We are very pleased to announce that the café and galleries will re-open on Wednesday 21 July.

We will also be launching our new exhibition ‘That’s Women’ Work’, which tells the story of the important role of women in fishing and maritime related industries over time.

Initially, we will be open four days a week, Wednesday to Saturday, from 10am to 3pm. These times will be kept under review and if we have sufficient volunteers and consider it’s financially viable to open for more days and longer hours, we will do so.

Following the announcement about the ending of social distancing restrictions in England, we have refreshed our safety plan, taking account of comments received during our recent online survey.

We were delighted that more than 80% of survey respondents said they would be visiting the Old Low Light as soon as we re-open, although there were some messages suggesting a cautious approach would be welcomed.

So, there will be fewer tables in the café than before the pandemic, although more than when we re-opened last September. Fortunately, we have our lovely outside terrace which is always popular with café customers. We will continue to have table service for both areas of the café.

Although face coverings are no longer mandatory, our staff and volunteers will continue to wear them. We will also be encouraging café customers and visitors to the gallery to wear a face covering when they are walking around the centre.

Hand sanitiser will continue to be available at various points, including at the entrances to the café and galleries and outside the washrooms. The team will monitor number of people in the building, booking is not required for the café or heritage gallery.

We want everyone to feel comfortable when they are in the centre so we will be reminding everyone to be mindful of keeping a sensible distance from others not in their group.

Finally, we hope visitors will enjoy our new exhibition, ‘That’s Women’s Work’, which tells some fascinating stories, about the ‘herring girls’ who travelled from northern Scotland every year, following the fishing fleet and stopping at ports on the way to clean and cure the catch. There are also stories about the lives of local women, past and present and their support for fishing and maritime related industries.

We look forward to seeing you soon.