Staff at Port Glasgow Library had been researching local hero Chippy McNish, the Port man who was part of the famous crew of Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition aboard the Endurance.

Senior library assistant Jac Wilks discovered that the LEGO Group made a model of the Endurance lifeboat – which Chippy helped to modify and rescue the stricken crew – but that it has now been discontinued.

She contacted the LEGO Group directly to see if there was any way of acquiring a model, and was delighted when the toy giant actually sent her a free boxed model.

The lifeboat model has now been built and it now stands pride of place in the library safely inside a display case.

Library staff plan to use it as a source of inspiration for visitors as part of their storytelling about Chippy McNish and as a resource for their LEGO Club, which meets on Saturday mornings.

Councillor Natasha McGuire, Inverclyde Council’s vice-convener of education and communities, said: “This is a wonderful story and even more fitting that it’s celebrating a Port Glasgow hero during the town’s 250th anniversary year.

“Chippy McNish is well known to everyone in the Port and this is an engaging way to tell his fascinating story to children and young people.

“The LEGO club is just one of the many activities at our libraries with a packed summer of fun planned including the popular Summer Reading Challenge.

“Thank you to LEGO for their generous donation and I’m sure this model will be prized at the library for many years.”