PS RYDE

[Red_Hamish]

Hi All,

Many thanks as ever to Len and his succinct comments as ever, also to channel for the pics. Well, yes she dose look in a state as one would expect, but....all doable, saw the Tornado steam locomotive on Top Gear last night, OK ONLY 3 million for a replica, ie your comments re the railways and funding, at this stage we need to save her as is, yes of course there are questions to sort and we are not blind to that, but we have lost far to much of our marine heritage by sitting around talking, oh dear what a pity, its all to difficult. With some great examples of say the VIC 96, Daniel Admason, Waverley, dare I mention Medway Queen? we hope to have a press release very soon, and see what support we can get, we can at least try,

Johnk

Hello all as a keen supporter in the world of paddlers. I've  only ever seen PS Waverley once and that was an entrancing glimpse I say that anyone who is prepared to stand up and endeavour to preserve these beautiful ships deserves all the support that we as enthusiasts can muster. No matter what side of the fence you stand on. Please be as supportive as your morals allow and  give these chaps the support that you can.

regards

Jim

[lenknight]

Thanks for your comments Jim, that all we ask for is a fair 'crack of the whip'


However,
Since my last commutations, things on the Trust side are moving, a new website will soon be launch, and charitable status is now in the pipe line, with a CAF bank account that can accept donations, funds are starting to come in.
It now down to the receivers to play their part, whenever!
Watch this space!!!

Len Knight.

[MarkYoungIW]

Hi Len,
  Finally managed to get signed up.  Dont know what I was doing wrong before, but better late than never I guess!!

As Len says, currently the Paddle Steamer Ryde Trust has just sent back the last couple of forms requested by the charity commission, so charitable status should be through very shortly.

There will be a new website through very shortly, just a matter of finishing off some content, and it will be up online very soon.

And ownership!!!  Well, that is being worked on, and should be coming to a successful conclusion, although as with everything it all takes time.

Its nice to see all the support already that we have been getting, and I am pleased that people can see beyond the rust.

To reiterate what Len has said, we have had surveyours over Ryde a couple of years ago (and they will be back before we complete on the aquisition of the vessel, and there findings wernt massively horrible!!

Basically though, and the nail has been hit on the head in this forum, she will require replating, she will require an amount of reframing, she will require new decks, new interior, new boilers, a bit of work on the engine and perhaps a new window here and there......but.......hasnt Waverley had some/a fair bit of new plating?  Some/a fair few new frames? Some/all new decking?  Shall I go on?

The long and the short of it is a steel ship, and salt water = repair+replacement over the years, it is all stuff that would of been done by now if she had been in constant service since 1937 anyway.

What we are trying to achieve is another operational paddle steamer for the nation!!  If English Heritage had stopped at one castle as an example, where would we be?  There are quite a few English Heritage sites in the UK, and all of them money makers!!

So to sum up, where we are coming from is Ryde has a good amount of history (more than most).  The south coast has a good tourist trade. An we have a fair old bit of water around here, which has nothing of her sort plying a summer trade here, and wait for it, most people that will go for a paddle steamer trips arent necessarily enthusiasts, so wouldnt go trawling over the country to find one.

We have an opportunity, and we are most certainly taking it, but we will need everyones help.

Watch this space!

[MarkYoungIW]

OK, I am in need of help!!!

The new website is nearly ready to go.......but!!

I need some people who enjoy adding the wikipedia............only...........I need them to add to a wiki that is just about to go online on the Ryde site.  A Rydeapedia shall we say.

It will be along the same lines as the Festiniog Railway's wiki, only all about Ryde.

If you can help and what to help, please contact me, and I will get you involved.  The more information relating to Ryde, her career, her engines, her builders etc etc, the better on it really.

Obviously a good place to source some information will naturally be wikipedia!!

Mark.

[MarkYoungIW]

Further to the 'Flog it' programme being aired on Friday:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p2gvy

We have been inundated with people concerned that Ryde is imminunately going to be scrapped, and what has happened to the console.

I can confirm that to prevent to console being lost into a private collection, the PSPS now have it in their collection.

With regards to Ryde being scrapped, this is currently an unfounded rumour.  The PSRT are working to acquire the vessel to prevent this, and under no means should people think we have given up as we certainly haven't.  We soldier on!!

[MarkYoungIW]

I notice today, for those of you that missed 'Flog It', that someone has posted a link to watch it online on one of the Isle of Wight forums.

http://ventnorblog.com/2009/06/16/ryde-queen-raises-600-for-ps-monarch/comment-page-1/#comment-79149

Wasnt sure whether I could post the links to watch it online here, so thought it best to post a link to the post........if you see what I mean.

Anyway, in the mean time, things are still progressing slowly, but surely.  Hopefully some better news soon, but being December, I think the festive season may well slow it down even more.Mark.

[Eddy Matthews]

A posting made by Len Knight on the Yahoo Group "Friends of the Ryde"...

I have sadly received information from the Ryde Trust that the ship is being demolished by her owners/receivers, more disturbing is the fact that no contact seems to have been made with the Trust, before this was implemented.
Not exactly good practice, as the Trust was to all intents and purpose still in negotiations to buy the Ryde!
 If fact, this is deployable bad practice to say the least!

I will keep you informed as I receive more info, below are pictures of the start of this deployable act

Not sure this is the correct H&S means to demolish  anyway, re asbestos, Having been involved in this with the Medway Queen, the procedure was by far different to this approach, all areas had to be sealed before removal, not much evidence of this here!

