My name is Vincent Gillen. I was born in Greenock and work as a Social History curator in the local museum. My father worked in Scotts' as an electrician and my childhood was one of seeing him and other relatives fully employed in the busy yards. My early 20s - the Thatcher Years - saw him go through a terrible time whereby he was being sickened into taking redundancy by Trafalgar House - making him do menial jobs. He suffered a mental breakdown as a result. This is the unseen cost of the loss of a proud shipbuilding industry.

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The Lower Clyde shipyards are often overlooked when we talk about Clyde Built ships - unfairly. The yards of Greenock and Port Glasgow were the most productive on the Clyde and thanks to strong family ownership, profitable and well-run.

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This website is part of Cartsburn Publishing - set up to allow local history subjects in Inverclyde to be put out to both a local and wider audience. We provide the expertise to allow local authors to publish their research. Please get in touch if you think we can help.