A Scottish museum has secured a substantial financial boost thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life in Coatbridge has received an initial award of £148,000 for consultation, feasibility studies and research into a multi-million-pound development project.
Having opened its doors in 1989, the North Lanarkshire attraction has welcomed over 3.9 million visitors in a little more than three decades.
READ NEXT: Incredible pipe band march through Glasgow's West End
The grant could pave the way for a subsequent application of £3.4 million to the Heritage Fund to significantly expand and enhance the visitor experiences on offer including the construction of a miners’ village, a miners’ welfare hall and a new learning landscape zone.
The "Summerlee: New Stories, New Audiences, Better Lives" project promises to weave together the threads of history, culture, and community, ensuring that the legacy of Scotland's industrial past is honoured and shared with generations to come.
Councillor Jim Logue, Leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: “This is the dawn of a new era for Summerlee, it will catapult it into the major league in terms of national visitor attractions.
“The project encompasses two crucial components: revitalisingCopy the museum site and fostering community development, and that’s what this initial development phase is all about we want to hear the views of local communities and groups and from people who visit Summerlee.”
Lu McNair, Museums and Collections Manager with North Lanarkshire Council, said: “We are a noisy, unstuffy museum that tells the story of ordinary working people in the central belt of Scotland.
"And we aim to substantially develop our offering by telling the latter part of the story of heavy industry in the area, focusing on social history up to the closure of Ravenscraig in the early 1990s.
"Everyone associated with Summerlee is thrilled with this announcement.
"We also hope it will also become a place for marginalised groups and individuals in our communities to come along and enjoy.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel