Doors Open Day in Ayrshire takes place on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September, a chance to explore as many buildings as you can, some of which are not normally open to the public. All are free entry. Over the next couple of weeks, we will highlight some of the North Ayrshire buildings that are opening their doors that weekend …
Betsy Miller Statue Consultation
North Ayrshire Council is proud to lay claim to a very special lady. Elizabeth (Betsy) Miller was born in Saltcoats on the 11th June 1762 and went on to become the first female sea captain registered with Lloyds Register of Shipping. From feedback received from Place Making consultations carried out by our Regeneration team, it was clear that many people …
Charles Miller Has Been Added to the Stories Section
Charles William Miller was the son of John Miller, who was born in Fairlie and emigrated to Brazil to work on the Sao Paulo railway. It was there that he met and married Carlota Alexandrina Fox who gave birth to their son Charles. Charles would go on to be credited with introducing football to Brazil, founding Sao Paulo Athletic Club …
New Exhibition: Fabric of North Ayrshire
Our new exhibition is now on display at our Heritage Centre in Saltcoats! ‘Fabric of North Ayrshire’, which runs until the 17th of December 2025, was inspired by two Glasgow University Students (Grace & Julia) who spent their placement with us. They both wrote fascinating blog posts on working with us, you can read Grace’s HERE and Julia’s HERE. The …
The Passing of John McCallum
It is with a heavy heart that we would like to share the news on the passing of John McCallum, at the age of 97. John was recently at the launch of our new exhibition, ‘For Our Freedom and Yours‘, which includes a video interview with him and his son, Ian, where they discuss the crash of Whitley Bomber Z9362 …
New Exhibition: For Our Freedom and Yours
Our latest exhibition is now underway and it focuses on telling the story of the Polish armed forces during the Second World War! The exhibition tells the story of the Polish 1st Armoured Division and the contributions they made to the Allied war effort. Collected and curated by Sean Szmalc of Titanic Honour and Glory Exhibitions, his fascination with the …
What’s in the Box?
The following blog post was kindly written for us by our student volunteer, Grace Levine. Growing up in upstate New York, I was surrounded by history from a very young age. With not much to do in my rural town in the Hudson Valley, my parents brought me to local museums, historical societies, and heritage sites. As I got older, …
Alan Johnstone – “A Natural Goal-Scorer”
The following post was kindly submitted to us by Gordon McCreath, who is a keen Ayrshire junior football historian. There were barely five minutes played when Alan Johnstone gathered the ball in midfield and played it wide to Eric Morris on the left touchline. Morris beat his defender and raced towards the corner of the penalty box. He spotted Mike …
Crochet at the Heritage Centre
The following blog post was kindly written for us by one of our student volunteers, Julia Kahn. At the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre, I have had the pleasure of inventorying the costume and textile collection over the past several months. The collection holds many treasures, from Harry Kemp’s costumes to beautiful Ayrshire white work. As a crocheter myself, my favourite …
New Video Tour of Haylie Neolithic Tomb
We were recently at Haylie Neolithic Tomb in Largs for the unveiling of the new interpretation board which now sits at the site. The board tells the story of the tomb and was created in conjunction with Historic Environment Scotland, Archaeology Scotland, Forestry & Land Scotland, Largs Museum volunteers and the North Ayrshire Council Heritage Team. While there, we managed …