Issue 35 Aug 2018
Newsletter August 2018
Newsletter No. 35
The future of St Peters Dock - the entrance to the ‘Historic Waterfront’
The area between Stoke Bridge and Foundry Lane, by Dance East, is 
regarded as the Gateway to the Waterfront of Ipswich, and much is beingmade by Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) about the importance of the development of the area to ensure that it is attractive to visitors, and therefore the local economy. To this end IBC have purchased many of the buildings in the area to work with the developers to achieve the right outcome.
In the January Newsletter we featured a painting we commissioned by Reg Snook illustrating how the St Peter’s Dock area might look if the area were developed and passage of craft up the New Cut were not inhibited by a fixed bridge.
The Ipswich Society’s July newsletter, which many of our members will have seen, was a ‘St Peter’s Dock Special’ and featured several pages on the development issues and
possibilities for the area.
So why are we and the Ipswich Society raising the publicity about the St Peter’s Dock area now?
The Upper Orwell Crossings project is about to enter the next phase where Suffolk County Council (SCC) put out to public consultation their preferred designs and routes for the three Upper Orwell Crossing bridges. Geoffrey Dyball mentions in the update in this newsletter that the proposal for the bridge across the New Cut will most likely be for a fixed bridge. The arguments for a fixed bridge will no doubt centre on the cost of an opening bridge and the lack of use of St Peter’s Dock for many years.
However, this is about the FUTURE potential of St Peter’s Dock and its importance to Ipswich’s history.
What we are looking for is an opening bridge across the New Cut – it need not be elaborate (and expensive) as opening would only be occasional but it would allow historic and other craft access to a developed St Peter’s Dock area – the Dutch and Belgians can achieve this with simple bridges, so could we. In many areas around the country previously unused dock areas have been rejuvenated and thereby boosted their attractiveness and the local economy, in most cases by ensuring that access by historic and masted craft is not closed off by fixed bridges.
The IMT have written to IBC and SCC councillors to press the case for an opening bridge across the New Cut. The public will have their opportunity to express their view in the public consultation soon.
This will be our (and your) last opportunity to try to ensure that St Peter’s Dock can develop to its full potential. Once a fixed bridge is built the development possibilities of St Peters Dock for future generations is very restricted.
STOP PRESS – We note that SCC have announced a pause in the project for a financial review. Nothing has been announced at this stage to suggest that the project will not go ahead as planned.
Book reviews
‘Ipswich – Memories of a Special Town’ by Barrie Girling 
This is a new publication written by an IMT member born and bred in Ipswich. On retirement, Barry Girling, together with his wife Elaine, sorted and categorised box after box of collected newspaper cuttings and ephemera; these, together with his memories, have resulted in an incomparable study of the town of Ipswich.
The Ipswich Society, the Ipswich Maritime Trust and the Ipswich Institute jointly sponsored the production of this book. Barry writes, ‘I am especially grateful for the generous assistance afforded by both The Ipswich Society and the Ipswich Maritime Trust in the use of their photographic archives. For the good ol' boys of Ipswich with whom I have enjoyed such splendid company together with their reminiscences which have gratefully been deployed.’
‘A mid twentieth-century view of Ipswich. Powerful local families, enterprise and hard labour. The coming of the dock, followed by the great works, giant mills and maltings, the arterial railway system and the home fleet of sailing vessels. Not forgetting the change in provincial culture. My personal playground of Holywells, the Barge Yard, the Lock, Orwell Works and Quayside. Of the Ipswich men that manned the machines and crewed the ships. In all a diverse, unique town.’
This could be described as a ‘coffee table book’ which can easily be picked up and browsed. Packed full of photos, this publication will bring back many nostalgic memories to the longer-term residents of Ipswich as well as being an informative and fascinating induction to those who don't remember Ipswich in the twentieth-century.
Tim Leggett
The first print run has almost sold out but there may be some copies of the book still available at £10 each from either the Tourist Information Centre or Waterstones. A reprint will be available in late Autumn at a price of £12 each from the same outlets.
Upper Orwell Crossings update
Just as this Newsletter was being put together, it was announced that the Upper Orwell Crossings project had been suspended pending a review of its costs. The project was originally estimated at some £97 million, of which Central Government was to bear £77 million and (mainly) Suffolk County Council the remaining £20 million. It is reported that the current cost might be of the order of £120 million. Without extra funding from the government, SCC’s contribution would more than double to £43 million; probably not sustainable.
