The Maritime heritage fleet is irreplaceable

Monday 19th July 2010, 3:00PM BST.

From Robert Le Maistre.
AS chairman of the Friends of the Maritime Museum I am writing to express our hope that the States Members will support the Education Minister’s proposition requesting that further funding be made available to Jersey Heritage.

A museum is a living thing and none more so than our award winning Maritime Museum where the emphasis is very much on interactive learning. Volunteers give hundreds of hours of their time to maintain the Island’s heritage fleet of boats which includes Howard D, the former St Helier Lifeboat presented to the Island by T B Davis in 1937; Fiona, a traditional Jersey fishing boat built about 1860; Diana, a launch used for many years at Gorey; and Jesse and Florence, sailing day boats originally presented to St Helier Yacht Club by Sir Jesse Boot (Boots the Chemists).

These boats are regularly seen at events around the Island thereby taking the museum out into the community. As seen from the reports which appeared in this newspaper on 21 and 22 June, Diana and Fiona recently returned to St Malo to take part in the 70th Anniversary celebrations of the evacuation of British troops, both these boats having been there in 1940. The Howard D also accompanied them on this occasion.

These original boats have taken years of work to assemble and restore. The skills which are practiced in the Maritime Museum’s boat shop to maintain them ensure that the skills of traditional boat building and restoration are passed on to future generations.

Museums require change and it is therefore essential that in addition to money being made available to keep the site open there is also money to invest in new exhibits, thereby attracting further visitors, thus increasing revenue.

Without the additional funding closure of the Maritime Museum appears inevitable, resulting in the loss of not only the collection within the building but also dispersal of our irreplaceable heritage fleet, which when gone will be lost forever. This cannot be allowed to happen.

We recognise that these are difficult times but we urge our States Members to support the Minister’s proposition thereby ending months of uncertainty and ensuring that this crucial part of Jersey’s heritage is preserved for the benefit of future generations.

• Read more letters to the editor in today’s Jersey Evening Post

1
Blue Knight

July 21, 2010 at 11:59 am

I have visited a number of Maritime Museums around the British Isles and Jersey’s by far and away the best. It would be an absolute nonsense for the States not to support their Maritme Museum. So far as I am concerned, it is one of the major attractions in the Island; a real gem.

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2
God's Mentor

July 21, 2010 at 11:53 pm

‘Volunteers give hundreds of hours of their time to maintain the Island’s heritage fleet of boats’.

I don’t think tax payers should fund your’s or other people’s hobbies.

I think the people of Jersey have voted with their feet (non attendence) on whether this Museum should stay or not.

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3
Blue Knight

July 22, 2010 at 7:39 pm

I can’t imagine why folk aren’t visiting, it is a really interesting place. There are obviously lots of Philistines around who aren’t interested in the heritage.

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4
arymas

August 4, 2010 at 5:01 pm

Bonjour Monsieur Le Maitre . It was lovely to read that the old Diana is still a gem of the sea ! I remember her pre-war ! But what about L’esperance ? She was berthed for years in the Old Harbour, near Pilot View! The Westwood’s sad demise we know about .What fond memories of”down the pier” you’ve raised ,Thank you !

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