Our first Fun, Food & Craft Day on 17th June was a roaring success.  Over 100 people came to the visitor centre keeping Roy and June busy with shop and ticket sales for the hourly guided tours of the Medway Queen with Brian and Woody.

In the workshop we had stalls selling crochet items & plants, cakes & bakes, Forever Living aloe products, fantastic paper woven baskets & keepsakes, handmade cards & frames, Neal’s Yard products, photographic prints, framed pictures, handbags & jewellery, Jamberry nail wraps, Indian head massage, angel card readings, crystal healing and energy healing.

​In the car park we had Hook-a-duck, Hoop-la, a raffle and donated knitted and sewn items were also for sale.  Martin did a fantastic job managing these and the music and being our man-on-the-mic.  Angela and Mildred were marvellous cooking and selling food & drinks from the kitchen.  Graham was brilliant ensuring car parking was well coordinated and vehicle movements did not adversely affect pedestrians.  I must at this point also thank Kent and Sussex Healthcare for giving us a First Responder free for the day significantly increasing our First Aid capabilities, had they been needed, especially as it was such a hot day.

We had fantastic immediate feedback from both visitors and stallholders sharing stories about trips on the Medway Queen as youngsters, how they enjoyed the tours and event day as a whole.  All of the stallholders and many of the visitors asked when our next Fun, Food & Craft Day will be.  Now, that is praise indeed.  So if you missed the last one come along to our next  Fun, Food & Craft Day on Saturday 19th August there’ll be something for everyone to enjoy.

Report: Judith Swinney
Photos: Martin Goodhew and Judith Swinney

Every year we join in with the national “Heritage Open Days” weekend in September and this year we are collaborating with MidKent College to mount a maritime themed Art and Photographic exhibition on board the ship. 

​Entry is open to all. There will be no charge for exhibiting your work but if it is sold a percentage of the sale price will go to the Medway Queen Preservation Society for restoration of the ship. 

Details and entry forms are now available. Link from our website HOME page.

Stalls include Sheryl's book art & gifts, Petra's Tatana's Baskets, Sharon's A Card For You, Vanessa's Neal's Yard products, Sandra's photography & fine hand crafted jewellery, Sandra's crochet children's gifts and so much more.

Plus tours of the ship and stories from past crew members; ship tours charged as usual. If you or your company would like to be part of this fantastic project we would love to have you aboard. For information please come and speak to our recruitment team. 

​John supported the Medway Queen Preservation Society from the very beginning. He and his wife, Noreen, were founder members although at first Noreen was the one taking the most active part in the society’s activities. Later John became more active within the society to become Chairman when Marshall Vine relinquished that post until 2004 when he handed the reins to John Kempton. John Chambers was instrumental in preparing the society’s major bid for Heritage Lottery Funding, put together with Paddle Steamer Preservation Society backing. That bid eventually led to the grant from the South East England Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund which enabled us to rebuild Medway Queen’s hull in Bristol.
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John met his wife Noreen in Islington library where they both worked. They married in 1961, living in Croydon where they had 4 children.  They later moved to Gillingham where the family was raised. John retired from work at age 58 and later took on a role in the library at Chatham Historic Dockyard. John had a wide range of interests including model boats, walking and cooking. He and Noreen often visited Southern Ireland and later a number of Mediterranean countries. They were both able to be present when Medway Queen’s new hull was rededicated in the Albion Dock, Bristol, in July 2013. John is survived by 4 children, Martin, Ben, Selina and Claire plus 11 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren