Issue 33 Aug 2017
Newsletter August 2017
Newsletter No. 33
Cliff Quay, Jimmy Hubert, and the oil fire
Cliff Quay features frequently in this newsletter as you will see as read further on, and so it was fortuitous that one of our members, Phil Hubert, sent us some photographs and a copy of an article from the March 1958 edition of Shell-BP News that featured Jimmy Hubert, his dad, and an incident that took place at Cliff Quay. Part of the article is reproduced below –
Cliff Quay is pleasantly roomy after some of the Installations hemmed in by much sought-after ground in bigger cities. Up the River Orwell from the North Sea comes such a quantity of ozone - call it a damned chilly breeze, if you will - as keeps the most relaxed character moving briskly. The Installation Manager, Norman Severwright, is a neat, quick, happy looking person - a keen ambulance man and now, after much success as a photographer, turning to painting. His righthand man indoors, chief clerk Eric Otter, quietly spoken and with an eye for period furniture, is joint oldest inhabitant with checker Bill Smith - they both came to Cliff Quay when it first opened in 1928.
The two supervisors, Walter Wright and Jimmy Hubert, are about as different as two men well could be yet do the same job efficiently. Walter, burly, rosy-faced (so would you be in that sea breeze six days a week) and with his thick Doncaster accent unimpaired by twenty years in Ipswich, is generally known as `Sergeant Shell'. In fact, his military service was limited to two teen-age years at the end of the first World War, but his bristly moustache and bustle give him a soldierly air. Jimmy Hubert, calmly matter-of-fact, holds a master's ticket and until 1937 was mate of one of the Company's tankers: then he came ashore - `I have seen all I want of the sea: sometimes when I watch a film of ships in a gale I'm glad I have got my feet on this Installation'. The sailor in Jimmy came out, nevertheless, last September, when he took the fire team to an ugly fire which broke out on the edge of the Installation ground, only a few yards from the above-ground pipes through which a tanker was pumping in oil. Most people's first reactions would have been to stop the tanker pumping. Jimmy's instant decision was: `Tell them to stop pumping oil - and pump water' - so that if the pipes were severed the oil would be sealed off by water.
Unfortunately we cannot trace any further information or photographs relating to the fire but Phil Hubert kindly supplied those below.
The above photo was taken after the fire, Also at Cliff Quay (1955) when some 40 gallon oil Mr Hubert extreme right. drums were acquired to form a Steel Band. Mr Hubert second from left with trilby hat.
There are many stories out there which you, our members, have and may be of interest to others – please get in touch and let us know about them.
Upper Orwell Crossings update
The IMT Committee continue to press their concerns on a number of aspects of this proposal.
Briefly, Suffolk County Council have government funding to prepare a viability and design scheme. The aims include the regeneration of the Island Site and nearby vacant sites, and the enhancement of the Wet Dock. The main feature is to be a bridge over the Orwell just below the Wet Dock lock, bridge A, a bridge over the New Cut, B, and pedestrian and cycle access over the lock, C. The architects, Fosters, have produced stunning designs for the bridges, for the sole purpose of winning the competition for the job; the designs will never be built.
IMT’s position has always been that, as a charitable organisation with limited funding, we should be neither for nor against the scheme as such; but we will fight as hard as we can to preserve and, where possible enhance, the navigation and maritime interests. We are working with like-minded associations and local companies, the majority of whom share our concerns. SCC have set up the Navigation Working Group, on which we are represented, and we have had a number of other meetings.
The Outline Business Case was published in December 2015. Focus was initially on Bridge A, over the Orwell. This is to have a central opening section, probably of about 20m width and swinging, but a clearance of some 18m at mean high springs. it is calculated that about 80% of marina craft could pass under the bridge without it opening. That would leave 20%, including the Thames barges, needing to negotiate the bridge opening. There will only be a limited ‘pool’ between the lock and the bridge, so that the operation of both will need to be linked. Equally importantly, this is a road bridge which needs to be able to take traffic at peak times, and its closure for long periods would seriously affect taller craft. SCC have recently installed equipment at the lock to give more accurate figures on the affected craft; fairly late in the day, as the problem was identified in the Outline Business Case.
