Issue Number: 20. We re On The Move!

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1 Issue Number: 20, Fleet We re On Move! Dockyard Chapel in its new glory se are exciting times for the Sunderland Trust Team as we prepare - in the town s Bicentennial Year - to move to the Dockyard Chapel and establish the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre. Long cherished ambitions to take on the Chapel can now be realised, after a services wing was added last year for owners Pembrokeshire County Council. This beautifully restored Georgian building will be our heritage centrepiece, reflecting the community s unique connections with all three Armed Services and its remarkable social history. We plan to be operating at the Chapel from early April and displays will feature Pembroke Dock s 200 year Timeline, spanning two packed centuries. Chapel will be the focus of special events during the Bicentennial and we will be marking important milestones in both local and national history. se include the 70th Anniversary of D-Day; the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I and the Armistice anniversary in November. D-Day anniversary is staged in conjunction with our friends from the Coastal Command and Maritime Air Association (CCMAA) who last year supported our Battle of the Atlantic Weekend and the dedication of a new memorial. CCMAA will be holding a reunion at Pembroke Dock over the D-Day Weekend, 6th - 8th June. Our ever popular Flying Boat Centre will remain in its Dockyard location but the intention is to relocate this to the Chapel site when we are able. This is yet another phase of our heritage plans. If you are able to visit us in the town s 200th year you can be assured of the warmest of welcomes.

2 , Fleet Chapel concert a Sell Out A sell out concert at the Dockyard Chapel on February 1st - organised by the Sunderland Trust as part of the town s Bicentennial celebrations - raised over 3,000 for the Trust and its heritage projects. audience of 350 people enjoyed a feast of music and entertainment provided by the Pembroke and District Male Voice Choir and the RAF St Athan Voluntary Band - the first time in 60 years that a RAF Band had performed at the Chapel which was the RAF Church when flying boats were based here. concert was sponsored by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority. Chief guests were National Park Chairman Book News Dockyard Chapel hosts an invitationonly book launch in March - of the eagerly awaited Pembroke Dock and the Old Navy - a Bicentennial History, by Lieutenant Commander Lawrie Phillips. Lawrie was brought up in Pembroke Dock and his book is the product of a lifetime s research into the old Royal Dockyard and its ships. This is the definitive history, covering 350 pages and has superb illustrations. Both Lawrie Phillips and Admiral the Right Honourable Baron West of Spithead - who wrote the Foreword - will be signing copies at the launch Councillor Mike James; the Chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council, Councillor Arwyn Williams; Mayor of Pembroke Dock, Councillor Jane Phillips; the Mayor of Pembroke, Councillor Keith Nicholas, and MP Simon Hart. This unique musical occasion was splendidly supported, despite the atrocious weather. During the interval a superb painting of a Sunderland, donated by leading aviation artist Patricia Forrest, was auctioned. It was purchased by chorister John Kilcoyne for his Lovesgrove Guest House. Pembroke and District Male Voice Choir and the RAF St Athan Voluntary Band on stage at the Dockyard Chapel event on March 10th and signed copies will also be available through our website or by sending a cheque for 24 (payable to, to our office address. Pembroke Dock and the Old Navy - a Bicentennial History is published by History Press at 20. Also still available is the new edition of History of Pembroke Dock as mentioned in page hardback has been a huge success and only a few copies remain. A new Foreword was written by BBC Wales radio and television presenter Jamie Owen whose late father, Mr James Meyrick Owen, is very well remembered as an historian so passionate about his home town. Priced at plus 3 postage this book is also available from the Sunderland Trust.

3 , Fleet Tuning into a wartime Christmas Ghosts from Christmases past were stirred in December as the Trust turned the clock back 70 years. With blinds drawn and windows taped up Trust volunteers set the scene for a wartime Christmas at the Fleet Surgeon s House visitor centre. setting was the front parlour of a family home and many items from the Trust s extensive collection were displayed. table was laid for simple Christmas fayre and it was make do and mend with a child s dress made from parachute silk as a treasured item. Uniforms and tin hats hung on pegs, plus a cat on the mat! Sunderland Trust Volunteers set the scene taking tea at the table as they tuned into war news on the wireless. Sunderland Trust Volunteer Ryan Hill tunes the wireless into Christmas 1944 as Rose Blackburn (left) and Paddy Pratt partake of a cup of tea Optics Boost For Dive Team Sunderland Trust Dive Group members who monitor Sunderland T9044 on the seabed off Pembroke Dock will now have a clearer view of their charge, thanks to generous sponsorship by Maggs Optics of Haverfordwest. Maggs have donated special lenses which fit into inserts for the full face masks used by the divers. This will allow four of the divers who normally wear glasses to see much more clearly when they work 20 metres below the surface. Diver Dai Humphreys said: inserts look like spectacles which click into the face masks. Individual prescription lenses have been fitted into four pairs so those of us who wear glasses are now able to see clearly our instruments and close up work. Dive colleague Chris Gammon added: lenses are expensive items so the sponsorship has been a massive help to us as we prepare for a new season of diving on Sunderland T9044. Paul Maggs (left) and Dai Humphreys (right) are pictured with Maggs Opticians staff members Tina Weak and Naomi Dalton and Dive Group members Chris Gammon, Rik Saldanha and Nigel Evans Iolo s Welsh Sea first programme of Iolo s Welsh Sea, the BBC Wales series presented by Iolo Williams, was broadcast in February. re will be special interest in the programme on Sunday 9th March as it will feature Iolo diving on our Sunderland, T9044. For those who are not in the BBC Wales catchment area there may be an opportunity to view the programme on the BBC i player. Welcome Aboard We welcome Marilyn Mitchell to the Volunteer Crew. Marilyn is married to Peter, one of our earliest volunteer recruits and a top class modeller whose models including Spitfire and Fokker floatplanes and Stranraer flying boats grace our Flying Boat Centre. Marilyn and Peter join other husband and wife teams who support the Trust s many activities. Facebook Feedback Leanne reports: Facebook Page has, in just a few weeks, become a must see with many of our posts achieving hundreds of hits all over the world in very short time - plus excellent comments and feedback. Two shots, of the aftermath of bombing raids in 1940, have each had nearly 2,000 hits - and the figure is climbing all the time! Our Facebook page is run from HQ at Fleet Surgeon s House. Please like and share our page and show support for our cause. Any information you would like to add to our page please contact Leanne and we can share it with all our Friends worldwide. enquiries@sunderlandtrust.org.uk

