Friends of Wemyss Bay Station
Update 15/4/2010
Come listen to the band - on Saturday, 1st May. Brass Sounds Inverclyde are playing between 12 and 2.00p.m. at the station as part of the opening of a special exhibition at the Station Gallery. Called 'Wemyss Bay - Beyond the end of the Line' it will run until Saturday 12 June. The gallery is open Mondays to Saturdays, 9.30 - 4.30.
The exhibition is a personal exploration of the village by Chris Hogg and Lynn Patrick, who for their day jobs, work as the photographers at the National Railway Museum, York. Wemyss Bay was put on the map with the arrival of the railway in 1865. The exhibition once again places it firmly on the map, and shows Wemyss Bay with its station and pier at the close of the 20th century. It may be a decade since the photographs were taken but their impact is just as strong. They show how soon the recent past becomes history - things that once were so familiar are now gone and lost forever, houses have been demolished and new ones built, and the freedom to wander on the pier and watch the arrival and departure of the ferries now a thing of the past. This exhibition not only provokes the memory, it excites the eye by turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.
The official opening of the exhibition will be at 1.00 p.m, by local councillor Innes Nelson. Come and join us.
Update 27/3/2010
The Friends are pleased to be hosting their second exhibition at the Wemyss Bay Station Gallery. Grace Donnelley and Jim Owens, both members of Greenock Art Club, have put on a display of their paintings at the gallery, from Friday 26th March until Friday 9th April. The bookshop and gallery at the station are open Mondays - Saturdays, 9.30 - 16.30.
Update 14/2/2010
The Friends of the Station have re-opened their second-hand bookshop once again, and will be delighted to welcome back former customers, and new. We have changed our layout, giving us more shelving space, and more scope to display stock. Now that we have had a makeover, thanks to Network Rail and the Railway Heritage Trust, we are looking very smart and fresh. More developments to come, as we aim to make ourselves a local asset, and an interesting place to visit.
Update 29/9/2009
The Friends have had a successful launch of their first publication, "Creating an Edwardian Masterpiece: the Caledonian Railway's Wemyss Bay Station", written by Jim MacIntosh. It contains many of the official photos taken during the construction of the station and pier in 1903, and has a brief history of them both. It is now on sale at the Station Bookshop at the bargain price of £5. Since the shop opened earlier this year there have been many requests from visitors for photos and information about the station. This new book will fill that need admirably.
Update 9/8/2009
The Friends of Wemyss Bay Station are asked frequently for postcards of the station, a request we would like to fulfil. We would like to invite all interested photographers to submit a digital photo of the station, the pier, or a particular aspect of the structure, to be included in a display of images in our gallery at the station. We shall then invite visitors and Friends to vote for their choice, and so select four views to print as postcards, to be sold at our shop. Each postcard will record the name of the photographer, but copyright of the image would belong to the Friends of Wemyss Bay Station.
If you would be interested in this proposal, please hand in your photo to the bookshop at the station, open 10.00 - 16.00, Mondays to Saturdays, or post to Friends of Wemyss Bay Station, The Station, Wemyss Bay, PA18 6AR. Each photo should be A6 size, and should be at least 300dpi. It should be labelled with the name and contact details of the photographer.
Final date for receiving entries is Saturday, 22nd August.
9/5/2009
The Friends are a recently formed group of volunteers who share an affection for Wemyss Bay Station for all sorts of reasons - as a beautiful structure, for its historic connections with the boats and the trains of the days of steam power, and for its holiday memories, all the excitement of arriving at the station with bags and wellies, and brothers and sisters, racing down the covered walkway to get on board the ferry for Rothesay, and two weeks in the sun - or rain, as the case might be. The station has been a cause of concern for us all in recent years, as it seemed to become more and more neglected.
However, there has been some good news recently, with Network Rail's recent announcement of funding available for another programme of repair and restoration, starting this year with work on the clock tower (interior) and the outside of the buildings. Next year repairs to the glass canopies will put an end, hopefully, to the copious leaks and jets of water in wet weather.
The Friends have made a start at reinstating some plants in containers on the concourse, as part of First ScotRail's Adopt a Station scheme. This is about to be extended. We have been given the use of the three rooms formerly used as booking offices by CalMac, and have plans to create a display area in them for photographs and memorabilia of the station, the pier, the trains and the boats. To help fund this, we have opened a second-hand bookshop. Donations of books, CDs and DVDs will be very welcome, as would offers of help to run the bookshop. It is open from Mondays to Saturdays, 10.00 - 4.00. If anyone can spare 2/3 hours per week to do a stint in the shop, please come along and volunteer. We would especially like to hear from anyone who has connections with the station or the pier, photos they might lend us, and stories to tell us. We would like to compile such stories, and make a book of them. You can contact us at the station bookshop or at our web-site: www.friendsofwemyssbaystation.webs.com.
