The heritage of Paisley has been reaching more people than ever – with the group bringing history to life now an official registered business and charity.
Paisley Heritage has been sharing Paisley’s rich history for 11 years after starting as a Facebook group looking to promote the past of Paisley to those who live there.
Now, over a decade on and currently sitting with more followers than the iconic Edinburgh Dungeon, Paisley Heritage is reflecting on what has been an exciting journey.
Throughout its time bringing history to Buddies, it has surprised many people about the place they’ve stayed their entire lives – and amassed a staggering 38,000 followers across all social media platforms.
It has also made the story behind the ‘alien’ gargoyle, which sits on Paisley Abbey, go viral and launched a book about Thomas Coats Memorial Church.
Gavin Divers, founder and CEO of Paisley Heritage, says that all the work it had been doing was on the level of a tourism company.
He said: “The journey we have gone on since starting as a Facebook page is incredible. We have 4,000 more followers than Edinburgh Dungeon and that gave us the idea that maybe we should be looking to become a tourism company.
“We are no longer now just a Facebook page, we are now a limited tourism company.
“I also do tours and that is what gave me the idea that if we launch [a charitable arm] then we can do discounted talks, make it accessible for schools and also look to digitalize some old pictures.
“Another idea we had was looking to clean up old historical monuments. In my mind’s eye, I have a list of all the people I would have loved to have in the charity and, luckily, they all said yes.
“So, combined, we will have 90 years worth of experience within the charity.”
The next big move for the tourism company will be to create a centralised headquarters for the charity in Paisley. Gavin says that having this will be huge in creating an identity, familiarity and presence in the area.
A crowdfunding campaign to raise £5,000 for commercial premises has been launched with a music concert held earlier this month also raising funds.
Harp player Pauline Vallance and pianist Daryna Aheienko were on stage performing at the event which also sought to celebrate all the group has achieved to date.
Gavin added: “We are hoping to expand into commercial premises which will happen next year for the tourism HQ.
“The HQ will be huge for us and Visit Scotland and Glasgow Life have all been fundamental in helping us with the latter partnering up with us to help promote us. The last year has been phenomenal, and it is a dream come true, really.”
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