A CREATIVE couple are helping to bring a part of Inverclyde's heritage to a new audience.

Artist Alec Galloway and drama teacher Louise Wylie are collaborating with performers in Jamaica to produce a new multi-media interpretation of the history of the sugar trade.

The project is in conjunction with Edinburgh University and Abertay University and National Museum Jamaica.

Louise, who teaches at Craigmarloch School, said: "It is a joint programme, a creative response to the sugar trade by two Scottish performers and four Jamaican performers.

"We have been given access to online material in terms of universities and the Scottish Government as well as local resources."

Alec will be involved musically and his work from a previous project Absent Voices which explores Inverclyde's shipbuilding and sugar trade past will act as a backdrop.

The piece he holds actually features a picture of his grandmother, as a young woman of 18.

The research will culminate in three shows at the Beacon Arts Centre in October 2021.

Louise says it will be an re-imagining of the sugar industry story, doing something new with archive material, a creative forum to do something different.

She said: "It is a departure because it is a public piece but is the same work we do in our drama and arts workshops, it's a public performance of our own work, rather than other people."

Alec said that the sugar trade had a huge impact in Inverclyde and this will be an opportunity to get a Jamaican prospective.

Alec said: "I was keen for us to collaborate and to share our local knowledge with artists from Jamaica. They have a completely different perspective."

Louise says at one time there were 19 refineries in Greenock alone and was nicknamed sugaropolis.

There will be a pop-up exhibition in May at the Watt Institution with more information about the project.

The academic who is co-ordinating the project is Marisa Wilson at Edinburgh University and it is being funded by a research networking grant from the Arts and Humanities Council.

Anyone who would like to share their memories of the sugar industry contact Alec and Louise at crowcottagearts@outlook.com

The academic who is co-ordinating the project is Marisa Wilson at Edinburgh University and it is being funded by a research networking grant from the Arts and Humanities Council.