Supporting the preservation and operation of paddle steamers Waverley and Kingswear Castle
We have just received some very good news from the M.V. Balmoral Fund. “Balmoral”, which has recently used in the making of a feature film, is being allowed to remain at her current berth outside the M Shed Museum on Princes Wharf until the spring. This means that she will not be moored at The…
Read more
Now to take place at the Underfall Yard Visitor’s Centre, Cumberland Road, Bristol, BS1 6XG.
2019 marks the 40th anniversary since Waverley first visited the Bristol Channel and Ilfracombe.
Waverley completed all five Bristol Channel sailings between Friday 31st August and Tuesday 4th September with excellent loadings.
The Bristol Channel Branch are pleased to announce three new meetings in their area, together with one change, over the next four months.
Tom Eveson recently filmed some High Definition video footage on a day trip from Clevedon to Ilfracombe.
Having been storm bound, and anchored off Colwyn Bay since Wednesday evening, Waverley is now (Saturday 12.30pm) passing the Lleyn Peninsula heading for the Bristol Channel. With a fair weather forecast, and at her current speed, she should arrive off Clevedon in good time to start tomorrows (Sunday 31st) scheduled sailing to Penarth, Ilfracombe and Lundy Island.…
Read more
To keep members updated on Balmoral’s progress, extra meetings will be held on Saturday 17th May and Saturday 12th July.
Medway Queen has arrived safely back on on the River Medway. With a weather forecast for three or four days of light mainly northerly winds, she left Avonmouth under tow of the tug Christine on Friday 15th November, arriving on the Medway on 18th. On 19th she was moved alongside Gillingham Pier, where restoration work…
Read more
On Thursday 31st October Medway Queen was towed out of the Albion Dock, through the floating harbour and down the River Avon to Avonmouth. She will wait there until there is a suitable weather window, to allow the tow proper to commence. October/November is not a good time for a decent weather window, as the…
Read more
On Thursday 31st October Medway Queen was towed out of the Albion Dock, through the floating harbour and down the River Avon to Avonmouth. She will wait there until there is a suitable weather window, to allow the tow proper to commence. October/November is not a good time for a decent weather window, as the…
Read more
The tug Christine arrived in Bristol about a fortnight ago in readiness to tow Medway Queen back to the Medway. The necessary certificates to allow MQ to be towed must have now been issued, as she was towed out of the Albion Dock last Wednesday. A short film of the move can be seen below…
Read more
Details of the winter programme of Branch Meetings has now been posted.
The meeting aboard Balmoral last Saturday was very well attended – the Britannia Lounge was packed -standing room only. The main points to come out of the meeting were: Charitable Status should be received before the end of September Over £50,000 has been pledged so far, this will be worth 25% more with Gift Aid…
Read more
A meeting has been arranged, on board Balmoral (at Princes Wharf, Bristol) at 2.00pm on Saturday 31st August (not the Bank Holiday weekend). The meeting is open to all interested members. The purpose of the meeting is to: give members a progress report. coordinate branch assistance, especially for volunteers to ‘man’ the ship when she…
Read more
Pete Devrell has come up trumps again! Last Saturday he went along to Abels Shipyard in Bristol for the Rededication of Medway Queen. Video footage shot that day has been put onto YouTube and can be viewed by clicking the following link http://youtu.be/UrnT1zG2W0s some stills from the video appear below. The last time that I saw…
Read more
Underway, but she didn’t travel very far. Geoff Hale caught her on film moving from her berth on Princes Wharf to a vacant berth further down the dock – the move necessary as her usual berth was required for the Bristol Harbour Festival taking place 26th – 28th July. The short film footage can be…
Read more
Pete Devrell travelled to Dartmouth recently and sailed aboard KC for a trip along the River Dart to Totnes. Pete shot video footage of the trip that can be seen by clicking http://youtu.be/m-0oqoD4na0 Some stills from the video appear below. Pete visited Switzerland a few weeks ago and shot video of several paddle steamers, footage can…
Read more
Geoff Hale, editor of clevedonnews (a local newsreel of events in and around Clevedon) has kindly sent in a link to video he shot of Waverleys sailing from Clevedon to Minehead. http://youtu.be/Lv1C0mvSOfI He picked probably the best day of Waverleys Bristol Channel season, to sail – the sun came out and so did the passengers, around 400…
Read more
An official web site http://www.mvbalmoral.org.uk has been launched, with full details on how to make donations to the fund to get Balmoral sailing again in 2014 and beyond. There is a lot more information on the site about plans for the future. And if you want to be kept informed, you can sign up for the…
Read more
Peter Devrell has been on his travels again and has sent in some ‘stills’ and a short video of a trip he did on the river Dart aboard the paddler Kingswear Castle. The link to the YouTube video is HERE KC alongside at Dartmouth Lifebelt Ships bell and builders plate Approaching Dartmouth from the sea…
Read more
The ashes of Captain Phil (Clive) Power will be scattered at sea, on Saturday 1st June (12 noon ?). The RNLI Penarth Lifeboat will be carrying out this duty, just off Penarth Seafront. The family would like all those who knew or worked with Phil to attend. There will be a ‘do’ after the scattering, at…
Read more
You will have read in the current edition of Paddle Wheels the article about Balmoral written by Nick James. The proposals for static use in Bristol this year are still under discussion, and we hope for an outcome shortly.
The timetable for Waverley’s Bristol Channel sailings is now available on the Waverley Excursions website.
Some news from todays meeting: Waverley will be sailing on the Bristol Channel from 3rd June to 23rd June inclusive. Waverley timetable for the Bristol Channel should be on-line in the next few days – the paper timetable should be out in the next two weeks. Ways of utilising Balmoral in a static role (for…
Read more
Members will no doubt be interested in the following announcement that was posted on the PSPS web site on 13th March.
Some sad news that has just been brought to my attention, for anyone who may remember Captain Phil Power.
Due to the extreme weather conditions todays branch meeting has been cancelled. A new date for the meeting will be arranged once the weather improves……….watch this space.
Peter Devrell has uploaded some more videos to his YouTube Channel (HERE). There’s a 7 minute clip of a Waverley sailing from Southampton and Portsmouth to Yarmouth in September. There are 2 clips (about 10 minutes) of Swiss paddlers and for rail enthusiasts a number of clips of steam engines around the UK.
On 11th December the paddle steamer Kingswear Castle left the Medway, under tow (by the tug Christine) bound for the river Dart, where she was built in 1924 and plied her trade running river trips, until 1965. She made good progress down channel in good conditions. With strong southerly winds forecast, she put into Portland Harbour to…
Read more
