Scottish Maritime Museum

Skylark IX recovery project

The project is centred on the restoration of the Skylark IX, a Dunkirk Little Ship that ended her working life as a pleasure craft on Loch Lomond before ultimately sinking.

Her recovery and gradual restoration at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Dumbarton has inspired the creation of the Skylark IX Recovery Trust by Alternatives Community, an addiction recovery charity in West Dunbartonshire. The trust aims to help people on their journey towards wholeness and citizenship by teaching them about the history of the Skylark IX and by training them in key woodworking and boat-building skills.

Part of the Skylark IX project involves teaching people from Alternatives to build 22 foot-long St Ayles coastal rowing skiffs. During lockdown in 2020 this work was delayed and the trust instead concentrated on remote teaching on how to build 1/8 scale models of Echo Bay Dory skiffs.

A model boat on Loch Lomond *Scottish Maritime Museum*

From April to July 2020 and again from February to April 2021, the boat tutor from Archipelago Folk School ran weekly sessions. At the end of each lockdown period, the groups were taken to Loch Lomond to celebrate their work and float their boats.

Recently the model boat builders returned to the boat workshop in the museum’s Denny Tank to resume building a full-size skiff. They aim to complete it by September 2021.

The feedback from the small group of regular participants is powerful. People report the project is therapeutic and gives them structure, a sense of purpose and routine. One reported that he was proud to be part of the Skylark story as she saved a lot of lives in WW2 and it encouraged him to get up for something worthwhile.

The project has also impacted on the Scottish Maritime Museum, which is now business planning to include the Spirit of Skylark Centre at Dumbarton in its future sustainability plans.