Glad Tidings update and it is, Glad Tidings! - a rescue package has been forthcoming from a benefactor as yet unknown - a big thank you to anyone who helped spread the word!
Can anyone help in any way here?
"This has been my first post here for a couple of years, and I'm afraid to say I am writing it in very bad circumstances.
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| Glad Tidings as she is today |
Glad Tidings, one of the last Victorian fishing "Fifies", a Scottish boat from Arbroath which was our home and which we've struggled to maintain since the death of my father in 2012, sank on her mooring in Kent several weeks ago. Up to this point she was taking in a large amount of water that was being kept at bay by mains pumps.
I made attempts to refloat her but she went down permanently, and the marina have drilled holes in the hull to relieve water pressure and to prevent the vessel breaking apart under the tide.
We urgently need an individual or group to step forward and take her over, and by urgent I mean days and not weeks. This will effectively be a giveaway, though there is several thousand pounds' worth of work involved craning her out and renovating the craft, starting by sealing the hull. I'm sorry to say there are also arrears, which are in the region of four thousand pounds.
In a week the marina are going to break her up. Relations have become strained in recent weeks, so any interested parties would have to negotiate with them as well as us with regards how the boat would be removed and whether it would stay there or not.
Our ambition was to return Glad Tidings to Scotland and ideally we would want a trust with that aim to step in. We've been pursuing that option up to this point, though these things take time and this is something we're rapidly running out of.
Anyone who wants to save a key part of fishing heritage can e-mail me at spalace@hotmail.co.uk. You can also call me on 07432 405 314.
You can read more about our life aboard Glad Tidings and see pictures of her in better times here. Due to bereavement, lack of finance and simply being stuck in an impossible situation we have presided over a mess that I hope can have a happy ending. With your help I can do it and close a horrible chapter in my family's life. Thank you for reading this message."
Steve