TITANIC TENDER: Nomadic Preservation Society

Nomadic Preservation Society

PO Box 1422

Belfast

BT4 9AT

April 2012

Dear  Member,

On Wednesday 25^th April 2012 the Nomadic Preservation Society held its Members meeting in the Belmont Centre Belmont Church Road, Belfast. Approximately 40 members attended and a vibrant and worthwhile meeting took place.

Unfortunately, not all members can attend these meetings due to physical distance, other duties and of course illness and infirmity. It is with this in mind that I am compiling this report to keep all informed as best at possible.

Our Chairman David Scott Beddard and a few other Committee members were unable to attend for the various reasons given above and the meeting was jointly chaired by our Treasurer Mrs Liz James and me as Membership Secretary. Miss Frances James as Secretary also attended.

Mrs James read out a statement from our Chairman and an extract is below:

Firstly, to those who have recently donated to the lifeboat appeal, my heart-felt thanks! In this time of economic uncertainty, it is difficult to raise funds for anything! But your generosity really is most appreciated. To those who didn’t donate, I can just imagine David Young standing before you now with this letter in one hand and a collection tin in the other!

Financing the restoration of the lifeboat is the biggest challenge the NPS has undertaken and believe ME, it is no easy task. You all know that our first HLF application was turned down for educational criteria shortfall reasons. The NCT have agreed to support our second application by agreeing to accept the lifeboat for display purposes when a Welcome Centre is built closeby to Nomadic. Therefore, David Lawrence and I are currently preparing that 2^nd application and we are hopeful of a successful outcome. Naturally, we will keep you all updated with any news.

Secondly, the NCT have been quote in the region of £200,000 for a new mast for Nomadic. Whilst they are not asking US to help financially, they have asked for our assistance in specification and any other areas we might be able to help with.

To this aim, Nigel Hampson has contacted the Forestry Commission, asking if they could supply the timber for the mast. Obviously, he tried the sympathy card first, hoping for a free tree! But to no avail, as they explained they were not permitted to do so. However, depending upon size (which was later confirmed) a suitable tree can be purchased for just £500. This will be augmented by the cost of logistics to the makers of recently ‘turned’ masts for Cutty Sark and HMS Victory. All of this information will shortly be passed to the NCT.

Nigel & I hope you enjoyed the last edition of the Crow’s Nest and work is well under way for the next publication.

David Lawrence & I recently exhibited onboard the cruise ship Marco Polo and we gave a short lecture about Nomadic and her current status. Many of the passengers were fascinated by her story and although over 100 of them were keen to visit her during our stop-over in Belfast, sadly that couldn’t be arranged.

David Young gave an account of his recent cruise with his wife on the Fred Olsen ship “MS Braemar”, sister ship of the “MS Balmoral”  which has just completed the Titanic journey. The “Braemar” was on the reverse journey across the Atlantic and on the 11^th April2012, the centenary anniversary of the first day of Titanic’s fateful voyage, he presented a lecture including power point display on “Nomadic-- Titanic’s Little Sister-- Her Rescue and Restoration”. It was attended by upwards 200 passengers and received a favourable response.  Merchandise was also sold to the value of £133.00.

Next Thursday 3^rd May in Banbridge Co. Down, the Society is giving another lecture to the Banbridge Historical Society. Here we will sell and promote Nomadic.  We hope that this can be the way forward to promote Nomadic and raise necessary funds. Members at the meeting showed interest in getting the lecture and power point from David and opening up the lecture trail even wider.  David Young explained that an outlet, “Hillmount Nursery”, on the outskirts of Belfast has promised after further discussions, to grant us an open weekend. This will allow us to lecture, display, promote and sell our merchandise free of charge. Everything passing the Nomadic tables including contributions will go completely to Nomadic.

 David to follow this up and arrange details.    

The mast project was discussed and the Society is continuing investigations into producing the mast and rigging for the Trust and a greatly reduced cost. This is ongoing.