The review is said to look at costs, but perhaps it should also look at some of the claimed benefits. The project is largely traffic-driven. Only the main bridge will deliver traffic improvements on a proportionate scale, and some of these have been seriously questioned. The bridge over New Cut will assist (but may not be vital to) the development of the Island Site, which is in private ownership. The December 2015 Outline Business Case accepted that development could take place without the Crossings project. Perhaps the need for savings will see the New Cut bridge abandoned?
Aside from the recent announcement, the alignment of the main bridge seems to be settled. The opening section lines up with the lock gates, which is clearly helpful. The air draught at mean high water with the bridge closed is not yet certain but may be between 13 and 14 metres; sufficient for perhaps 80% of the craft using the wet dock. SCC are still working on the opening regime for the bridge and, most importantly, how the working of the bridge and lock opening can be satisfactorily coordinated. Without that coordination, we could see regular incidents in the restricted water between the lock and the bridge.
We are still very concerned at SCC’s indifference to the threat to St Peter’s Dock of a fixed bridge over New Cut. Officially, no decision has been made; unofficially, it seems SCC have no plans for other than a fixed bridge. This would sever access to the dock to craft more than 2 metres high, and effectively wipe out the dock’s potential for e.g. a heritage harbour. The dock sits where Gippeswic was founded, as the first new settlement after the Romans left Britain and is thus of national significance. It is at the entrance to the Town’s transformed Wet Dock and is important to the regeneration of the immediate area.
The dock is currently a sad sight, access to the water having been cut off by the construction of the flood wall in the late 1960’s. Plans under discussion for the area include a raised walkway close to the top of the flood wall, which could readily incorporate ramped access down to pontoons in the dock. An opportunity which most towns and cities would grab with both hands is in danger of being lost. The fight continues.
Geoffrey Dyball
Window Museum News
The 17th Window Museum Display
‘A selection from the collection of The Museum of Knot’s and Sailor’s Ropework’
The new Window Museum display on Albion Quay is a selection from Des and Liz Pawson’s ‘Museum of Knot’s and Sailor’s Ropework’ which was opened in 1996.
The intention of the museum was to recognise the art and skills of ropework. The collection includes old and recent ropework and many examples of old tools of the rope and canvas working trades so vital for sailing ships. Ipswich, like many similar maritime towns, would have many Rope Walks where ropes were made for both local and visiting vessels.
Des said: “It is hoped that by bringing together all these things, the world will better appreciate the history and skills used in creating such items which have not often been valued, exhibited or studied. The pinnacle of the use of knots and rope can be seen in the work done by sailors, both practical and decorative. In many ways rope and knots can be considered the building blocks of civilisation.
Des, a world-renowned authority on ropework and an author, has been consulted on for films, television programmes and many matters where an expert opinion is required.
Fraser Yates
[Do you have a model of a sailing merchantman? If so, please see Page 11]
Ipswich’s membership of the 
New Hanseatic League
We have as yet had no further news from IBC on this topic. However, following the Council’s successful application for membership, Stuart Grimwade was recently contacted by two visiting ex-mayors of Boston, Richard and Alison Austin, who played a leading role in promoting that town’s Hanseatic heritage and were instrumental in its own bid to join the New Hansa League in 2014/15. Before they met with Stuart and his wife Pat during their three-day stay in the town, Richard had emailed to say: ‘We are delighted that Ipswich is now also a member so we are keen to know more about your Hanseatic Heritage. We hope you can suggest how best we can explore the subject whilst we are in the area?’
Despite their best endeavours around the town during their visit, Richard and Alison expressed surprise at the lack of local literature and awareness by ‘the powers that be’ about Ipswich’s Hanseatic heritage. They were nevertheless very impressed with our maritime heritage, and what we are doing in the Trust to promote it, and are offering their help and support should we wish to prepare tourist publicity material. In Boston’s case, this appears to have had a major effect on the town’s image, and now attracts surprisingly large numbers of visitors from other NHL cities around Europe. They also suggest that there might be scope in Boston, King’s Lynn and Ipswich joining forces to host an event during their respective future Maritime Festivals.
As they often say, it’s about time we in Ipswich ‘wake up and smell the coffee’!
