Just hours to save Standard Quay?

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Standard Quay, Faversham

Please pass this on to friends as fast as you can – there’s no time to lose!

Stop pressclick here for the latest news on this development

Standard Quay in Faversham is a busy part of the old town – the boatyard there is currently busy restoring the famous old barge Cambria, for one thing. Click on the picture above to learn more.

But now it’s said that Swale Borough Council is considering allowing the developers in – and they want to turn it into a restaurant area and housing, and that there’s a big meeting about the issue this Thursday.

No doubt there’s serious money behind the project, but this sounds very much like the wrong project for the town, and for everyone who loves Faversham Creek and Standard Quay the way they are.

One of my concerns is that if they bring in developers to sponsor housing, restaurants and the rest, it won’t be long before the traditional maritime activities will be the subject of complaints about noise and general untidiness. Even traditional and historic industrial activities such as boatyards and yuppie flats rarely make happy close neighbours.

I understand the shipwrights, the shipwright apprentice scheme and the blockmaker who currently operate from the listed quayside workshops restoring traditional vessels are already planning to leave, as they believe they have no other choice. That’s a great shame, because there is  demand for the skills and facilities Standard Quay currently offers.

This website includes a trailer for a beautiful and atmospheric film about this part of Faversham Creek.

If you know the area or are concerned that this important area of the town might be lost, please contact the relevant councillors now – their contact detail are in the News section of the The Quay website above.

Standard Quay sign Standard Quay big building

Photos provided by Standard Quay film maker Richard Fleury

Raids, Gartside designs, treenails, small dayboats and a Mirage drive in a homebuilt canoe – it’s all in the latest Water Craft

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A little late, here’s Water Craft editor Pete Greenfield’s summary introducing the November/December issue of his splendid magazine:

‘There have been small boat raids in Portugal, Scotland, Finland and the Netherlands, with similar events in Wales and France. This summer George Trevelyan and friends organised an English Raid on the Solent.

‘The English Raid attracted some fascinating craft from around Europe, including designer Andrew Wolstenholme’s and boatbuilder Colin Henwood’s deceptively simple 20’ (6m) gaff sloop Kite… which just flew

‘From Nova Scotia, our regular contributor Paul Gartside sends complete build her yourself plans and offsets for his traditionally built 16ft (4.9m) double-ended gaff sloop – just right for the next English Raid.

‘The Paul Gartside design which Ben Harris is building down in the deep West of England is a ‘proper project’: a classically-proportioned 30ft (9.1m) gaff-rigged cruising yacht inspired by Falmouth’s famous working boats.

‘You wait for ages for an article about treenails, then two come along. Nigel Sabin builds a clinker dinghy without glues or metal fastenings, and Topher Dawson enhances a St Ayles Skiff kit by fitting open gunwales.

‘Our Grand Designs series always introduces inspiring new boats. This time we have two. Selway Fisher’s sleek update of B B Crowninshield’s Dark Harbor keelboat and French designer Francois Vivier’s wholesome family dayboat Jewell, created for Maine boatbuilder Clinton Chase.

‘Plus pedalling the Avon in a Walt Simmons canoe with a Hobie Mirage drive; Ian Nicolson’s series on designing an eco-motorboat; tool and product reviews; and reports from the most active of the national associations.’

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Sea songs from Gavin Davenport’s new CD

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Gavin Davenport concertina and sea songs

My musician and singer friend Gavin Davenport has kindly agreed to let me publish a couple of MP3s of two sea songs from his new album Brief Lives, which is available from the shop section of his website. In each he accompanies himself using a beautiful old ebony-ended Wheatstone anglo concertina.

The songs, British Man Of War and On Board Of A Ninety-Eight come from the Navy’s wooden walls era, are striking and are really two sides of the same coin.

In the first, a swaggering and excited young tells his worried lover that he’s joining the Navy and will return covered in glory; in the second an old sailor tells the story of his heroic career as a sailor in the Navy, and finishes by explaining that he has been well looked after, and is now nearly 98. The ninety-eight of the title is a ship with 98 guns, by the way.

Neither really engage with the downsides of war and, like many sea songs, contain strong elements of boasting and wishful thinking. Well, I guess they had to have something to keep them going.