Chair Chat

Dear Friends

Spring should be upon us but the weather has not yet heard about it and we are still in the grips of this long old wet spell. As I sit here I was trying to work out where to start, the past few months have been very busy and with so much yet to do.

Back on a cold Saturday in January we delivered ‘President’ to Ian Kemp at Dadfords Shed a very interesting day. We were towed round by Enterprise (ex steamer Count) breaking ice for most of the trip. Our thanks to Howard and Dave Cleverley for the tow. Ian has started the work and is currently rebuilding the counter and preparing the plates for the swim. I have paid a couple of visits and am very impressed with the standard of the work and the attention to detail Ian is taking.

We have had a gift of two Weir steam pumps which Dave Stott and Brian Empsall are restoring for installation in the engine room. The pumps were installed in a boiler room at a glasshouse nursery in Essex and have not been used for many years but are in very good condition. Our thanks to Ray & David Lodge, who we welcome as new members and look forward to seeing them when the boat is back up and running. The boiler is at Thompson’s in Oldham awaiting the work that needs to be done on it, this all depends on available funds.

The big challenge to us all at FoP is to raise the funds necessary to cover the cost of all this work. At this point we have a fair way to go to reach our target and we need your help. I would like to thank all the members who have responded to the appeals so far and ask those who have not yet done so please do so if you can. Details of ways you can help are enclosed with this edition of 195 and if you have any other ideas or any questions please contact me.

Back in February I represented Friends of President at a meeting of the museum’s board members, trustees and support groups. Basically the museum is not having a great financial time, visitor number are well below target and, consequently, so is the income.

The board has had to make some very hard decisions and a number of redundancies were made in January. From our point of view the big effect will be the loss of the boat dock attendant, Nigel. This means that we need to look at ways we can visit the boats regularly to ensure that all is well, so if you are local or pass that way please get in touch. As a follow up from that meeting the museum has asked us to look into ways that we can expand our on site support, and over the next few weeks we will be putting some ideas forward.

Normal working parties will be starting soon. Please give your time generously, and I look forward to seeing as many Friends as possible again this year.

David Powell