ABSTRACT
Scotland was a very big boatbuilding nation but modern techniques and global capitalism have taken the work off shore. As a result, there are very few boatbuilders in Scotland. This chapter examines the work of the Boatbuilding School at the Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine, from the perspective and experiences of the School’s manager Martin Hughes. Hughes trained as a boatbuilder from a young age and went on to teach boatbuilding at a vocational college and then for the GalGael Trust, a working community in Glasgow. The School has a fundamental aim to retain vital skills and trades through community participation. However, the School achieves more than this. It works with local young people, many who have experienced long-term and/or intergenerational unemployment and older volunteers. Through teamwork and a hands-on approach to the all-important creative process, participants gain a sense of wellbeing and belonging that also has a positive impact of their lives outside the School. Further, the Boatbuilding School is contributing to the development of a craft workforce as recommended by the UK national paper The Craft Blueprint. This chapter therefore argues for the importance of skills and trades in contributing to the work of industry museums and reminds the reader that a hands-on approach to the transformation of raw materials is not only a crucial part of a proud legacy of the living working class, but is also central to our personal and societal wellbeing.
