One of the joys of being part of the ‘great unemployed’ is the ability to use facilities that are there for all of us. The Mate and I have been regular participants at a series of monthly lectures/talks at the Essex Records Office in Chelmsford since the dear girl’s retirement from gainful employment at the beginning of 2013.
Not all of the talks are to my taste, but we support each other’s – they being well aligned on the whole. There have been some great subjects over the past year too. They include subjects such as the prehistoric Blackwater through to Roman and Saxon times – and what is being found now with loss of river silts, especially around the flats between Osea and the mainland; and the Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey.
This past week it was the turn of the Pioneer Sailing Trust to wow us. Now I know a little about the trust and what it does, and its vessel, the Skillinger Smack Pioneer. The talk was given by trust volunteer Brian Tourny – very good it was too…
The Pioneer out by the Gunfleet in July 2009.
What I wasn’t fully aware of was the extent they have continued. I knew about the John Constable, a Stour lighter rebuilt and completed last year. I didn’t know about the way the trust has become a school for marine studies, specifically the care, repair and reconstruction of old wood built vessels.
Pioneer preparing for sea, July 2011, about to drop her mooring…
Some while ago when in Harwich I spoke to the educational person on the Mayflower Project – a new ship is growing up there in the north-east of Essex. I asked why a greater level of sharing wasn’t instituted within the marine environment with respect to the training of shipwrights with the ability to work on old as well as new vessels. The Cambria Trust had a training system while the barge was being rebuilt, but, surely, it has ended now that the project has been completed. I do know hat some of the trainees went out into the industry – great. Over at lower Halstow, the Westmoreland Trust will be doing the same – will they work with the pioneer trust, perhaps, or maybe not. perhaps I should inject the idea…
Back to the Pioneer Trust: what they are doing is to my mind quite exceptional. It has clearly been managed with a lot of dedicated hard work by volunteers … but as Brian said, ‘…all of a sudden we became responsible for the employment of people … their teaching and welfare…’ The trust not only looks at the ‘wood’ side of things, but the mechanicals involved with vessels. They are also now into restoring smacks, yachts, and the building of an all wood skiff. A recent project has been the refurbishment of an old Trinity House Tender.
The Pioneer sailing away down the Colne with a party od Primary school children aboard… I wtched chart explanations going on as we sailed in close company…
The trust can be found here: http://www.pioneersailingtrust.org.uk/ They are based at Harkers Yard, Brightlingsea … I for one am looking to visit sometime.