GRAEME Smith is to be congratulated for his excellent submission to your Agenda column ("A maritime heritage centre would be a tremendous asset for Glasgow", The Herald October 5), in which he outlines the case for a specific museum to celebrate all that the Clyde contributed to shipbuilding and seafaring.
I have never understood the reluctance to capitalise on the huge worldwide interest in such a museum, which could document the many ways in which the Clyde became legendary.
I had hoped that the new Riverside Museum would go some way to meet this need, but it seems to be a victory of style over substance. Mr Smith rightly points out that it does not display the ship models in anything like an accessible way and the wall of cars and display of bicycles fail similarly.
I would go further than Mr Smith and suggest that any new build to house the Clyde's heritage be situated on the Govan side of the river and incorporate the three Grade A-listed graving docks which appear to be decaying before our eyes and which seem to have been identified as yet another development for "yuppy" housing.
I am sure no other city with such a maritime heritage would turn its back on the river in the way that Glasgow has done.
I recently visited Gdansk and it has a magnificent maritime offering on both sides of the river, utilising an old river ferry.
If past administrations had shown any interest, particularly in the wake of the successful Garden Festival and the European City of Culture, this idea could now be a reality with the Royal Yacht Britannia in her rightful place and not propping up an out-of-town commercial shopping project.
There would have been no need for the SV Carrick to spend all these years wasting away at Irvine before being lost to the Clyde forever, to Australia.
The emphasis and focus of our Scottish Government seems to be on Edinburgh-based projects (witness the trams and the second Forth crossing) but there is still an opportunity to distribute the tourist infrastructure fairly across Scotland.
The establishment of a maritime heritage centre on the Clyde would be positive step in that direction.
David Will,
24 Cauldstream Place,
Glasgow.
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