The alignment of bridge A has changed. It is now proposed to start from about over the shipyard at Ship Launch Road, but still lands at Rapier Street/Wherstead Road; there could be further minor changes. We will be looking in particular at the distance between the bridge
and the lock, and the angle of the opening section of the
bridge against the lock.
It is still for discussion as to whether bridge B over the New Cut should land at Felaw Street or an extended Mather Way. The latter would avoid an awkward junction with Stoke Quay and would better avoid the historic lock-keeper’s cottage on the Island, but would more seriously affect Debbages. However, of fundamental importance is the need for the bridge to be able to open, to give continued access to St Peter’s Dock. This area of water is at the entrance to the Wet Dock, critical to the envisaged nearby redevelopment, and has huge potential for a range of leisure and historic craft use. That potential would be lost if the bridge were to be fixed. IMT are at the forefront of negotiations to secure the dock’s future.
The present proposal for access over the lock (bridge C) is for the Ransome’s swing bridge to be restored and brought back in to regular use. The bridge is part of the town’s maritime and industrial history, and so the proposal should be applauded, but we have doubts as to whether it would be satisfactory in use at busy times. Alternatives would be walkways fixed to the tops of the lock gates, as at Shotley, or a lightweight lifting footbridge across the lock.
Still some way to go; next consultation stage set for this autumn.
IMT News
Richard W Smith
Richard Smith, with his wife Joan, being presented with a ship’s bell on his retirement from the IMT Management Committee, April 2009.
Honorary Member, Richard Smith, one of the founding members of Ipswich Maritime Trust, died on Monday 31st of July, following a long illness.
Richard was an Ipswich man who remembered being taken round the docks as a child. The port and its shipping was his interest throughout his life, with a particular interest in the Spritsail Sailing Barge, being the secretary of the Society for Spritsail Barge Research (SSBR) [later to become the Society for Sailing Barge Research] for a great number of years. It was, with his wife Joan and other members of the SSBR, that an exhibition was first put on in what was then Pauls Home Warehouse, right next door to the Old Custom House. This exhibition showed what could be done with the building and led to, a couple of years later, it being used as the exhibition and events venue for Maritime Ipswich ‘82. This, in its turn, led to the birth of IMT and showed the world the possibility of what could be done with the rundown waterfront - Pauls Home Warehouse being converted into the Contship headquarters and now the home of Ashton Legal; the rest is there before our eyes today.
Richard and Joan for many years put on exhibitions in various buildings around the dock and, after its conversion, the ground floor of the Old Custom House. With others he helped save the ferry PINMILL. Richard was a regular speaker with a full slide show, giving one of IMT’s first evening lectures. He wrote a number of books that are definitive on their subject: Blue Water Sail at Ipswich (1997), Ipswich Engines & Ipswich Men (with Jill Freestone) (1998), The Thames Barge in Suffolk (2006) and The Port of Ipswich its Shipping & Trades (with Jill Freestone ) (2011). IMT were very pleased to help sponsor this major work, which was to be his last, as shortly after its publication Richard’s health deteriorated and, when Joan his wife died, he had to go into a nursing home.
We owe a lot to Richard Smith. There is much that we can remember him by.
The funeral will be 2.15, Wednesday 30th August, at Seven Hills Crematorium.
Window Museum News
The 15th Window Museum display is themed ‘From Pleasure Beach to Modern Port” and celebrates the history of Cliff Quay.
Most of our Window displays have featured the Wet Dock, and so one which looks at what happens outside the old dock is more than overdue. Cliff Quay was developed in stages over a large part of the twentieth century starting in front of the Cobbold Brewery in the early 1920s from where, some years earlier, John Cobbold had a shipyard and built prefabricated pubs to be transported by sea up the Suffolk coast to remote locations such as Shingle St.
