Up until this morning I had assumed that the future of our maritime museum was secured, however just now things don’t look so good.My vague enquiries recently suggested that the amount of people visiting the museum has been much more than was expected and that there were even hopes for the museum staying open for the winter.
The museum’s largest project is the restoration of the steam tug “Cervia” something I have been watching progress on a daily basis, for some time now the Cervia has been open to the public offering a unique chance to see a major steam restoration project in action.
This coming Monday was to have been the day that the Cervia should have been pulled up onto the slipway to have the urgently needed work on her hull plating done but nothing appears to have happened.
There is a coaster on the slipway with work going on that looks like it wont be finished by the end of Monday and none of the pontoons have been moved that would let the Cervia get out from her mooring.
Click on the link for the pictures http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts10/id9.htm
The publicity surrounding the reopening of the museum said that this was all to be a joint project between Preston Steam Trust and Thanet District Council and since the Cervia and the museum have been swarming with people from the steam trust and volunteers for months now and the council don’t seem to have had much to say about the museum I find my alarm bells are ringing.
I have always had my suspicions that the council isn’t to keen on Ramsgate having a museum or any other tourist attractions for that matter, most likely they have got the clock house earmarked for some bizarre project.
Please place suggestions as to what you think our own dear council would like the building for, I shall start the ball rolling with an outlandish one of my own, after a very pleasant and somewhat liquid lunch, here goes:
Meregate town council having been told of a new round of government cuts leaked by national government officers decided to sell their most saleable asset Remisgate, Remisgate being a rather large asset the officers decided to split it up into bite sized chunks.
They started by selling off what they thought was Remisgate’s main leisure site for a huge development with plans that contravened environment agency safety advice, working on the principle that this would give Meregate’s leisure industry a great boost.
This however they soon realised was just small fry and they had really missed the towns main leisure site Remisgate port and harbour and they devised a plan to get vacant position of all the buildings they leased out in the harbour and to get rid of all the staff to make the whole complex more desirable to a potential new owner.
That just about sums it up Michael - you always tell it as it is
ReplyDeleteIf there is a plan I suspect it grew out of a fix to get the East Kent Maritime Trust Trustees off the hook re unlimited personal liability.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the Butler Trust money meandered through by way of a sweetener and the Cervia is being done up using Trust money instead of former TRustee personal funds.
Perhaps former EKMT trustee (wallet intact) Bill Hayton would care to deliver the full facts unto the public domain ?
Don't set Richard off please Micheal, he's pretty intolerable on the conspiracy front as it is.
ReplyDeleteWatch out Richard, this really is a catholic plot....
Loosely Male you are an utter waste of space mate.
ReplyDeleteDo attach your co-dependent personality elsewhere.
Just in case readers are unaware. The East Kent Maritime Trust failed to file accounts for some years with the Charity Commission.
ReplyDeleteDuring that time circa £267,000 was bequeathed to the Trust. A question exists whether this sum was in trust to EKMT to provide a maritime museum service to East Kent.
The steam tug Cervia belongs to Preston Steam Museum. It was on loan for many years to EKMT at Ramsgate Harbour.
In the hands of EKMT the Cervia deteriorated giving rise to a restoration cost of perhaps a million pounds or more.
Under charity law the Trustees of EKMT had unlimited personal liability.
I reported this matter to the Charity Commission who alreafy had an investigation running into EKMT. It appears that my report did not give time for the Charity Commission to be represented at whatever alternative dispute procedure was pursued between TDC, EKMT and Steam Museum Trust.
But it appears that the EKMT trustees were not required to reach into their own pockets to stump up towards Cervia restoration.
Two questions
Why aren't they being held accountable as trustees (of a trust that had over £100,000 of TDC grant aid annually for quarter of a century)
How was the Butler Legacy money dealt with ? (Is it being used to pay for Cervia repairs is it in trust to provide a museum service ?)
'Loosely Male' - ha. That's actually quite funny. For you. Anyway it isn't me, I mean Lucy. I'm not Lucy is what I mean, just a comment troll.
ReplyDeleteRight, where's me rosaries...
"Just" is a word of the whiner (a mitigation). To avoid implicitly apologizing for yourself in future Troll you could try shutting up ?
ReplyDeleteI found this re Comment Trolls and their psychology
ReplyDelete"Trolls, who make it their business to criticize anything written and the people who wrote it, in some sort of sad attempt at self validation by being nasty towards others for the sake of it. Like taking drugs, trolling is a poor mistress that demands more and more to feed the self satisfying addiction that props up their self esteem."
The same is true of internet alter egos. Notably Loosely Male and Yeast Cleft Richard.
'Yest Cleft Richard' erm, no Richard, that's one joke attempt too far.
ReplyDeleteDNFTT
ReplyDelete