2nd September 2020
The Scottish Maritime Museum has received £21,900 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to improve the visitor experience and make necessary adaptations to ensure physical distancing at both Museums, on Irvine Harbourside and in Dumbarton.
The funding, which is made possible by National Lottery players, was awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund. Through the UK-wide fund, £50million was made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.
Thanks to the funding, the Scottish Maritime Museum has been able to produce four short interpretation videos including two covering popular exhibits which can’t accommodate physical distancing.
Visitors to the Scottish Maritime Museum on Irvine Harbourside can now enjoy virtual tours of the Shipyard Worker’s Tenement Flat, which is arranged as it would have been in the 1920s, and the 1872 cargo coaster MV Kyles, the oldest Clydebuilt vessel still afloat in the UK and currently on Irvine Harbourside.
The funding has also enabled the Museum to create two audio guides for mobile phones, to purchase four large display screens for interpreting the nationally significant maritime heritage collection and make adaptations to the reception area to ensure physical distancing.
David Mann, Director of the Scottish Maritime Museum, said:
Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we have been able to welcome visitors back safely and continue to develop our visitor experience with new digital interpretation.
“Adding exciting new interpretation (and exhibits like our new walk on exhibition in our 100 ton, 66 feet long puffer cargo boat, MV Spartan), is vital if we are to sustain the collection and excite and engage our visitors into the future.
“We’re grateful that The National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time – it’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all.”
Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal wellbeing. All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis.
“Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as the Scottish Maritime Museum during this uncertain time.”
Like the Scottish Maritime Museum, other charities and organisations across the UK that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus outbreak are being given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed money from The National Lottery. This money is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and span the arts, community, charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors.
Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for good causes, including heritage of local and national importance. By playing The National Lottery, people up and down the country are making an amazing contribution to the nationwide-response to combatting the impact of COVID-19 on local communities across the UK.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund is now closed for applications. To find out more about how The National Heritage Emergency Fund is supporting the sector at this time please visit: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/responding-coronavirus-covid-19
To find out more about the National Lottery Good Causes , visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/coronavirus-pandemic-response
Issued on behalf of the Scottish Maritime Museum by
Joanna Harrison, Mobile: 07884 187404.
