Renfrewshire Doors Open Day 2010

This is an excellent opportunity to get out to buildings and parts of that building you normally can not access.. Also dont just go yourself, join up with others via the website and have a good old sociable day out..

Renfrewshire’s biggest entertainment complex, a hospice therapy unit and a hotel are joining more traditional choices such as churches and museums in a show of Renfrewshire’s heritage.

Xscape Braehead, Ash Tree hotel and the Accord Hospice therapy unit, both in Paisley, will all feature in Renfrewshire’s 17th Doors Open Day programme on the weekend of September 11/12.

Doors Open Day gives people free access to buildings or historic sites which aren’t always open or accessible to the general public. The event is supported by Renfrewshire Council’s Department of Planning and Transport.

Sixty venues will be participating. On Saturday 11 September venues in Paisley, Bishopton, Inchinnan, Renfrew and Erskine will be open. On Sunday 12 September the venues in Johnstone, Elderslie, Renfrew and Erskine will be on show.

Once again Doors Open Day visitors in Paisley will have the opportunity of being transported between venues in style thanks to funeral directors J and W Goudie. The firm is again laying on a limousine shuttle.

This year’s programme also features the popular Renfrewshire Children’s Passport. Youngsters who have their passport stamped at five participating venues can claim a certificate and gift at Paisley Museum.

Paisley Arts Centre, Paisley Museum and Paisley Town Hall will be opening their doors for the annual national event. This year is the 29th anniversary of Doors Open Day and also the 29th Anniversary of children’s author Roald Dahl’s death. In celebration of Dahl’s fantastic stories, take a tour of Charlie’s Chocolate Factory using clever CGI technology at Paisley Town Hall; make your own ‘Witches’ hat at Paisley Arts Centre; and find escaped insects from James’ giant peach at Paisley Museum!

Archaeology again features prominently with excavations at Paisley Abbey. That will involve a further dig which should reveal more about the construction history of the Abbey Drain. There will also be an archaeological evaluation of site of the west range of the Abbey’s monastic cloister which was demolished in 1874.

“There’s something for everyone, whatever their age or interest, in this year’s Renfrewshire Doors Open Day programme,” said Councillor Iain Nicholson, Convener of Renfrewshire’s Planning and Economic Development Policy Board.

“One of the main ideas behind the Doors Open Day programme is to show people the continuing relevance of an area’s past. Nowhere is that more true than in Renfrewshire. We are proud of our heritage and Doors Open Day gives people the chances to visit free of charge iconic buildings and sites in towns and communities across Renfrewshire.”

The Renfrewshire Doors Open Day programme and Children’s Passport will be available in the next few days from council offices, libraries, arts centres and museums, as well as Paisley tourist information centre, Paisley Abbey, India of Inchinnan, Braehead/Xscape.

Both programmes are available online on our Doors Open Day page.