The display includes a splendid model of today’s quay made by Ben Bendall and Colin Walters, and samples of some of the huge variety of products traded to and from ports world-wide are also included, along with large colour images of the quay’s history from the Image Archive. There is also a fine model of the ARKLOW WAVE, the green Arklow shipping vessels which are regular visitors to Cliff Quay for many years.
This display will be changed in October so if you have not already seen it there are a couple of months to make your way down to the Waterfront to view it.
Des Pawson
The IMT Storage Containers - an update Aug 2017
We are pleased to report that we have almost completely finished fitting out the New Container including a special space with a higher level of insulation giving us a controlled atmosphere. Thanks to Colin Waters it even has a solar powered fan to give a degree of air movement.
The New Container contains all the artefacts that have been properly accessioned in to our collection, whilst the Old Container has all our large mounted photos, exhibition props and other paraphernalia that help us put on the various exhibitions and displays that we undertake during a year. Having these two containers is making our work a lot easier.
Des Pawson
Shared knowledge is not lost, indeed it flourishes!
Shared research grows much quicker. I am sure that many members of the Ipswich Maritime Trust have areas of special interest, but none of us can see everything. Many of you will know that my particular interests lie around the rope and canvas working trades, and I am lucky that as people know this and they draw my attention to pieces of information that I may not have seen or put me in touch with others interested in similar things.
If your field of interest is known this can work for you. I recently was able to connect two people with a Cranfields interest, and a chance encounter gave rise to a source of information on the police station at The Old Custom House, a topic that had been worrying a number of us for a long time. If you have a general interest in an area of our maritime heritage, perhaps a particular barge, family or company or trade, do let me know and I will let the rest of IMT know. Who knows what may come out of the woodwork.
I await to hear from you - DES PAWSON 01473 690090 des@despawson.com
Image Archive News
Debts of Gratitude
by Stuart Grimwade
At the invitation of ABP’s former Chief Engineer, Stewart Quantrill, I was recently invited to venture into the inner sanctum of the Old Custom House to view some remarkable old albums that he had been keeping safely under lock and key for many decades, and in one case, an album which might not have seen the light of day for 140 years. The main reason for the visit was to look at the former Ipswich Dock Commission’s collection of photographs taken of each stage of the construction of Cliff Quay so that they could feature in the current Window Museum display. What was surely the icing on the cake however was a dusty old album of magnificent images of the construction and grand opening of the current lock in the 1880s. Subject to verification by the Royal Photographic Society, it seems possible that the album was created especially for the Dock Commissioners by the founder of the RPS John Fenton. Together with the Cliff Quay images, these are now viewable in the online Image Archive, and we would like to thank both Andrew Harston, ABP Short Sea Ports Director, and Stewart Quantrill for allowing me to scan these remarkable images and to freely use them for all IMT purposes.
This lead me to look up the late John Blatchly’s wonderful book of portraits of famous Ipswich people in which he celebrates the life and work of William Lane of St. Peter’s St, one of the two Bailiffs of the town, and who, it seems, single-handedly secured the 1837 Dock Act giving Ipswich a Wet Dock three acres larger than the London Docks. I can do no better than reproduce John’s words here:
‘Mayor Sampson laid the foundation stone two years later, paying tribute to Lane who had struggled so hard to overcome all opposition and called for ‘three times three’ cheers for one ‘with whom the very germ of the work originated, who was influenced by no private motives, but strictly for the public good – William Lane Esq’.
Whether intended as a caricature by the ‘opposition’ of those they considered responsible for the ultimate cost being nearly half as much again as the estimates, or as a genuine artistic endeavour – maybe both - it’s difficult to know, but John Blatchly’s book reproduces this hilarious drawing of the Dock Commissioners of the time, ‘in the Dock’:
Ipswich port visit by the “National Geographic Explorer”
On a dull grey day in May this year the flagship vessel ‘National Geographic Explorer’ arrived for a very short stop in Ipswich on its tour round Britain before the final destination of Bergen.
