People in recovery show Inverclyde in photography project

The rookie snappers were put in the frame thanks to an inspiring six month heritage project called Picturing Our Past.

The team captured memorable images of Inverclyde and historic Scottish landmarks.

Their work culminated in an exhibition which was held at the Beacon Arts Centre.

Charlie Sherry, director of Inclusive Images, ran the project.

He said: "I was working with people from the Your Voice Inverclyde recovery hub.

"I have been working with organisations from socially deprived areas who support people from a range of commonly excluded backgrounds.

"We ran photography workshops with heritage photo walks to raise awareness of places of local historic significance and iconic heritage sites, to help them get a better understanding of their roots and how history shapes people.

"We have been working in partnership with local historians and heritage organisations and the group joined discussions about their local heritage and were encouraged to discover and photograph it."

The group were equipped with compact cameras to capture local heritage they have learned about, with the exhibition celebrating and showcasing their creative work.

They also travelled to Bannockburn were they were given a talk on the battle by Duncan Thomson from the Robert The Bruce Centre and then visited Stirling Castle where Kirsten Wood from Historic Environment Scotland gave them a guided tour.

The people who took part in the project, paid for by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, were Dylan Stewart, Kenny Saunderson, Dana Fritzsche, Kyle Campbell, Brian Meechan, Iain MacDonald, Lee Smith, Declan Curran, Kieran McKay and John Ciantor.

Charlie said: "We aimed for them to engage and have a bit of pride in themselves, their family, community and national history.

"The exhibition is the end product, but the important part was the process.

"These are people in recovery and were very inspirational.

"Some of them were quite apprehensive at the beginning but some of the images they produced were outstanding."

Depute Provost Graeme Brooks was invited to hand out certificates to the group on completion of the course.

He said: "It was fantastic to see the wonderful photographs this recovery project has been working on.

“It is all too easy for challenges within Inverclyde to be highlighted; projects like Picturing Our Past are working on positive solutions.

“The group not only developed new skills with photography, but their six month journey together reinforces the recovery community and, although the destination is important, every journey is a valuable part of everyone’s life.”

The group's images will also be shown in a larger exhibition at Stirling Castle in September, run by Historic Environment Scotland.