On Saturdays Medway Queen is a tourist attraction. On other days she is a place of work for our volunteer restoration teams. Much has been accomplished recently as we work towards making the ship suitable as a venue for hire. Yesterday, in sweltering conditions, Phil, Mick, William & Bob worked hard to install the lower aft saloon companionway. Production of legs for the bench seating, and installation of the seat frames, is progressing in the safe hands of our "two Rons", Bob has designed fabricated and fitted safety gates for the sponson access ways so the doors can be opened for ventilation yet still still safe for visitors. The port side forward & aft are complete and he's now working on two for the starboard side. Meanwhile, out in the fresh air, Daniel and David have been giving the captain's cabin a fresh coat of protective paint. We urgently need more volunteers. Not only to work on restoration of the ship but to run the Visitor Centre on Saturdays and to assist with administration tasks. If you can donate a few hours a week in any capacity contact us at [email protected], phone 01634 575717 or call in to our site on Gillingham Pier. Photos by Ju. Maguire except where noted.
Top, left to right: Painting the captain's cabin Mick and installing the lower aft companionway Companionway in position Bottom, left to right Turning legs for the saloon benches - Ron Vant Fitting bench frames in the aft saloon Safety gate on sponsor access Over the past few weeks our "Saturday Team" have hosted a variety of visits by groups and individuals. These have included a group visit by the Watford and District Industrial History Society, a biker group, radio controlled trucks from the North Kent Group Radio Controlled Model Trucking Club and four of Captain Horsham's grandchildren. Captain Leonard Horsham commanded PS Medway Queen for the whole of her post-war excursion service and it was a privilege to welcome them on board their granddad's old ship. Photos:
Top left: Biker group visit - Ju. Maguire Bottom left: Captain Horsham's family visit - Joe Stokes Right: radio controlled trucks on the promenade deck - Joe Stokes .Reading Support Group have moved! RSG's "head office" is now at 2 Drury Close, Hook, Wootton Bassett, SN4 8EL and the email address has changed to [email protected] . Please send all Reading Group communications to these addresses. With luck all relevant order forms etc. on the website have been updated but if you find one we missed please let us know.
Moving house is "interesting" enough but to make life even busier Reading Group's latest promotional model railway wagon for N gauge has also just arrived. We have continued the theme of wagons that might have been worked to Gillingham Pier had there been a rail link and, as can be seen in the photograph, this one honours the small band of dedicated volunteers who give up their spare time to work on our ship. The wagon colours are inspired by the badges depicting the “Invicta” white horse on Medway Queen’s funnel. The price has been held at £11-75 per wagon with UK P&P at £3-30 per order. The models will be available from Medway Queen’s Reading Support Group at the Bristol Model Engineering Exhibition (Thornbury in August), The International N Gauge Show (Warwickshire in September) and other events attended by the group. They can be bought in person at the Ship and her Visitor Centre on Gillingham Pier (from 20th July) or you can order by post from Richard Halton using the order form on the website medwayqueen.co.uk/railway-wagons---n-gauge or by sending a Paypal payment to [email protected] with details of your address and which wagons you want please. For overseas shipment please email Richard first for postage costs.
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January 2025
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