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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 …

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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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What It Means To Be A Volunteer At The Heritage Centre In Saltcoats

The following blog post was written by our volunteer, Frances, who gives her time at our North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats. I retired from my job in social work, it could be sometimes difficult and emotional working with the public and families in traumatic circumstances, but on occasions it was hugely rewarding when the outcomes were good. I had …

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Strange Happenings At The Heritage Centre

In the month of October we keep receiving reports from staff that there is an odd presence in our H̷e̴r̷i̵t̵a̸g̴e̵ ̵C̵e̸n̶t̶r̴e̷. They have claimed they have heard or seen things. To assuage these fears, we have filmed this short tour of our H̵̭̣̞͋̆͘ẽ̴͕̻͙̔ŗ̴̙͛ȋ̸̩̙t̴͔̤̓ā̸̡̩̹̈̎͂g̴̮̉̓͒̍e̷̺̺̣̓̊͌ ̶̫̟͊̏̈́C̷͎̓̎̚͝ḙ̶̐̽ṅ̵̯͕̒t̸̪͎̯̋́̕r̸̫̖͇͂̀͝e̸̗̤̝̮̓, to show you that everything is perfectly normal here in October. P̵̜̰̉̇̃̃̎̅͝e̵̩̻̬̩̳͙̎̀ȓ̶̡̝̼̳̻̙͈̏͋̿͌̐f̸̢̢̰͔̦̩̈́̑ȩ̴͕̞̲̻̔͐ͅͅc̴̯͓͐̃̃̉ţ̶̟̮̋ľ̶͉̼̼̟̭͖̝̍y̵̖͎͋ ̴̛̟̠͕̤͔̔̕n̴̗̗͗̍̇̚ô̶͖̘͉̖̟̘̭r̸̥̲̈́̈́m̶͉̟̬̀̓͆ạ̵̐̀̆̓̏̒l̵͖̙̃̒̔͋͂̂̇.̷͍̮͑

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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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Doors Open Days 2023

9th of September 10:00 – 16:00 It’s Doors Open Day time again! Another chance to showcase our current exhibition which is celebrating 10 years of the wonderful Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society . The volunteers work tirelessly all year round, to promote the history and preservation of the castle. This will also be the last Saturday opportunity to see the exhibition …