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Duchess of Fife in War Livery

You might not know that, on the outbreak of World War II in 1939, most of the Clyde paddlers were called up for minesweeping – some of them for a second time, having played that role in World War I. Several were lost, and at the close of the hostilities only one replacement was built – The Waverley. Those that …

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‘Health and Pleasure Cruise’

Our latest exhibition ‘Song of the River Steamers‘ is well underway and we are still finding gems in the collection of Charles Glen! While going through the wealth of resources and research of Charles Glen we’ve found this advertisement for a Health and Pleasure Cruise aboard the Duchess of Argyll in 1938. We do think it looks like great fun, …

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‘Song of the River Steamers’ at the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre

All aboard for our new exhibition! ‘Song of the River Steamers‘ is now on display at our Heritage Centre in Saltcoats and features a wide variety of objects including models, paintings, brochures and more from the collection of Charles Glen. His collection was kindly donated to us in 2018 and was recently on display at Millport. The new exhibition is …

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New ‘Cumbrae Queen’ Exhibition at the Museum of the Cumbraes

We have a new exhibition on display at Garrison House, Millport and it is all about a Cumbrae tradition that dates back to 1964: the Cumbrae Queen! For the last 60 years a different girl has been crowned Cumbrae Queen annually and the exhibition showcases the history of this tradition. Come along and enjoy video interviews with former queens and …

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‘New and Unusual’ Exhibition Preview Video

Have you seen our latest exhibition ‘New and Unusual: And a few of our favourite things’? We have just recently put out a preview video on our Facebook page to entice you! The exhibition features a wide variety of of objects from our collection, including artworks, archaeology, sporting memorabilia, vintage technology (including old radios, cameras and even a Gameboy Advance!) …

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HMS Dasher Memorial Book

Another object featured in our New and Unusual exhibition comes in to the category of favourite objects. It’s a memorial book with all the names of the crew who perished when HMS Dasher sank in 1943. HMS Dasher was a British Royal Navy aircraft carrier of the Avenger Class. She served in World War II. She was built by the …

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A New and Unusual Exhibition

The following blog post was written by our Collections Officer, Louise. Our current exhibition is an eclectic mix of North Ayrshire’s history, with cases filled with objects from the North Ayrshire Collection. I got really excited when we had a break in our busy programme to show off our own collection, as I haven’t had the opportunity to do this …

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New and Unusual Exhibition Now on Display

Our latest exhibition is now on display at our North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats and it’s all about our own collection! Featuring a huge variety of objects from our own collections, the exhibition also features interviews with us, the staff, on what our favourite objects are! The exhibition is running into 2024 but we will be changing bits and …

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New Exhibition: 10 Years of the Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society

Our newest exhibition is here and on display at the Heritage Centre! Focusing on the Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society, come and learn all about this wonderful volunteer group who are now celebrating their 10th anniversary. “We were invited to set up as an organisation as the castle was in a state of disrepair and NAC were looking to work in …