However seeing Ipswich was not the principal reason for its visit; many of its 120 passengers were here to be whisked off to Sutton Hoo for a visit before departing 4 hours later. This is the first time a cruise ship has visited the port in about 7 years and is a welcome sight. Hopefully this is not a one-off and Ipswich might see more speciality cruise ships in the future……...
Future Events
Autumn 2017 talks
We have yet another series of interesting and varied talks starting on Wednesday 4th October with talks on Whisstock’s boatyard, the proposed Upper Orwell Crossings, and a follow-on to our previous entertaining talk on the History of Navigation. More details are on page 12 of this newsletter. Reminders for the talks will be sent out closer to the time, but please make a note of the dates in your diary.
We will carry on providing tea, coffee and biscuits after the talks; this has proved very popular and has provided the opportunity for members to meet and chat amongst themselves and with some IMT Council members.
Thames Spritsail Barge Trips 2017
The three trips the IMT organised that have taken place so far this 
year, (one all-day and two afternoon music trips) have been well
received, despite the weather being not the best on occasions.
The second of the all-day trips takes place on Thursday August
17th and, at the moment, there are just a couple of places
available. If you are interested in this day-trip please call Bob
Pawsey on 01473 252893 to check availability.
The third and last of the music afternoon trips is with the La Fontaine
Jazz Trio on 7th September. Again please contact Bob Pawsey on 01473 252893 or use the booking form.
Full details of the trips are on the booking forms at the end of the newsletter.
Exhibitions
Maritime Ipswich (19th and 20th August), and
Heritage Open Weekend (9th and 10th September)
There will be maritime-themed exhibitions in the quayside level of the Old Custom House when, in association with ABP, this area is made open to the public during these events.
UoS Exhibition
Ipswich Maritime Trust will be mounting an exhibition at the UoS Waterfront building in association with the Ipswich Society.
This year is our 35th anniversary of the formation of the Ipswich Maritime Trust and our exhibition will highlight ‘The Changing Waterfront’ and, amongst other items, will feature the Caley drawings of the area prior to the construction of the Wet Dock, and the changes that have taken place since.
The Ipswich Society will be launching a revised edition of the Ipswich Maritime Trail leaflet which was first published in 1982 for ‘Maritime England’ year.
The exhibition will be open to the public in the Foyer area of the Waterfront Building from the 3rd to the 10th October.
Past Events
Spring 2017 talks
Wednesday 1st February
‘Life as a Harwich Pilot’ by Jane Stone
Pilotage and Other Things Nautical
The first talk in the Spring series was given on 1 February by Jane Stone to a very appreciative audience of about 90 members and guests.
At the age of 17, with no clear ambitions but with an interest in boating,
Jane joined Shell Tankers. Her first ship was the Lopeta, which she had to board via a rope ladder from sea level. She rose to Second Mate, in charge of bridge navigation. She later joined Stena Line, captaining the ferry between Harwich and Rotterdam. No disasters, but she did in January 2008 have to be taken off the ship by helicopter with appendicitis.
The routine eventually palled, so in 2014 Jane joined Harwich Haven Authority as a trainee Pilot. This is a responsible but slightly odd position; the Pilot is required to be independent of the ship, but has sole control over her. In earlier times, there were all manner of punishments prescribed for Pilots who failed in their duty, the least of which was a quick death. The Pilotage Act 1987 stripped away most of these.
The Pilot’s routine is commonly a phone call from Harwich advising of an engagement. A journey to (in Jane’s case) the launch pontoon at Felixstowe is followed by a twenty or thirty minute trip to the incoming ship. From there, a ship would take of the order of two hours to berth at Ipswich. Jane showed a speeded-up clip of the section between Pin Mill and Cliff Quay; dinghies doing odd things under the bow of the ship are a frequent hazard.
