown with Jack McKinven Painter & Decorators and then finished his apprenticeship with McShannon and Duncan Painters & Decorators. In 1972 he started working at Campbeltown…