Stuart Grimwade
Saxon Ipswich – recent archaeological finds near the Wet Dock
The old EADT site between Lower Brook Street and Turret Lane and at the heart of Saxon Ipswich in the 8th century has been excavated for the past three months by the Oxford Archaeology Unit. It has revealed the footings of many small buildings, pottery, and huge numbers of mussel and oyster shells, likely testimony to one important element of the local diet. There are indications of an embankment or an early wharf in the lower part of the site, (the 1837 Caley elevations of the mediaeval waterfront show the mouth of a small creek opening into the river at Foundry Lane). This suggests that small craft could have traded from this site in Saxon times.
Artefacts found at the site include Saxon coins and Ipswich-ware pottery, a large fisherman’s needle presumably for mending nets, a small medallion engraved with a curse in Anglo-Saxon runic script and intriguingly, what appears to be a child’s ice skate, made of bone and flattened on the underside.
These and other items will now be subjected to expert examination before being returned at a later date, hopefully for display in Ipswich museum.
Pat Grimwade
IMT Image Archive – new uses
by Stuart Grimwade
Soon after the IMT decided to place the Image Archive online, I was invited to write an article about it for the ‘Old Ipswichian’ magazine. In it I described my own introduction to photography as a schoolboy where I learnt the then latest ‘wet’ darkroom techniques alongside equally enthusiastic amateur photographer members of the teaching staff. As a result of that article (he tells me in confidence that it was while reading it in his bath), senior Birketts’ partner Nigel Farthing came up with the idea of using selected images from the Archive to adorn the walls of the top floor conference rooms of the firm’s new offices in Princes St.
After several meetings perusing large numbers of possible images from the Archive, we eventually arrived at a short-list, together with the idea of accompanying each with a current image taken at exactly the same spot. I have to admit that I had my reservations about this, having tried the same thing myself a number of times, as it’s much easier said than done, particularly in those locations which now no longer offer the kind of photogenic prospects they once did! But Nigel was adamant, and as ever it was our good friend Roger Barcham of BMSimaging who came to our rescue to produce some stunningly good new images to more than match the quality of the old ones, and to provide the sort of startling contrast that emphasises just how much our old dock has changed. Here are two examples.
Following this success, Nigel and I continued with the same idea to mount other contrasting historic images of Victorian local farming and business activity alongside their modern-day equivalents for other rooms in the new offices, with the help of ex-EADT photographer David Kindred’s own image archive, and also included some superb huge new mural images of our coastline and estuaries. For good measure a further room with a direct view down to one of the Portman Road goals is devoted to photographs of past heady days of Ipswich Town successes on the pitch, as captured at the time by David Kindred.
Being an ‘oldie’ in the presence of a very large number of youthful-looking solicitors and their colleagues at the official opening of the new offices a few weeks ago made me realise just how important it is to show future new business visitors to the town something of our maritime heritage in a way that catches the eye. Each of the images is
captioned with relevant written details including the IMT logo, so we can feel we are very much ‘spreading the word’ to the wider world.
Our efforts to put more of the Archive online continues, and has
recently seen the addition of the large collection of images of the old
dock railway system I have now assembled for an article that I have
been invited to write for a national ‘Railway’ magazine to be published
this autumn.
Although aspects of the dock railway feature in many publications, particularly Richard Smith’s voluminous book ‘The Port of Ipswich – its Shipping and Trades’, I am not sure that a single volume on it has previously been written. If anyone has any good images of the railway please let me know, so that they can be included in the Archive, together with any stories from the time it was in operation. Maybe all this could then also be published as a future IMT ‘Occasional Paper’?
As they say – so much to do, so little time!!
Stuart Grimwade
Future Events - exhibitions
Ipswich Maritime Festival – 18th and 19th August
We will not only be holding an exhibition in the Old Custom House, but also over the two days there will be a ‘stall’ outside where
- there is the opportunity to make baggywrinkle!
- an explanation and live demonstration of caulking a deck
- an opportunity for children to dress up as a pirate and be photographed
alongside our own ‘Ben the Pirate’
Our model of Cliff Quay is now also on permanent display in the Old Custom House
Details of the festival can be found at
www.ipswichentertains.co.uk/ipswichmaritimefestival
Heritage Open Weekend - 15th and 16th September
- There will be a maritime themed exhibition in the Old Custom House at Quay level.
Advance warning - If you are intending to visit the Heritage Open Weekend venues please be aware that on Sunday 16th it is also the day of the ‘Simplyhealth Great East Run’ and that there will be major road closures between 0630 and 1115 throughout much of central Ipswich, and until 1400 for the Wherstead Road area and many roads between Stoke Bridge and the football ground.
