DONT FORGET! The December, end of season, "Fun Food and Craft" day is this coming Saturday (7th December) at Gillingham Pier. Free entry to the event, ship tours £5 as usual.

Come along between 10am and 3pm to do some Christmas shopping and see Santa. The Medway Queen Christmas cards will be available in our visitor centre, as will the new PSPS anniversary book and DVD. The cards have sold well again this year and we only have a limited stock of the book and DVD available. HURRY!

All this, together with the usual Christmas Fun Food and Craft attractions and guided tours of PS Medway Queen.

​We look forward to seeing you there.

As most of you will know, Brian Goodhew has worked tirelessly on the Medway Queen restoration for very many years. He recently stepped down from the board of Trustees but continues with the Saturday team who run the Medway Queen visitor centre and ship tours.

On Tuesday 26th November Brian was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Marsh Volunteer Award by National Historic Ships UK in recognition of his efforts and dedication. Congratulations, Brian. It is well deserved!

Brian's contribution is covered more thoroughly in the MQPS members' newsletter which will be distributed in the next week or so. Unfortunately it was already at the printers when this news came through.

For full details of the awards go to:
https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/news/nhs/news-national-historic-ships-uk-award-winners-2019-press-release

Photos: Above left: Brian with Brian Marsh of the Marsh Christian Trust who support the awards. Courtesy of National Historic Ships UK.
Below left: Coffee with Brian Waters of PS Kingswear Castle. KC was awarded the annual Flagship of the Year Award for the South West Region. Courtesy of Joe Stokes.

​It is always a pleasure to welcome visitors who were part of past episodes in Medway Queen’s career. Whether that be seaside excursions, minesweeping, Dunkirk or the Medway Queen Club. Medway Queen Club musician, Keith Roberts, visited in June and on Saturday we had the pleasure of welcoming Kim Tocher and her husband, Don. Kim is the daughter of Alan Ridett who took the ship to the Isle of Wight in 1965 and opened her as the Medway Queen Club, centre piece of a new marina, the following year.

The Medway Queen Club was very successful under Alan Ridett’s stewardship, to the extent that he bought PS Ryde when her career as a Solent ferry ended and added her to the marina’s attractions. In the 1970s, under new management, the character of the club changed significantly and as the market changed the club waned in favour of the larger Ryde Queen. In 1974 the Medway Queen Club closed for the last time but it was another ten years before the old ship was repatriated to the river Medway by Jim Ashton and his colleagues.

Kim and Don were pleased to see how the society volunteers are continuing the preservation of the ship. No doubt they admired the new aft deck-house which is reminiscent of the one installed on the Isle of Wight. Ann is a member of the society and has followed developments online and in Full Ahead and wanted to see the progress for herself. Some of the pictures featured in the Visitor Centre had been provided by her family, covering the ships time on the Isle of Wight. They also contributed enormously to our accounts of the club in both “The Medway Queen” history book and the later “Medway Queen Club” 50th anniversary book.

Although it was a grey day the visit had been a great trip to remember times when she had the run of the ship.

Photos:
Top: Kim and Don in the lower saloon display area - Martin Goodhew
Centre: The new aft deck-house - Joe Stokes
​Bottom: The  Medway Queen Club kitchens - courtesy of Mark Ridett

Two new products marking sixty years of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society have been added to our on-line shop.

The book and DVD can be treated as complementary or as stand-alone items. The ideal Christmas present for yourself or anyone with a paddle steamer interest.​

These items have been ordered from the suppliers and should be available at the Visitor Centre or on line in a few days time. You can place orders online now.

Don't forget your "Medway Queen" Christmas cards, also available at the Visitor Centre, or by post from "Medway Queen - West"

Work on the new aft deck-house (left) is nearing completion with a watertight coating to finish off the top of the structure. We are very grateful to Bulldog Flat Roofs of Gillingham for their offer to apply a GRP coating to the roof of all our deck houses and skylight covers as a donation.

Below decks the aft saloon is really beginning to look the part (Below right) and water and other services are being connected in the galley (below left). All by our indefatigable volunteer teams.

There's always more to do though!

Notes extracted from our Volunteers' Newsletter, No. 16
Photos: Judith Maguire