A brief introduction
Hello All!
I’m Mike, I recently attended some workshop sessions in the museum as part of an overall task for Keep Scotland Beautiful working alongside Jen and Claire in the Learning and Engagement team to develop a Climate and Heritage Action Plan relating to the Museum and its surrounding environment. As part of the workshops, several actions were identified under the general theme of public engagement, one of which was the development of a series of guided walks run by and promoted through the Museum under the general topics of climate & heritage.
As you probably already know, I’m talkative and I couldn’t keep my gob shut… consequently I got identified by the group as being a candidate to conduct these walks… I think the qualification was largely the ability to walk and talk at the same time! I’m currently researching and writing the content for the first walk which will be focused on Irvine Harbour’s heritage and mainly identifying Museum assets in and around the harbourside. Subsequent walks will probably look more towards the environmental aspects and possibly social histories… and will depend on the feedback and success of the initial walk. We have been engaging with several local history groups and individuals. Their reactions have been very positive and basically every stone turned is opening another massive amount of content which all needs verifying and referencing.
And so, it begs the question… what qualifies me to blether on about maritime stuff? Well, I used to be a yottie, had a Westerly Storm 33OOD which is a 10mtr sloop rigged cruiser racer that I took out on races mainly around south coast but also into the Atlantic to such exotic destinations around the Fastnet Rock, down to the Azores and even for jollies to the sunny Canaries. For a living, I’ve had a long and very varied career (unsurprisingly being an old git!). Started in aerospace engineering, went into a bank (too dull!) then worked in a laboratory, took a HND in electronics, then ultimately ended up running a software house which we sold during the madness that was the “dotcom” boom of the late ‘90’s and found my way by accident into management consulting. That led me into negotiating contracts for big projects which resulted in me being taken into the Crown Estate who tasked me with managing some of the organisations getting planning consent for a number of Offshore Wind Farm projects around the seas surrounding the British Isles – my biggest project was a little job called the Dogger Bank – an area roughly half the size of Wales, with the potential for 13 Gigawatts of power, 2,600 huge turbines about 125miles off the Yorkshire coast. All the numbers relating to it were eye watering and it was complicated and great fun. So much fun in fact that I ultimately got ill and haven’t done a serious grown-up job ever since.
I retired to my childhood hunting grounds of Darkest Gloucestershire (I’m from Cheltenham) which is why I generally sound like a pirate or maybe a farmer. I decided I needed a fresh start and since my Great Grandfather was a sea captain and died sometime in the late 19th century after sailing into Ardrossan, I thought that this might be a good area to come and do some gentle research!
Funny who you bump into….
A Friday not so long ago, my new mate, and fellow Museum research volunteer, Mike Scott came into the library at the museum and mentioned in passing that there was a regatta in Largs for yachts designed and built by Fifes of Fairlie. It should be understood, dear reader, that this comment was the proverbial red rag to a bull for me, having been a fan of those yachts ever since I first heard of them nearly 40 years ago (I had a Beken photograph of Shamrock 3 above my fireplace for many years). Truth is until recently starting at the Museum, I’d never actually seen one in real life although I had walked past the site of the yard up in Fairlie and I’d seen the sculpture there. Now I don’t get out and about as much as I’d like to but I REALLY didn’t want to miss that opportunity. I decided there and then that Largs would be my destination for the Saturday morning. On the bus on the way up I met a couple who suggested that the island of Great Cumbrae might be a good idea… so adventure afoot! I caught the ferry, then a bus to Millport the driver suggested that the southern tip of the island looks over the small gap towards Little Cumbrae and would be a good place to see the race. After a short but pleasant walk I needed to navigate my way across the rocky shoreline to get to my vantage point by the water and indeed it was the perfect location! I got to see 20 odd of my favourite boats, rounding a racing mark and tacking back northwards to complete their lap of the island and finish the race. These yachts are both EXTREMELY rare and monstrously expensive. Just realizing that I would spend my time with a couple of them in the Museum was enough to get me to phone some of my yachting mates to crow about it!
And so, having had my fill of scrambling around over the rocks, the race ended, I headed back to Largs to check out the interesting museum and the Skelmorlie Aisle… a very worthwhile thing to see – you won’t regret it!
Here’s the thing… on my way back into the Museum I bumped into some guys wearing “Fife Regatta 2026” sweatshirts. I asked them “have you been racing in the regatta? Have you got a Fife?” The response left me “gobsmacked”…
“I am William Fife, 4 times Great Grandson of William Fife of Fairlie, these are my sons, and grandson…” They were apparently treating grandad to a trip to Scotland from their home in Newport South Wales to attend the regatta and visit the old family origins. Chatted for a while, nice guys. I told them of my volunteering at the Museum and the Fifes we have here. Nice story to tell Mike Scott when I get in on Monday…
… but it doesn’t end there… yes I got in on the Monday and told Mike my tale but of course I didn’t have a picture and you know the saying, “no picture, didn’t happen”. A little while after I recounted my story a familiar face poked around the library door.. followed by the other 3… yes, it was indeed the Fifes of Newport who had decided to pay us and the boats a visit before they flew back to Wales from Glasgow! They were pleasantly surprised by the amount of Fife historical material we have in the collection and impressed by the Museum. I got a picture of them next to “Powerful” and arranged for them to get a guided tour of the boat workshop and some of the exhibits in the Linthouse. The youngest is heavily into Lego modelling and particularly liked the Titanic model and even commented that the number of lifeboats shown on it are different to those on the actual Titanic (not withstanding that she was indeed a little bereft of lifeboats when she came a cropper!).
I believe they had a great time at the Museum and I did indeed get the necessary picture.