Ipswich shipping is fairly modest in scale, but Felixstowe, the country’s largest container port, now regularly takes Ultra Large Carriers. The Maersk Majestic is some 400 m long and 59 m wide, has a crew of just thirteen, and has practically no visibility for about a quarter of a mile over the bow. Ships such as this are operated almost entirely on the basis of very sophisticated technology, and piloting is not for the faint hearted.
Jane’s talk was spread with personal snippets, and the unexpected; a video clip of one of an RAF team struggling to land from a helicopter on to a Pilot launch travelling at 23 knots. This was an excellent talk, but finished with the sobering thought that, in spite of the navigation equipment now available, there are older ships on the water with their original equipment, unlikely to have been properly maintained.
Geoffrey Dyball
Wednesday 1st March 
‘The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic
1939-45’ by John Johnson-Allen
The second talk in this year’s spring series was by John Johnson-Allen, on the Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic.
In 1937, the major part of the world’s merchant fleet was British. Their routes criss-crossed the oceans, often going from one foreign port to another. The shipping lines were then household names; few now survive. The losses during the war, both ships and men, were horrific. Merchant Navy ships were both the first to be sunk in the war and the last. The SS Athenia was sunk on the first day of the war, with 128 dead. Casualties were pro-rata greater than any service arm, other than Bomber Command.
Merchant ships did not carry out just their peace-time roles. A number were lightly armed. some were cut and altered into small aircraft carriers; even liners were considerably altered, so that troops were a lot less comfortable than previous passengers.
The convoy system developed in 1917 was used again, with some success. Surface raiders such as the Graf Spee caused much damage, but the main hazard was the German U-boat fleet. They were helped in the Western Approaches by Condor spotter planes, and also aided by slow convoys. Some ships could only manage 8 knots, which left the whole convoy vulnerable. By comparison, the accompanying corvettes could manage 15 knots; the Queens could do 35 knots, and so comfortably outran everything.
The first six months of 1941 saw the loss of some two million tons of shipping. It was becoming clear that the loss of the Battle of the Atlantic would mean the loss of the entire war. Frigates were introduced to convoy duties, and anti-submarine training hugely improved. Sonar meant that the U-boats could be found and tracked more readily. The Battle of Britain resulted in German Condors being replaced by British Sunderlands. This kept the U-boats underwater, where their speed was only six knots.
The tide turned in the Allies favour from about January 1943. The Merchant Navy Memorial by the Tower of London has on it some 32,000 names, but the true death toll was closer to 50,000. The struggle also resulted in the death of 75% of U-boat crews.
Geoffrey Dyball
Wednesday 5th April
‘The Gladys love affair’ by Gus Curtis
The 5th of April was the evening of our AGM, followed by two talks.
The first was by Gus Curtis, of Harry King’s yard at Pin Mill, on ‘The Gladys Love Affair’. Gladys is a Thames Bawley LO195, built in 1904 by Aldous of Brightlingsea for the Leigh fisheries. Little is known of her history until after the last war, when her stern was cut down for pleasure fishing. By the 1970s she was in use as a houseboat, and was clad in ferro-cement. She was found out of the water at St Ives and was brought in two stages to Dedham. Restoration commenced. 
The reason for the cladding soon became obvious; there was very considerable rot. Timber was expensive, to the extent that it was found much cheaper to buy a sawmill and prepare the planks from trunks. Oak bends were especially difficult to find. Work was confined to weekends so progress was slow. One set of planks per day could be steamed and set; after three years, Gladys was just half replanked. By 2002, the new planking was up to deck level. In 2003, Gus’s partner in the restoration died of a heart attack, and work stopped for two years.
Gladys was then moved by Debbages to Pin Mill. No mean feat; her width is 13 feet, a bit wider than the lane from her Dedham base and a stiff test at the lane down to Pin Mill. The job was finished and she was then rigged. She has sailed to Holland, and attracts keen interest wherever she goes. A tribute to twelve years of dedication, expense and severely hard work.
This was an excellent talk; Gus is clearly an enthusiast, with a great love for Gladys, and he was warmly applauded.