Future Events – talks
Wednesday 3rd October 7.30pm
‘An Ipswich Link with Nelson’s Victory at Aboukir Bay’
by Roy Clare CBE
Please note that this is a joint event organised in association with the Friends of Ipswich Museum. We are limited to 120 attendees at this talk and it is advisable to reserve your place at the talk. This can be done by contacting Fraser Yates on 07531 083576 or emailing bookings@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk .
Wednesday 7th November 7.30pm
‘Harwich for the Continent, a history of the route from about 1600’ by Chris Turland
Wednesday 5th December 7.30pm
‘The Woolverstone Project. The project, RYA Sailability, Disabled Sailors’ achievements, Para Olympic sailing.
by Andy Beharrel
Full 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 2018
IMT Thames Barge all-day sailing trips and afternoon music trips
The last remaining ‘all-day’ trip on the 9th August is now sold-out, 
but there are still a few places available on the afternoon music
trip on 23rd August (14.00 - 18.00 approx) featuring ‘La Fontaine
Trio’ jazz group, at £35 per head, including finger buffet with tea
and coffee.
Full details of the trip are on the booking form at the end of the
newsletter.
Past Events
Association of Dunkirk Little Ships visit to Ipswich
A number of the vessels from the Association of Dunkirk Little
Ships visited Ipswich Haven Marina between 25th and 28th May
this year. Andy Parker, IMTs Social Media Coordinator recorded
video interviews with Ian Gilbert, Vice Admiral of ADSL and
owner of Lady Lou, and with Trevor Phillips, owner of the Tom Tit.
The videos give some of the story of the ADLS and the history of
the two boats.
The videos can be found on our Facebook pages at
www.facebook.com/pg/ipswichmaritimetrust/videos/?ref=page_internal
Spring 2018 talks
We had yet another series of interesting and varied talks in the Spring this year.
7th February 2018
‘Samuel Pepys and the Making of the Royal Navy’
by Mark Mitchels
The spring series of talks opened with Mark Mitchels on ‘Samuel Pepys
and the Making of the Royal Navy’. This was Mark’s third appearance;
none have disappointed.
The name of Pepys is of course synonymous with his diary, especially
the juicier bits, but he should really be known for the vital role he
played in the transformation of the navy into a substantial and efficient fighting force. Born in London in 1633, he was educated in a Puritan school, then St Paul’s School, and finally Magdalen College Cambridge. He married Elizabeth at the age of 23; she was just 14 at the time. He very nearly dies a couple of years later, during an operation to remove a bladder stone the size of a tennis ball.
He is taken under the wing of Edward Montague, and by the 1652 Dutch war he is Montague’s secretary. Both were supporters of the Commonwealth. The diary is begun in 1660, in a code known as tachygraphy. The death of Cromwell sees the generals back in power, and the same year Charles II on the throne. Montague is by then Earl of Sandwich, and Pepys is installed as Secretary of the Navy Board.
Charles II inherited a large fleet, but corruption was rife and the sailors were not being paid. The officers were for the most part incompetent and inexperienced, and were considered largely to blame for defeat in the Four Days Battle of 1666. The ultimate humiliation was the arrival of the Dutch in the Medway.
Pepys’s eyesight is failing, and by May 1669 he cannot carry on with his diary. Worse, Elizabeth died later that year. Thereafter, Pepys devoted all his time and energy to the navy, after the battle of Sole Bay becoming Secretary of the Admiralty, one of the most powerful positions in the country. Legislation followed. Officers were required to serve as midshipmen for three years, and then had to pass an examination before promotion to lieutenant. Laws of combat were introduced. Pepys pays to be taught ship construction, rigging etc., so that he is better able to stamp out much of the corruption which had resulted in sub-standard ships. At the same time, he himself became
extremely wealthy. That did not prevent him being briefly locked up in the Tower, on (groundless) suspicion of being part of a Popish plot to install James as king.
Pepys died in May 1703 aged 70. His books and impressive bookcases were taken to Magdalen College. In 1818 John Smith began his translation of the coded diaries. Only after his work was finished five years later did he find the book containing the tachygraphy code. The definitive version of the diary was published in 1970.
Mark’s talk held our interest throughout, with a wealth of detail of Pepys’s life and his times.
7th March 2018
‘One dock, two families, a fleet of ships and a pinch of fertilizer: a story of poo & poops’
by Giles Colchester
The second of our Spring talks was given by Giles Colchester,
who spoke about his two Ipswich families. The Colchesters were
traders and ship-builders and owners; the Packards were
fertilizer manufacturers.
