The third-annual Shipyards Social is, first and foremost, a reunion, but the annual event has also proven useful in solving some mysteries.
The Collingwood Museum is home to a lot of mysterious artifacts, many of which came from Collingwood’s shipyards. So when there are 60-plus former shipyard workers gathered at the museum, staff take advantage of their collective knowledge.
The first Shipyard Social in 2016 was meant to be a one-off event to mark the 30th anniversary of the closing of the Collingwood Shipyards. The museum put together an exhibit of shipyard items on loan, calling it: “what did you save from the shipyard?”
There was an opening and closing event and a survey of attendees indicated there was interest in making the event an annual thing.
“It was a really successful exhibit,” said Melissa Shaw, museum assistant at the Collingwood Museum.
During the event, museum staff put out some of the mystery artifacts from the shipyards with a blank piece of paper by the artifact and asked the former workers to write down not only what the items were, but any stories they remember about the items.
There were many custom wood blocks and tongs created for shipyards work, including a mysterious block of tallow found by museum staff in the collection (see photos above).
After leaving the tallow block out for the Shipyards Social event, staff learned it was used to “grease” the planks the ships rested on during the side launch.
Shaw said the staff will probably have some more mystery items out for this year’s Shipyards Social, but the event will be casual.
“It’s an unprogrammed afternoon,” she said. “We wanted to create an occasion for the former workers and community to come together.”
Though they didn’t count the number of former workers at the first event, Shaw estimates about 40 of the guests were former Collingwood Shipyards employees. Last year, there were 64 former workers in the group photo.
There will be another group photo for all the former shipyards workers in attendance this year at 12:30 p.m. sharp with Dave West Photography.
The Shipyards Social is open to the public, and staff encourage families, friends and the community to come to the museum on Sept. 7 between noon and 3 p.m. for the event. More online here.
