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TOP SKIPPERS’ CHOICE: THE STORY OF CAMPBELTOWN SHIPYARD
EXHIBITION AT CAMPBELTOWN TOWN HALL
SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY – 2020 – SATURDAY 22 FEBRUARY
South Kintyre Development Trust (SKDT) is pleased to announce that the “Top Skippers’ Choice” exhibition at Campbeltown Town Hall, will be open to the public between 10am-5pm on 15-22 February 2020 (11am-4pm Sunday).
The exhibition presents a snapshot of the Top Skippers’ Choice online archive, which showcases the work of Campbeltown Shipyard Ltd through personal testimonies, technical information, articles and over 1000 images from participants, gathered in the course of the past year:
https://www.campbeltown-shipyard.uk/
Top Skippers’ Choice celebrates the 50th anniversary this month of the launch of Campbeltown Shipyard’s first boat. Between 1969-1998 the yard produced almost 100 innovative, steel-hulled fishing boats, with orders from Shetland, Orkney and the Scottish mainland, the Faroe Islands, Ireland and England, and even one boat that was destined for Kenya.
The exhibition also presents an opportunity to bring together members of Campbeltown’s shipbuilding community and reunite them with some of the skippers who commissioned the boats that were built in the town.
Campbeltown Shipyard was at the heart of the community for almost three decades, in its heyday employing as many as 150 workers and providing apprenticeships with the opportunity of learning a wide range of skills.
“The key to our success was teamwork – right from Sir William Lithgow, through management, right to the youngest apprentice. We took young local men and turned them into highly skilled tradesmen who became an asset to the yard. Our boats were highly popular as they had outstanding sea keeping qualities”.
Leslie Howarth, former manager at Campbeltown Shipyard
In addition to holding a series of public drop-in sessions in Campbeltown, the project has also included site visits and creative workshops with local primary schools to connect shipyard workers with a generation too young to remember the “Yerd” at Trench Point.
Top Skippers’ Choice remains open to anyone, whether they be in Campbeltown or the other side of the globe, with a story to tell or an image to share about the shipyard and its boats, through the online archive:
https://www.campbeltown-shipyard.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/CampbeltownShipyard/
Top Skippers’ Choice has been devised and delivered for SKDT by Campbeltown-born artist and filmmaker, Jan Nimmo. The project is funded by National Heritage Lottery Scotland.
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