William Colchester was born at Sutton in 1813. He was originally
to be an architect, but joined John Cobbold, to sell timber. he
later set up on his own account, selling timber, coal and slate
from Woodbridge and St Clements yard in Ipswich. In 1838 he
bought a half-share in a sprit-sail barge. He went on to buy his
own yard, fronting Steam Launch Road; he later bought up the
Suffolk and Norfolk Shipping Co. after it had run into financial
problems. One of his ships was the first to sail into the Wet Dock; by 1860 his was the biggest fleet in the area.
Colchester was also a noted amateur geologist. With Professor John Henslow he found a local supply of coprolites, variously thought to be dinosaur or shark poo, but in any event with a very high phosphate content. This led to the founding of a substantial artificial fertilizer industry, the main works being at Griffin Wharf., The process was both unpleasant and dangerous. The coprolites were dissolved in big vats of sulphuric acid, evaporated off, and then ground. The business grew, and with it William Colchester’s reputation. His record in civic life was impressive, as both councillor and Mayor. He was plainly very highly-regarded; on his death in 1921, the funeral cortege was said to be a mile long.
The fertilizer business had by then been sold to Edward Packard, by that time already a successful businessman in the same field. He was born in Hasketon, and went to school in Woodbridge. He was a pharmacist,m with a shop in Saxmundham High Street. He joined with J C Nesbitt, the father of the author of The Railway Children, to manufacture artificial fertilizer using the Liebig process. The raw materials were both coprolites and bones. The original factory was at Snape, but was later moved to Coprolite Street . In 1854 the factory was relocated to Bramford – where it has stood derelict for many years. Packard had an extensive fleet of ships and barges and, as Colchester, devoted a great deal of time and effort to civic life; he served as councillor, Mayor and Freeman.
Packard’s sons Henry and Edward joined him in the business, which continued to prosper. The firm patented super-phosphate, and had a considerable market in Europe. The firm owned both steam barges and coastal steamers. Family illnesses etc. eventually saw a merger to form the company Fison, Packard and Prentice.
This was a fascinating talk on two families who were a major part of Ipswich in their time – and also seemed to be related to most of the other businesses in the town.
4th April 2018
‘Pierhead Paintings - Ship Portraits from East Anglia & beyond’ by Bob Malster & Des Pawson
The last spring talk followed the Annual General Meeting on 4
April. This was a very entertaining double-hander given by Bob
Malster and Des Pawson on Pierhead Paintings – Ship Portraits
from East Anglia and Beyond.
The owners of the grand cruise liners would commission similar
scale oil paintings of their craft. For the owners and skippers
(often the same person) of more modest craft such as trawlers,
the affordable alternative was the smaller and much cheaper
pierhead painting, sometimes referred to as ‘people’s paintings’.
Often in oils but sometimes in watercolour or gouache, these
were essentially a record of the craft. They did not set out to be
important works of art, but followed a simple, almost naive style. They did, however, all have one absolutely fixed characteristic; details of the craft, including its rigging and colour scheme, had to be accurate. The buyers of these paintings knew their craft intimately, and would accept no artistic licence.
Bob and Des illustrated the talk mainly with examples from their own collections. Bob started his many years ago; one of his first paintings was bought off the late Jack Haste for 3 shillings and 6 pence. The paintings were mostly put in conventional frames, and typically measuring 15 in.by 20 in. Some were lifebelt paintings, either set in a made-up frame or as a painted trompe l’oeil, with the painting then about 6 in. diameter.
George Race is one of the better-known names. We were shown his SS Nelson of Lowestoft, and also LT 275 and LT 668. His son Walter was also prominent. We were shown examples by Tench and Gregory, and Bob’s favourite, a particularly attractive watercolour by George Burwood. Some artists were better known than others. Chappell made thousands of paintings, including a sailing barge and Pearl of Ipswich. Crane of London is well known for his trade-mark seagulls; almost nothing is known of the man.
Local craft attract most local interest, but these painters were active all around the coast and in many different countries. Pierhead paintings can be found in the Time and Tide museum at Great Yarmouth, the Lowestoft Maritime Museum, and the Nottage museum at Wivenhoe. The standard reference works are two books by Roger Finch.