Come listen to the band - on Saturday, 1st May. Brass Sounds Inverclyde are playing between 12 and 2.00p.m. at the station as part of the opening of a special exhibition at the Station Gallery. Called 'Wemyss Bay - Beyond the end of the Line' it will run until Saturday 12 June. The gallery is open Mondays to Saturdays, 9.30 - 4.30.
The exhibition is a personal exploration of the village by Chris Hogg and Lynn Patrick, who for their day jobs, work as the photographers at the National Railway Museum, York. Wemyss Bay was put on the map with the arrival of the railway in 1865. The exhibition once again places it firmly on the map, and shows Wemyss Bay with its station and pier at the close of the 20th century. It may be a decade since the photographs were taken but their impact is just as strong. They show how soon the recent past becomes history - things that once were so familiar are now gone and lost forever, houses have been demolished and new ones built, and the freedom to wander on the pier and watch the arrival and departure of the ferries now a thing of the past. This exhibition not only provokes the memory, it excites the eye by turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.
The official opening of the exhibition will be at 1.00 p.m, by local councillor Innes Nelson. Come and join us.
Update 27/3/2010
The Friends are pleased to be hosting their second exhibition at the Wemyss Bay Station Gallery. Grace Donnelley and Jim Owens, both members of Greenock Art Club, have put on a display of their paintings at the gallery, from Friday 26th March until Friday 9th April. The bookshop and gallery at the station are open Mondays - Saturdays, 9.30 - 16.30.
Update 14/2/2010
The Friends of the Station have re-opened their second-hand bookshop once again, and will be delighted to welcome back former customers, and new. We have changed our layout, giving us more shelving space, and more scope to display stock. Now that we have had a makeover, thanks to Network Rail and the Railway Heritage Trust, we are looking very smart and fresh. More developments to come, as we aim to make ourselves a local asset, and an interesting place to visit.
Update 29/9/2009
The Friends have had a successful launch of their first publication, "Creating an Edwardian Masterpiece: the Caledonian Railway's Wemyss Bay Station", written by Jim MacIntosh. It contains many of the official photos taken during the construction of the station and pier in 1903, and has a brief history of them both. It is now on sale at the Station Bookshop at the bargain price of £5. Since the shop opened earlier this year there have been many requests from visitors for photos and information about the station. This new book will fill that need admirably.
Update 9/8/2009
The Friends of Wemyss Bay Station are asked frequently for postcards of the station, a request we would like to fulfil. We would like to invite all interested photographers to submit a digital photo of the station, the pier, or a particular aspect of the structure, to be included in a display of images in our gallery at the station. We shall then invite visitors and Friends to vote for their choice, and so select four views to print as postcards, to be sold at our shop. Each postcard will record the name of the photographer, but copyright of the image would belong to the Friends of Wemyss Bay Station.
If you would be interested in this proposal, please hand in your photo to the bookshop at the station, open 10.00 - 16.00, Mondays to Saturdays, or post to Friends of Wemyss Bay Station, The Station, Wemyss Bay, PA18 6AR. Each photo should be A6 size, and should be at least 300dpi. It should be labelled with the name and contact details of the photographer.
Final date for receiving entries is Saturday, 22nd August.
9/5/2009
The Friends are a recently formed group of volunteers who share an affection for Wemyss Bay Station for all sorts of reasons - as a beautiful structure, for its historic connections with the boats and the trains of the days of steam power, and for its holiday memories, all the excitement of arriving at the station with bags and wellies, and brothers and sisters, racing down the covered walkway to get on board the ferry for Rothesay, and two weeks in the sun - or rain, as the case might be. The station has been a cause of concern for us all in recent years, as it seemed to become more and more neglected.
However, there has been some good news recently, with Network Rail's recent announcement of funding available for another programme of repair and restoration, starting this year with work on the clock tower (interior) and the outside of the buildings. Next year repairs to the glass canopies will put an end, hopefully, to the copious leaks and jets of water in wet weather.
The Friends have made a start at reinstating some plants in containers on the concourse, as part of First ScotRail's Adopt a Station scheme. This is about to be extended. We have been given the use of the three rooms formerly used as booking offices by CalMac, and have plans to create a display area in them for photographs and memorabilia of the station, the pier, the trains and the boats. To help fund this, we have opened a second-hand bookshop. Donations of books, CDs and DVDs will be very welcome, as would offers of help to run the bookshop. It is open from Mondays to Saturdays, 10.00 - 4.00. If anyone can spare 2/3 hours per week to do a stint in the shop, please come along and volunteer. We would especially like to hear from anyone who has connections with the station or the pier, photos they might lend us, and stories to tell us. We would like to compile such stories, and make a book of them. You can contact us at the station bookshop or at our web-site: www.friendsofwemyssbaystation.webs.com.
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