Following the re-dedication of the Medway Queen at the
Albion Dockyard in July the workforce there has been busy with completion of
the construction and finishing touches to our ship. Apprentices and instructors
from the Medway Queen Preservation Society were also in Bristol Albion workforce. The successful rebuild of Medway
Queen’s hull and establishment of the Gillingham Pier base has only been possible
because of a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and
considerable financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the
INTERREG IVA 2 Seas Programme.
The tug “Christine”, operated by A. J. & A. Pratt
of Rainham, has been contracted to tow “Medway Queen” back to Gillingham
and is now on her way to Bristol Avon . This and subsequent
phases of the operation will be entirely dependent on both weather and tides.
These factors are beyond anyone’s control although the
tides at least are predictable. You can follow the Christine’s progress back to Gillingham
on www.marinetraffic.com/ais.
They are expected to take an inshore route along the South Coast UK
The date and time of arrival in Gillingham
are dependent on operational requirements and will only be predictable by
following the tug’s progress; it is expected to take an
inshore route along the South
Coast
Our estimate is around 5 days after leaving Bristol
When “Medway Queen” arrives the Visitor Centre will be
open, but we anticipate that it will be necessary to exclude the public from
the pier itself while the ship is mooring, on safety grounds. The society hopes that an
impromptu “escort” of suitable vessels will follow the ship on the final stages
of her journey without, of course, impeding the smooth running of the
operation.
Please note that visitors will not be able to board
Medway Queen at this stage.
Ship restoration is hugely
expensive and Medway Queen is no exception. The support received from the HLF
and the ERDF and generous grants from many
other organisations and individuals have provided us with the means to reach
the stage that we have, which is a fantastic achievement in itself, but we
still have a long way to go to complete the job and get the ship working again.
The fitting out phase of
Medway Queen’s restoration will take place at Gillingham
Pier but funds are now in extremely short supply and progress will be very slow
unless we are successful in raising significant amounts of money. Our current
priorities are providing safe access to the vessel for workers and visitors,
restoring the aft saloon to enable it to be used for functions to generate
revenue towards the restoration and restoring the engine room and machinery to
working order as an attraction to encourage visitors
A “Completion Fund” has been set up to
encourage donations large and small towards the cost of finishing the job. The
speed with which Medway Queen can be returned to working order is entirely
dependent on fund raising. We are applying to numerous grant giving bodies for
aid but all will require us to provide partnership funding. Please dig deep;
look on our website www.medwayqueen.vo.uk
for details or call at the Visitor Centre on Gillingham Pier.
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| Medway Queen afloat |
Scottish Branch Committee