Geoffrey Dyball
Wanted to borrow for Ipswich Maritime Trust Window Museum Display number 19
It is hoped that the theme for our 19th display will be Ipswich and sailing merchant ships. We want to focus on the types of sailing vessels that traded in and out of Ipswich under sail such vessels as billyboys with coal, fruit schooners, the full rigged grain ships of the first part of the 20th century, may be even the wine and wool traders from the middle ages , indeed all types of sailing ships that would carry cargos apart from the sailing barge as we have featured them before.
Whilst we have plenty of images to build our display we are very short of models of sailing merchantmen, and we would like to borrow for a 6-7 month period some models to augment our display. The vessel need not have a direct connection with Ipswich but be at least representative of a type that could have called here. If anyone has or knows of such models please could they contact myself, Des Pawson.
Email des@despawson.com or call 01473 690090
IMT Membership news
Our membership now stands at 327 and we are pleased to be able to maintain this level of membership despite temporarily decreasing by a small number each year at renewal time. Our membership fees have stayed the same since they started in 2005 with 48 members. The fees (£5 and £7.50) are still able to cover the cost of membership administration due thankfully to the number of members with whom we communicate primarily by email - which of course brings us on to the GDPR regulations.
Earlier this year, along with many other organisations, we went through the process of revising our Privacy Policy and producing procedures to meet compliance with the new GDPR regulations that were introduced in May. We decided to seek positive ‘consent’ from our members to receive email communications from the IMT rather than other forms of legal justification which were possible. Although this was a bit of a headache to process and chase up there were positive side effects. Firstly it demonstrated that our emails were getting through to the majority of our members, and not ending up in spam boxes, and also had the effect of flushing out a few members who had changed email address and not let us know. Success all round!
Of the 204 email addresses that we have on our database, all but 6 responded and provided consent to email communications; thank you. If you are one of the 6 people from whom we did not receive consent, you will have received this Newsletter by post rather than an email and, if I have remembered, attached below a request to provide your consent to future email communication if you wish.
It really does help if we can communicate by email with our members.
Fraser Yates
IMT 2018 Autumn talks
Wednesday 3rd October
‘An Ipswich Link with Nelson’s Victory at Aboukir Bay?’
by Roy Clare CBE
The autumn series of evening talks at the University’s Waterfront building is started by a joint meeting with the Friends of Ipswich Museum. It was Admiral Cunningham (right), assessing risks in the Mediterranean in WW2, who noted that ships lost are quickly replaced but traditions grow slowly, over centuries.
In 2018, the 220th anniversary of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile, Roy Clare CBE will explore the influence of centuries-old tradition on naval leadership, from Admiral Vernon of Orwell Park and Ipswich’s High Sheriff Lord Nelson through to World War II.
Yousuf Karsh - [1] Dutch National Archives, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANEFO)
Roy began his naval career at HMS Ganges. His commands included a mine hunter, destroyers, and the aircraft carrier Invincible. He retired as a Rear Admiral, became Director of the National Maritime Museum, and was involved with other museums for over 20 years.
We are limited to 120 attendees at this talk and it is advisable to reserve your place at the talk. This can be done by contacting Fraser Yates on 07531 083576 or emailing bookings@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk .
Wednesday 7th November
‘Harwich for the Continent, a history of the route from about 1600’ by Chris Turland
Mail packets ran out of Harwich from around 1600. Passenger traffic
increased in 1854 with the arrival of the railway, and the terminal moved
a little way up the Stour to Parkeston. A variety of vessels were used,
including paddle steamers; all have their stories.
Chris Turland is a freelance teacher, artist and photographer, having spent
many years at sea on railway and passenger ferries.
Wednesday 5th December
‘The Woolverstone Project. The project, RYA Sailability, Disabled Sailors’ achievements, Para Olympic sailing.
by Andy Beharrel
Andy Beharrel is the Chairman of Trustees of the Woolverstone Project, a charity dedicated to sailing for the disabled, and one which has been supported by Ipswich Maritime Trust.
Andy’s talk will cover the work of the project, RYA Sailability, disabled sailors’ achievements, and Para Olympic sailing.
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.
Free tea and coffee provided after the talk and the chance to chat with the speaker and other members and guests.
The last Music trip on ‘Victor’ of 2018.
Thursday 23rd August 2018 at 2pm - La Fontaine Trio
Enjoy the best views of the River Orwell to the sounds of La Fontaine Trio.
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.
The cost is £35 per head.
Parking available on the Island site by prior arrangement, courtesy of ABP. Book through Bob Pawsey on 01473 252893, or complete the form below and send with cheque.
Booking Form
Music Trip on Victor – 23rd August
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 2X