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 …
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 …
‘Outwith’ Exhibition at the Museum of the Cumbraes
We have a new art exhibition within our Museum of the Cumbraes, which is located within the beautiful Garrison House in Millport. Called “Outwith” this exhibition features a showcase of work by talented Irvine-based artist Kevin O’Rourke’, who took his inspiration from the Scottish word meaning ‘outside or beyond.’ Talking about his inspiration, Kevins shares that “Covid completely changed my …
Back Doon the Watter Exhibition is Now On!
Our new exhibition, ‘Back Doon the Watter’ is now on at our Heritage Centre in Saltcoats! Featuring a photography exhibition by Mandy Edwards and a wide variety of objects and digital content, this exhibition is a must visit if you love the history of holidaying on the west coast! The exhibition runs from September until November at the Heritage Centre …
New Exhibition: ‘They Wore It So Well’
We have a brand-new exhibition at our Heritage Centre in Saltcoats and it’s all about fashion! We are going back to the 60’s and 70’s for ‘They Wore It So Well’, an exhibition which celebrates the fashions from those two decades. The exhibition features a lovely variety of dresses, shoes, handbags and coats and it’s all from the collection of …
The Stranding of the Mars
The paddle-steamer ‘Mars’ got into trouble off the Largs coast on the 10th of April, 1855 and washed ashore at the mouth of the Gogo burn! Sadly, it did not go well for the ship despite the best efforts of a passing carter who tried to help! Click below to watch the video and hear the full story. This tale …
Murder on the ‘Toward Castle’!
Our latest exhibition, ‘Song of the River Steamers’ is on display at our Heritage Centre and we have been having far too much fun reading through the extensive research folders of Charles Glen. Some of the stories are amusing, some are tragic and one even involves murder! Watch the video above for a short tale of murder on the paddle-steamer …
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 …
‘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, …
‘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 …