December 2023

Happy New Year to all our volunteers, friends and supporters. December is historically a quiet month as we approach Christmas, but this year we have also had to deal with the appalling weather. Cold we can deal with, but persistent wet weather pretty much rules out any significant work on deck. Down below is the place to be when the wind is howling and the rain is battering down. Bob Adam had clearly volunteered to take on the plum job of constructing the walkway down the port side of the boiler in order to avoid the weather. The supporting timber frame is well on the way, and once the job is complete access to both sides of the boiler will assist considerably in the fitting of the crinolines and lagging material. Work in manufacturing the crinolines has continued on board and away from the vessel and is making good progress. Also down below, work on pipework to the new boiler circulating pump progresses slowly as winter lay-up on the boiler itself is completed. Unfortunately, work on the wiring for the de-humidifiers ground to a halt due to an extremely unwelcome bout of pneumonia suffered by the writer, but hopefully this work should be completed soon. Sadly, my confinement brought about the cancellation of the usual lunch featuring hot mulled wine and mince pies on the last volunteer working party before Christmas, but the disappointment was tempered by Matthew who brewed a Christmas ‘Bunker C’ porter for the crew’s consumption. As ever we enter the New Year with a full jobs list and the hope that we can recruit some new volunteers in order to keep the ‘Old Girl’ in good operating condition.