The Lifeboat was discussed next, and the Membership was advised that although we had paid £8000.00 up to date, the final bill including VAT would easily pass £20,000.00. This now became the most important fund raising programme for the foreseeable future.  Personal donations have been coming in slowly and the Society wishes to gratefully thank all involved in this, but more is needed and will not be enough to fill the coffers for this or other projects. It now is essential that we fund raise on a grand scale.

David Young and Mrs Liz James told the Membership of things that have been started. Two or three companies have been approached and we are hopeful of some return on this venture. The 2^nd application to the HLF is underway in England and must be issued with all urgency and speed.

David Young has a meeting next Wednesday 2^nd May with Arlene Foster MLA Minister for DETI Dept. Enterprise Trade and Industry which encompasses Tourism. The outcome from which, will hopefully open some doors.   

Whilst on board “Braemar” David and Ruth met with the Corporate Training and Development Coordinator for Fred Olsen Cruise Lines. He is a long standing member of the NPS and is now going to approach Fred Olsen and their PR Director to see if there can be an outlet advanced with the Cruise Line.

The Treasurer and Secretary are completing the Gift Aid papers to claim tax relief on all donations from 2009 and e-Bay is hopefully to be expanded to promote the sale of merchandise. We do not want added expense from e-bay each time we list our merchandise.

Our Website has become a major issue and with the assistance of Mervyn Pritchard, he has been instructed to go ahead and get it up and improved very quickly. We are constantly being asked about the site and we need to get under the Titanic umbrella and earn money for the Nomadic. One Committee member Nigel Hampson has offered help from another source in England and between them all we would hope to progress this issue very quickly.

We have two items of interest within the Society. One is a Silver plated fruit dish from the “Olympic”. This had been donated by David Rubin in USA.  It was put to the membership that selling it on may raise needed funds. After much discussion by the membership it was decided not to sell the dish but offer it for display for rent at possibly the Titanic Quarter and then keep for our own display on Nomadic. The other is a 1910 photographic print of “Olympic”, again which could have copies made and sold and the original again offered for display. The Society, now own the copyright of the print and hopefully something will come from this.

The meeting was advised of some of the details of the last Trust meeting attended by Roy Snowden. The Dept. of Social Development have now handed over the Nomadic to the Trust who are setting up a management company called a Trading Arm to run the vessel as a venture to ensure her financial future.

This has up to 12 months backing from the DSD before complete severance. The Trust hope to open the Vessel to the public during the 12^th July fortnight and the Society members want to know for sure and are offering voluntary support during this period. The committee to keep in touch and progress this ensuring that the Trust continue to get the Vessel into the public eye.

As Membership Secretary, I appeal to you all to keep up your membership as “Now is the Time” to ensure you are part of her future.

REMEMBER—We as the committee are small and can only do so much we need each and everyone of you to look at some way of promoting sponsorship or financial sales of our merchandise including the book “Belfast’s Child” , available on Amazon.  Can you find companies, friends, acquaintances and speak with them asking for assistance in raising as much as you can to pay off the Lifeboat and return her to the public as a White Star Artefact. The Lifeboat is within weeks of completion and although the workmanship on the finished article is excellent, no-one will see it until our debts are cleared.  We, your committee are trying every avenue we know of but require your expertise to complete the venture. The Nomadic’s restoration projects will be continuing into the future and your “Society Needs You”.   Please help in any small way with ideas and efforts across the UK.          Nothing is too small.

The next meeting will be in August and the AGM will be in November. The Committee will finalise the exact dates with the Chairman and get it out to the membership promptly.

The meeting closed with a general chat and a cup of tea. All those present agreeing that a good open meeting had taken place.

David Young

Membership Secretary

Contributors: Morag Irving BA (OPEN)., Dip.Lit. e-mail: moragirvinguk@aol.com Tel:01733 345581 Julian Bray NUJ, Equity Tel:01733 345581 BBC No: 10476453 Home isdn 01733 555319 2012 Anniversary RMS Titanic Illustrated Lecture Series and 'all issues' Q&A sessions now available, please enquire for available dates.