Museum and Heritage Centre Opening 28th June 2012
At 11:30am on the morning of June 28th 2012, Councillor Joe Lowe Convener of the Strathclyde Fire Board opened the Museum and Heritage Centre.
Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Chief Officer Brian Sweeney and many distinguished guests gathered at the “Old Greenock Fire Station” to celebrate the completion of the Museum & Heritage Centre project.
Following years of discussions and planning, the long awaited Museum finally opened its doors and life once again returned to this magnificent Victorian building.
Chief Officer Sweeney spoke of the surreal experience of visiting the newest of the Service’s buildings, which is the very recently opened Fire Service Training Centre in Cambuslang one day, to the contrast of visiting the very oldest of the service’s buildings, the Museum the very next day.
The old Fire Station has lain empty for some 52 years now and the building is basically as it was when the Fire Station closed its doors for the last time all those years ago. The building has many original features including hose racks, cobble stones, concrete runs for the horses and also still has the original oak doors. Even the actual gas lamp fittings are still mounted on the walls.
With a little imagination, you can picture the flickering of the lamps as those brave firefighters went about there daily routines each and every day, always ready and willing to lay there own lives on the line to protect the townsfolk of the Greenock area.
Clcik on image for larger view