Month: March 2011

Pier traditional and historic boat events this weekend launch British Tourism Week

 

Painting party on the pier

Poster for Painting Party on the Quay at Newlyn this weekend

National Historic Ships has worked with British Tourism Week to make sure historic vessels have a central place in Party on the Pier (POTP) – a series of events around Britain on Saturday 12the March to mark the launch of British Tourism Week.

The event was conceived as a celebration of piers including jetties, harbours, river piers and landing stages, but also involves a wide range of vessels including the steam-powered passenger ship Shieldhall, Cornish lugger Ripple, motor tug Touchstone and Humber super sloop Spider T.

There may well be something going on near you:

Greenwich Historic Ships Harbour Project aims to make East Greenwich Coaling Jetty a public heritage facility enabling historic ships to visit and dock in London. The GHSH team will put on a tented exhibition on the history project and proposals for the pier, with handouts by the boat crews and the opportunity to sign up as a supporter.

Discover Lincolnshire Weekend event Historic Fleet vessel Spider T will be open from 10am-5pm on Sat 12th and Sun 13th March. Owner Mal Nicholson will be giving talks, opening a new library filled with many rare book copies of historic Humber vessels, people and places, and launching the ‘Friends of Spider T’ support group. Artist Lesley Everatt will be exhibiting some of her work, and Chris Horan author of the recently launched book Humber Sail and History will be on hand.

Heritage Quay, Newson’s Boatyard and Waveney District Council Newson’s Boat Yardwill showcase Lowestoft’s maritime heritage. Vessels on show at Heritage Quay will include sidewinder fishing ship Mincarlo and MTB102, a display by the International Boat Building College at Lowestoft and a sample engine from a steam ship; Newsons Yard will meanwhile be exhibiting vessels involved in the Dunkirk evacuation now under restoration, and there will be a display on the steam fishing vessel Lydia Eva.

Southampton Pier & Docks’ contribution is a tour of maritime Southampton starting from Kuti’s Royal Thai Pier restaurant, including the pier itself, the Titanic Museul and Southampton Maritime Museum before moving on by bus to see the Shieldhall.

Pooley Bridge Pier, Ullswater will see a Tea Party on the Pier from 10am and 3pm, with hosts in 1930’s costumes. Light refreshments are being supplied by Dalemain Historic House and the local RNLI group, and scheduled steamers calling at Pooley Bridge that day will be decorated with bunting and flags.

Newlyn Harbour & Quay Luggers and traditional boats in The Old Harbour at Newlyn are getting a fresh coat of paint for the new season, and  artists will be on the Quay painting the scene. A Newlyn Archive will put on a photographic display of the 14th century harbour and its luggers in their heyday. All are welcome to bring their cameras, canvas, brushes, paints and sketch pads and join in. Visitors with memories from the past will also be able to have them recorded.

Gillingham Pier, Kent Visit light vessel LV21 and hear sea shanties performed by the Hog Eye Men and music by the Big Fish Street Band. Visitors can make paper boats to their ever growing fleet, try their hand at ‘porthole art’ or learn Morse code, and meet people behind local restoration projects including the paddle steamer Medway Queen.

Rochester Pier, Kent will offer free river trips and vessel tours from the Sun Pier, The Esplanade at Rochester on 18-20 March, 10am – 3pm, on the motor tug Touchstone.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is offering half price entry to the dockyard and the Spinnaker Tower.

Meeting a chance to save Standard Quay?

Save Standard Quay and Faversham Creek

Faversham Creek campaigners are calling on supporters to attend a public local engagement meeting at at Faversham’s Alexander Centre at 7pm on Tuesday 15th March in at attempt to persuade planners not to swamp the town  with new developments.

‘Come to the meeting and make sure the planners understand that developers are not wanted,’ says campaign spokesperson Sue Cooper of Standard Quay.

‘Faversham has the skills itself to regenerate the creek as has been amply shown at Standard Quay. It is no coincidence that during the past 20 years the only part of Faversham Creek that has seen regeneration, new employment creation and substantial silt removal is Standard Quay. We just need Swale to stand up to the developers.’

A petition to save maritime jobs and skills at the threatened boatyard at Standard Quay has already attracted local, national and international support with 1,200 signatures.

Supporters are now preparing to voice their concerns at Swale Borough Council’s Local Engagement Forum at Faversham’s Alexander Centre at 7pm on Tuesday.

‘It is time to say no more,’ says Sue Cooper.

Campaigners fear Faversham is in danger of being ‘sold down the river’ by a council hungry for developers’ cash. They fear pleas to save skilled jobs at the town’s last working traditional boatyard are being ignored, while Swale seeks ‘developer contributions’ towards plans likely to kill off creekside industry.

Cooper argues the council is looking to raise money through ‘developer contributions’ or ‘local infrastructure levies’, which she says are unlikely to benefit the town even half as much as the£500,000 the campaign says was generated on the Quay in the past year, and won’t replace the tourism and other spin-offs, such as photographs, postcards and paintings depicting Standard Quay that are sold all over the world.

The plans won’t regenerate the Creek she says, but will lead to ‘real mud and nails employment’ being lost to the town.

For more information, see www.standardquay.com

For more intheboatshed.net posts relating to Faversham, click here.

A happy career change from NHS manager to traditional boatbuilder

Marc Chivers pilot punt 4

Remember Marc Chivers, who built this handsome 13ft pilot punt during his time at the Boat Building Academy? (For more on the pilot punt, click here.)

He’s now working for Ashley Butler down at Dartmouth and is very happy with his new life, according to an interview he has given to Careershifters.org. At Butler & Co, he’s currently working on Pilgrim, an 1895 Brixham sailing trawler.

Before coming to boat building Marc had been carving a career working in the NHS for a primary care trust, a role he found ‘frustrating, soul destroying and generally unfulfilling’.

(Of course, under our new government, if he was still working for a PCT he’d now be facing redundancy.)

He told Careershifters that making the change was easy: he split-up from his ex-wife, resigned from his job and enrolled on the boat building course with the Boat Building Academy. I suppose it sounds easy if you say it quickly.

From the quotes online, there’s no question Marc is a happier man however: ‘I love my new life and I love working in the boat yard helping to build and restore wooden boats is wonderful,’ he told the website. ‘The guys I work with are great and they all are more than happy to share and impart their skills.’

He also added that the work itself is very hard  physically as it involves big lumps of wood and working outdoors in all weathers. I can believe it. One of the enduring underlying themes of this weblog is that there’s something special and admirable about those who build and maintain traditional boats – they’re definitely made of sterner stuff than most of us.

Marc’s weblog reveals more about his new life: click here.

PS – Do check out the Butler & Co weblog – they found WWII bullets in one of the timbers!