The second part of the evening was a showing by Stuart Grimwade of some of the latest additions to the IMT Image Archive.
The Archive now has more than 3000 images, and continues to grow. It
is available (when copyright permits) as a public resource, and has had recent national publicity through the Michael Portillo programme
which featured Ipswich Wet Dock.
The images are not confined to photographs, but include contemporary plans, drawings and illustrations. One such is the plan of St Peter’s Wharf in 800 AD, and there is a drawing of the Godspeed. It is nevertheless the photos which are the centre point of the archive. An 1846 image of the (then new) Old Custom House was featured, but the highlight was probably the ABP album of 1880 photos, believed to be by Fenton, of the lock gates, the operating windlass, and the surrounding area.
Stuart went on to show images of one of the Cobbold prefabricated pubs, at Shingle Street, demolished by bombing practice in the last war. He also had images of the factory adjoining the Cliff Quay Brewery where the sections were made. Stuart finished with some scenes of the construction of Cliff Quay and the now filled-in Branch Dock on the Island site.
After some fifteen years giving his regular talks, Stuart is stepping down; happily, he will be keeping up his work with the archive.
Geoffrey Dyball
IMT Membership
Thank you to all our members who renewed their subscription by Standing Order earlier this year. It very much appreciated as it greatly reduces the workload (and cost) associated with the administration.
Our membership usually increases gradually each year but has hovered around the 300 member mark for a few years. Now however we are at an all-time high of 329 members. Excellent! The more members we have the greater the strength we have in representing your views when talking to outside organisations.
New members
A warm welcome to the new members who have joined since January 2017 (with apologies for missing off names of joint memberships where it has not been supplied) –
Mark Ling
Brian Chappell
Dennis & Sandra Tricker
Martyn Hunt
Fergus Muir
David Nuttall
Dr Abby Antrobus
June & Brian Peck
Steve Day & Jean Stannard
Mr & Mrs S Patey
Michelle Morton
Stuart Harris
Sandra Moore
Dennis Warner & Alma Boulton
Capt Peter H King FNI
Tony & Jean Kelk
Barry Hart & Vivia Downing
Fraser Yates
From the IMT Image Archive
[To access the archive www.ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk and press the ‘IMT Image Archive’ button]
A couple of recent additions to the Image Archive:
The current lock was opened in 1881 to replace the original impractical lock opposite the Steamboat in the New Cut. This photograph shows the north-end gates of the lock just prior to their completion and clearly show the concave base of the lock and the impressive construction of the lock gates. This photograph is from an album commissioned by the former IDC. The album is thought possibly to have been made by John Fenton, the leading commercial photographer of the day who founded the Royal Photographic Society.
Did you know the Island Site used to have a Branch Dock? Originally a marsh, it was first excavated to create the island site when the Wet Dock was built. It was then used for many years as a timber pond, the logs having been thrown overboard from ships moored in mid-dock. It was then further dredged to become a dock with quays around 1900 and was used by Thames barges and small ships before eventually being filled in as ships became larger and the demand for warehouse space became greater. There are very few pictures of the old Branch Dock (one appeared in our 2013 calendar) but this picture shows the dock in the latter stages of it being in-filled in August 1923 to become part of William Brown’s timber yard.
IMT 2017 Autumn talks
Wednesday 4th October at 7.30pm
‘Whisstock’s Woodbridge Boatyard’
by Sue Cox and Mary East
Sue Cox, Claude Whisstock’s daughter, and Mary East, Claude’s
secretary for many years, will be talking about the boatyard, its
history and stories.
Sue will illustrate her talk with photographs from her family archive.
She tells the story of how in 1926 Claude, a Woodbridge man, built
up the Boatyard from nothing, on a piece of marshland with £50.00
borrowed from his older brother. Together with his family he grew
the business, building first class cruising and racing yachts with a national and international reputation for excellence
Wednesday 1st November at 7.30pm
‘The Upper Orwell Crossings’ by Suzanne Buck (Suffolk County Council)
A £100m scheme to transform the Wet Dock area but with some
consequences. Suzanne Buck is the SCC Project Manager and will be
giving an insight to the largest infrastructure project in Ipswich.
