river clyde homes

Today we launched our innovative 'Up Close' campaign, breaking the mould of community engagement across the country.

The launch of 'Up Close' signals our commitment to engaging the community and the wider business sector to ensure a unified approach in raising housing standards across the area.

The show piece of our 'Up Close' campaign is a major community exhibition which profiles social housing in Inverclyde across the generations and recognises six of the area's 'Real Community Heroes'.

The exhibition is split into past, present and future Inverclyde and includes video footage, photographs, memories, artefacts and material from school pupils on how past generations lived.

Karen Neary, chief executive of River Clyde Homes, said: "River Clyde Homes is committed to breaking the mould when it comes to social housing landlords and challenging expectations.
"In our first year we have already made huge leaps forward and achieved fantastic results for the area. The community and local businesses are absolutely central to the success of RCH and this is the first step to ensuring we all work together to deliver the best results for the area."

Roy Steele, chair of Rive Clyde Homes, added: "RCH is all about the people who live in our homes and the 'Up Close' campaign recognises the important part these people have to play in recording the history of the area but also planning for the future.

"The Real Community Heroes are ordinary people who go the extra mile to make a difference in the lives of the people around them. Small acts of kindness can go a long way to improving the quality of life for others and our Real Community Heroes demonstrate the breadth of caring people within our community."

The exhibition demonstrates how Inverclyde has developed over the centuries, how the regeneration process will deliver 21st century housing for Inverclyde and how this fits into the overall resurgence of the area.

The first tenants moved into Greenock's high rise flats in 1964, when high-rise living seemed the ultimate in modern living. Many of these high-rises are now being demolished and the ones remaining are being refurbished.

Examples of exhibition materials:

Ropeworks: "When I first left school I worked at the Ropeworks. I hated the job so much I would greet every morning. I stayed at the Ropeworks for a whole month. I finished up on the Friday and started at the Thomas Boag Bag Store on the Monday."

Working life: "In the 1930's, people helped each other in Greenock. There was much unemployment during this period and to survive families had to support each other. Work was found wherever it was available and usually through the family network, leading to family groupings in the sugarhouse, the ship yards or the rope works." Hawick Court resident Life during the war: "On the second night of the bombing in Greenock, the people in one of the shelters forgot to bring their candles. Halfway through the night the candles ran out. Someone in the shelter said: "I have a wee holy picture here. If I pass it round everyone can say a wee prayer…." When the all clear was given and everyone came out into the light, they discovered it wasn't a holy grail they had been passing around all night, but a pawn ticket."

Inverclyde life: "At 12 o' clock on Fair Friday, the whistle in the factories and yards went off and Greenock from that moment became a ghost town. You never used to worry about your house. People could leave their doors open for the whole holiday. They could be sure no-one would break in. A lot of people even left a key on the other side of the letter box, hanging on a string."

The Wash Hoose: "The 'Wash Hoose' was a hub of activity in the days before washing machines and when many people lived in a 'room and a kitchen' in tenement buildings. Although some people had 'agitators', it was generally felt that 'the agitator didnae take the dirt oot o 'claes." Margaret Swan
Details of the sanitary conditions in Greenock in the nineteenth century and letters sent to Her Majesty's Home Secretary protesting about the sewers in the area.

An education programme was undertaken to spark the imagination of the area's younger generations and ensure this key audience not only learnt more about how their relatives lived in the past but were given the opportunity to say how they want to live in the area in the future.

The 'Up Close' campaign is supported by Riverside Inverclyde, Wates Living Space, Connaught Partnerships, Lovell, Morris & Spottiswood in association with Impact Arts, Turner & Townsend, SFHA, Hypostyle Architects, Anderson Bell Christie and the Greenock Telegraph.