Trust History.

Thanks Pathfinder for your response to my thoughts. Do excuse my ignorance of The Trust's History, I hadn't read the old newsletters as closely as I should. (I only joined this year). The objectives look just fine to me.

The prospect of the Poole Centre sounds very exciting, as is the possibility of using Mashfords as a temporary base. Previously the trust could be visited by the public and I can see that you are working towards this again.

I certainly take the point about the people who worked and fought with these boats and the tie up with the Veterans Association seems an excellent step forward.

It does appear that WW2 is featuring more in peoples minds. I was educated in the 60's and 70's when children weren't formally tought about The War, my parents and grandparents routinely filled me in with the details!  The 80's and 90's saw no teaching on the subject and many in their 20's and 30's are now frightningly ignorant. I do sense that the tide may be turning with support from the Lottery Fund and new museums. There is plenty of surviving hardware about, eg Military vehicles, aeroplanes, etc.. (more durable than wooden craft). What is worrying though, is the rapidly declining "stock" of WW2 (and older) powerboats and the fact that many more will be lost before the realization of what has happened really hits home to our institutions, councils, etc... Until then, this group appears to be alone in the objective of saving them?

There is also only a finite number of enthusiasts who have enough time, money and bravery to tackle a project on their own, which brings me back to my previous post. I think that the Trust and Forum can be used to support individuals as well as "BMPT" projects and this would be especially valuable for those a long way from the south coast.

Have any local groups been set up? Are there any owners in need of help? Can I do anything?

Finally, no offense caused if you got my name wrong. As you have noticed I needn't hide my identity! and in fact I find the whole pseudonym thing confusing and a trifle annoying!

Cheers

Pseudonyms - These are obviously a part of the original set up for the Forum - but it does help those who would like to add some comment but wish to keep anonymous- for whatever their reasons.

I was pleasantly surprised to read here that DMSmith had made some pertinant comments on the dire state of our national education system over the years - especially the '70's and 80's etc. This is the reason, I would suggest, for the otherwise excellent footage recently shown on Operation 'Chariot' and Exercise 'Tiger' falling woefully short of giving a fuller picture - 'Tiger' without part 1, or 'Chariot' without MTB74, is like a beautiful car without wheels -if you get my drift.

I just picked my name as I wanted everyone to know where I was!!

Dropping out would not help anyone in anyway so I hope you don't!