The Shapinsay Heritage Centre is located on the first floor at the Smithy in Balfour Village. The building itself was sympathetically renovated with funding from NILPS along with Orkney Islands Council's Community Development Fund and Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE).
The building refurbishment gave Shapinsay Heritage Arts & Crafts (SHAC) the opportunity to look more closely at their collection and take time to plan and carry out work to enhance the heritage centre design and layout. Dedicated volunteers gave hours of their time to research and create new interpretation panels and displays that cover life in Shapinsay from the ancient to the modern. The centre features a mural that celebrates the maritime history of Shapinsay and the recreated wheelhouse of the SS Iona, including the original wheel. The steam passenger ship served the island for a number of years (Shapinsay - Kirkwall) in the early 20th century and was later fitted with a motor engine in 1949. The Iona lies in Elwick Bay, it sank in a storm, while moored, in 1965. Here's an image of the SS Iona on the Orkney Image Library - SS Iona.
NILPS funding supported display panel printing costs, the purchase of new equipment including digital screens, a new reception desk, office equipment and some paid time to help pull everything together in time for opening in Summer 2023. NILPS funding also supported the group to create a new Shapinsay Heritage Arts & Crafts website and create an online archive. The result is a fantastic centre with online resources that hadn't been available previously and the group aims to keep building on what's been achieved so far.
Find out more:
Shapinsay Heritage, Arts & Crafts website
Shapinsay Heritage Centre | History | Orkney.com and The Smithy Cafe & Restaurant | Orkney.com
And here's a link to a fantastic film that was comissioned as part of the NILPS project for SHAC, it celebrates traditional boat building in Shapinsay. The film was produced by Stromness film maker Mark Jenkins, and follows Shapinsay resident, John Leslie, who has been building boats for decades, as he builds what could be his last wooden clinker: From Boo To Starn
