Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum – formerly The Smith Institute – has played a very special part in the history of Stirling since its foundation in 1874. Established by the bequest of artist Thomas Stuart Smith (1815–1869) on land supplied by the Burgh of Stirling, it is an historic public-private partnership which has continued to the present day. It was founded as a gallery of mainly contemporary art, with museum and library reading room ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of Stirling, Dunblane and Kinbuck’.
Hastings Fishermen's Museum
The Old Hastings Preservation Society, a registered charity, sought to save the building in 1955. They wanted to preserve the building and use it to display a traditional Hastings lugger they had acquired. Hastings Borough Council agreed to this, and leased it to the society for use as a museum. In April 1956, one wall was partly demolished to allow the lugger to be brought in, and the town's mayor declared the museum open on 17 May 1956. It now has artefacts, photographs and paintings relating to the fishing industry and maritime history of Hastings, including many relating to the Winkle Club—founded in 1900 by the town's fishermen to improve the lives of poor children in the town. Honorary members of the club have included Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The museum is one of the town's most popular tourist sites, attracting about 140,000 visitors annually.