Wednesday 6th December at 7.30pm
‘Waves, Wheels and Sparks: Sailing into the Electrical Age’ - Jeremy Batch
The follow-on talk to the story of Navigation’ which Jeremy gave to the IMT in December 2014. Always a lively and entertaining speaker.
We can no longer find our way to the shops – let alone cross an ocean
without daring to rely on a power source that has come a long way since it was demonstrated to Napoleon but still lets us down at just the wrong moment. This is the story of radio and radar, Decca and Loran, Transit and GPS and the many other electrical, electromechanical and electronic devices that we have invented and discarded, or become totally and perilously dependent upon, for communication and navigation. Including: how a children's toy known to the ancient Egyptians has steered ships, missiles, submarines and spacecraft, enabled us to drive cars on the Moon without satnav or compass (but with a little extra help from the Vikings) and is miniaturised inside your phone and beneath the wings of a fruit-fly
All are welcome to our lectures at the Waterfront Building, University of Suffolk. Free car parking is available in the UoS car park opposite the Waterfront Building. The cost for attending a talk is £3.50 for members and £4.50 for guests.
Sailing trips on ‘Victor’
Join IMT on a full day trip on the rivers Orwell and Stour
Thursday 15th June 2017 at 9am
Thursday 17th August 2017 at 9am
A great chance to get the best views of the rivers Orwell, Stour, and the Walton backwaters depending on the weather, and to help with the sailing of an iconic boat. Victor was built in 1895 by Shrubsalls at Ipswich for Owen Parry of Colchester, mainly for use in the linseed oil trade. In 1947 she was the last sailing barge to be decommissioned. She was converted to a motor barge in the 1950s, but restored in 1974 and refurbished in 2005/7.
Victor was the National Maritime Historic Ships Register official Suffolk representative for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in 2012. Leave from her usual berth in front of the Old Custom House about 09.00.
- Bacon roll and coffee breakfast
- Mid-morning coffee and biscuits,
- Two course lunch with wine, and
- Afternoon cream tea.
Return about 17.00, depending on wind and tide.
Parking available on the Island site by prior arrangement, courtesy of ABP.
The cost is £55 per head, after 4 years at £50 we have had to increase the price slightly. Please contact Bob Pawsey on 01473 252893 to check on availability of spaces
Music trips on ‘Victor’
Join IMT and ‘La Fontaine Jazz Trio’ on sb Victor.
Thursday 7th September 2017 at 2pm
Enjoy the best views of the River Orwell to the sounds of La Fontaine
Jazz Trio (7th September).
Leaving the Old Custom House Quay at 2pm and returning approximately 6pm, depending on the weather.
The trip is inclusive of an excellent finger buffet with tea and coffee and costs £35 per person. The barge has a licensed bar with a full range of local beers, wine and soft drinks.
Victor was built in 1895 by Shrubsalls at Ipswich for Owen Parry of Colchester, mainly for use in the linseed oil trade. In 1947 she was the last sailing barge to be decommissioned. She was converted to a motor barge in the 1950s, but restored in 1974 and refurbished in 2005/7. Parking available on the Island site by prior arrangement, courtesy of ABP.
Book or more info through Bob Pawsey on 01473 252893, or send form below with cheque.
Booking Form
Music Trip on Victor – 7th Sept
(delete as appropriate)
Please reserve .…… places at £35 per head, cheque made payable to ‘IMT’, enclosed for £…………. Name: ………………………………………………………………………………………………
Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Phone number and/or email address for confirmation of reservation, and in case of need to contact:
Phone number: …………………………………………………………..
Email address: ……………………………………………………………………………………
Please state if a car parking space is required on the Island Site - YES / NO
Please return form and cheque to B Pawsey, 82 Westerfield Road, Ipswich, IP4 2XN