 

http://s1023.photobucket.com/albums/af354/e-trotters/PS%20Ryde/

Regards
Eddy

[PaddleWheel]

I saw that. It's a shame, but it was always going to happen-and please DON'T take that comment the wrong way!

[Channel]

Hardly a surprising move. Be nice if her engines and other useful items such as winches etc were saved though . . .

Farewell Ryde . . . .

Chris

[MarkYoungIW]

Hi,
  Yes, as Len has pointed out, works have started on her demolition.  Not much more is clear at the moment, and as it stands it doesnt look like anything else is going to happen for a fortnight.

We were as surprised as everyone else, but it looks like the administrators didnt take us seriously, and after reading many posts by people that are 'Hardly surprised' by this, and the fact that people had relayed such comments directly to them, it seems Ryde's wellbeing wasnt at everyones heart.

Like I say though, works have stopped for the timebeing, so we will keep you updated.  We are working to see if there is any chance of saving anything at all from the ship, but even that is unclear at the moment.  It wasnt for the lack of trying from the Trust, but it seems that things/and some people were always going to be against us.

A post I pointed to above to show where people could watch flog it, seems to have been used to discredit us, and many of the things that happened like this, really didnt help our cause.

We have and will continue to do anything we can right up to the bitter end.

[jkemp1]

Hello,

Just to support my collegues and friends Mark and Len, no I don't take the wrong way your comment "it was always going to happen" just don't agree, we certainly did not take that view and still don't, very little of our maritme heritage would be here today if we did, from Medway Queen to Kingswear Castle, in the teeth of what Mark right points out, is a deluge of hurdles and negative comments from many quaters. 

John Kempton

[MarkYoungIW]

We are currently working with the NHS, PSPS and others to get a stay of execution for Ryde, so that a sensible solution can be worked out.

There are many many people involved in this project, so please bear with us on bringing information to you.

Like we say, we are still in shock ourselves that this route has been taken, when as a Trust we have the backing of the PSPS and NHS, and have everything in order to take this project on, when all that was required was the ownership of the vessel.

Instead for some reason a route that costs the administrators and creditors in turn money has been taken, rather than a route that would have brought them a little money and a lot less bad publicity!!

We dont want to give up on this piece of our history, so please back us up.  We need widespread coverage with this.  We are working on media coverage in the South, and will soon be able to produce more facts as to what has happened to gain more coverage everywhere.

Regards

[rjenkins]

Thanks for the update Mark, it's good to hear that you're still fighting the good fight on this one.  From the photos it appears that the work so far has involved removing the collapsed funnel and fiddley, which would need to be done anyway even if the boat was to be moved intact and restored.  The forward deck saloon is also damaged, but presumably this would also be rebuilt in the restoration (I don't think the Waverley has anything left original from the deck up since her last rebuild), so I don't see the Ryde being any less restorable now than she was before the demolition work began. 

As for all the naysayers, just remember you don't have a "they said it couldn't be done" project until somebody tries to tell you it can't be done.  Just ask the MQPS or the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust about that!  Unfortunately, it seems that in this case there are some who just don't know when to shut up and get out of the way, an attitude that makes about as much sense to me as the "we'd rather have her rotting here than restored somewhere else" attitude that the marina owners held for so many years.  Can we stand idly by and watch the stubborn short-sightedness of a few destroy a ship that has given heroic service to her country and pleasure to so many?  The Ryde needs all of our help now more than ever.  Don't give up the ship!

[PaddleWheel]

It appears the heads of the PSPS are shocked. Myra Allen phoned us the other night asking us what we knew, and she said something about a museum wanting to buy the funnel to display 'saucy' postcards inside it?? I don't think that anyone could easily walk inside the thing and besides, it's knackered...if the scheme's true it's a rather far fetched...

I think that Ryde should be saved, yes, of course I do. I just don't want to see the PSPS get too involved...they've already got one millstone round their neck and that's Balmoral and they've got enough trouble running Waverley...

I've put a banner link thingy on the YPW homepage and will send out a flyer to the junior members...most of them are children of 'proper' society members so hopefully they'll get past on etc...

I think the problem with the recievers is that they have no interest in Ryde...they see Ryde is a liability and all they want to do it get rid of it as soon as they can which is probably why they chose the route they did.

If the Ryde was to be saved I think the oppurtunity has just presented itself.

[Channel]

It appears the heads of the PSPS are shocked. Myra Allen phoned us the other night asking us what we knew, and she said something about a museum wanting to buy the funnel to display 'saucy' postcards inside it?? I don't think that anyone could easily walk inside the thing and besides, it's knackered...if the scheme's true it's a rather far fetched...

I think that Ryde should be saved, yes, of course I do. I just don't want to see the PSPS get too involved...they've already got one millstone round their neck and that's Balmoral and they've got enough trouble running Waverley...

I've put a banner link thingy on the YPW homepage and will send out a flyer to the junior members...most of them are children of 'proper' society members so hopefully they'll get past on etc...

I think the problem with the recievers is that they have no interest in Ryde...they see Ryde is a liability and all they want to do it get rid of it as soon as they can which is probably why they chose the route they did.

If the Ryde was to be saved I think the oppurtunity has just presented itself.

Balmoral is a very versatile ship . . . . . she could be operated succesfully on her own and return a healthy profit. She is far from a millstone, perhaps wrongly managed at times probably as a result of the paddler taking the spotlight. If this how members of the PSPS and the PSPS themselves feel about her perhaps she should be seperated from the operation and put into the hands of managment team dedicated to her operation and future . . .

Long live Balmoral. Farewell Ryde!

www.mvbalmoral.co.uk