Celebrating the achievements of the past two years with a visit to Skylark IX and new exhibition!
Skylark IX Recovery Project Community Boatbuilding Co-ordinator Rebecca MacAskill and Volunteer Trainee Ronnie Mckechnie celebrate the achievements of the past two years made possible through funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund with a visit to the Dunkirk ‘Little Ship’ Skylark IX and new exhibition ‘Hope Floats’ at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, Ayrshire.
The Skylark IX Recovery Project’s new exhibition ‘Hope Floats’, which is on show in the Museum on Irvine Harbourside, describes how the Dumbarton-based Skylark IX Recovery Project cares for the former pleasure boat, which served in Operation Dynamo, and uses Skylark’s story of hope and resilience to help people recovering from addictions through boatbuilding training.
The Skylark IX Recovery Project hopes to begin fundraising to build the Spirit of Skylark Centre on the grounds of the Scottish Maritime Museum in Dumbarton soon.
The new heritage experience, community hub and boatbuilding workshop will give Skylark IX a permanent home and enable to the Project to support a growing number of people across West Dunbartonshire.
Built as a pleasure boat in Poole in 1934, Skylark IX served during Operation Dynamo in 1940 before returning to passenger cruises at Portobello and Burntisland and, for the longest and last chapter of her working life, on Loch Lomond.
Skylark sank in the River Leven in 2010 and lay half-submerged for two years before being rescued by the West Dunbartonshire community and what would become the Skylark IX Recovery Project.
Filed under: NewsOver the last two years, the Skylark IX Recovery Project has supported over 20 people recovering from addictions through boatbuilding training and engaged over 170 people facing social isolation through heritage and arts-related projects thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.