4 , Fleet Volunteer Focus Nick Hammond - On End Of A Line! If a lobster pot line had not got tangled up with a Haven wreck 15 or so years ago then life for all of us involved in the Sunderland Trust would certainly be different today. Called in to untangle the line was diver Nick Hammond, whose home at Burton overlooks Pembroke Dock and a wide expanse of the Haven Waterway. Nick will always remember what he found. We regularly get asked to free lobster pots. This time, with Steve James as my dive colleague, we followed the line down and found it was caught up in an aircraft propeller. We had a good look round and of course a Sunderland came to mind. re was an engine separate from the wreck and the idea came to us later about recovering this. That idea was soon mentioned to the team running the Gun Tower Museum* on Pembroke Dock s waterfront and research began into Sunderland losses in the Haven. At the same time Nick and dive friends Nigel Evans, Steve and Hazel Thompson, continued to dive on their new found wreck. Things really notched up a few gears when a film company tasked with making the second series of Wreck Detectives for Channel 4 contacted Nick and his colleagues. This was just the sort of subject for the series. So in August 2003 a former Russian tug camped in the Haven opposite Pembroke Dock for three days and in glorious weather the film crew and their support team dived on the Sunderland. Nick, too, dived with the team. By now research had pointed to the identity of the Sunderland as T9044, and the sight of a Pegasus XXII looming out of the murk confirmed this. finale came when the port inner Pegasus, which had already fallen off its mounting, was craned to the surface and rapidly deposited in a tank of fresh water. That engine will shortly become a centrepiece attraction at the Dockyard Chapel Centre. When the Sunderland Trust came into existence Nick was one of the founder members of the Trust s Volunteer Team. He was also, with Steve Thompson and Nigel Evans, a founder of the Sunderland Trust Dive Group, which is unique in the UK. Nick took up diving in his early 20s and has dived in many parts of the world - including Israel, Cyprus and the Red Sea. In those locations he has encountered much more favourable conditions than the Haven where, whatever the conditions, it is always a challenging dive. Among finds he has made are a ship s bell, an impressive porthole and a marlin spike, but his fascination is particularly in the identity of the wrecks he dives on. Nick sees tremendous opportunities for a Dive Heritage Trail in and around the Milford Haven Waterway which has wreck sites spanning many centuries. And the PDST Dive Group is keen to research and explore more of these, using locally based dive charter vessel Blue Thunder - owned and operated by brothers Will and John Fenneberg who are group members - and the group s own RIB Guardian. Dive Group is the only one permitted to dive on T9044, which has a 100 metre exclusion area around it. Nick, who works as a bosun on Ocean Dragon, a North Walesbased multi-task dive, survey and salvage vessel, is a real driving force for the PDST Dive Group which has 10 dedicated members. All are fervently hoping for a period of dry, settled weather in order to resume diving on T9044 and to recover more items from the Sunderland, 74 years after it slipped below the storm lashed waves of the Haven. And you can count on it that first in when weather permits will be Nick Hammond! * Gun Tower Museum - in a Victorian fort - has been closed for three seasons due to water ingress problems but plans are advancing for it to be reopened. John Evans Nick kitting up for his Wreck Detectives dive on T9044

5 , Fleet Donation In Memory We have been very touched by the generous donation received from the Dixon family in memory of Mr Frank Dixon, of Leeds. An LAC airframe mechanic in the RAF, Frank was based at Castle Archdale and Pembroke Dock and also Singapore and Hong Kong with Far East Flying Boat Wing Sunderland squadrons 88, 205 and 209. He loved the Sunderland and the aircraft featured much in Frank s stories, a favourite one being when he nearly fell off the tail of a Sunderland when reading a letter from his wife in the glow of the aircraft s tail light. Frank died in August and sympathy is extended to his wife - they had been together for 68 years - and the wider family. Acquisitions Many thanks to all who have added items to the Pembroke Dock Collection. Recent acquisitions include: Friends Greetings to all our Friends worldwide who really spread the word. We depend on you, not just for your contributions of time and stories to our archive, but also donations of artefacts to our collection, and supporting us and following our story. As ever grateful thanks are extended to you all. If you know anybody that would like to be kept up-to-date with our story, please do encourage them to support us by purchasing a subscription and becoming a Friend - this really does make a difference to us. Phone us on , or follow this link: Legacy Giving Leaving a Legacy or a Donation is a very special way to support the Trust s work. To find out more about Legacies and Donations we have a document which provides further information. This is available on our website: and is also available by post on request. Please contact Glynnis Iles on or write to us. Help Us - How To Donate Photographs: Community photos - Maureen and John Powell; HMS Britannia - Gwynneth Richmond; series of photos of HMS Amphion - David Woodliffe; marine craft - Clive Mauler; Collection of Ivy Batchelor, WAAF, - Peter James. Books: Additions to the library from Betty Parsons, John Witcomb, John Mitchell, Malcolm Miles and Rik Sandanha. Other items: Three programmes produced for launches of Dockyard ships from the collection of the late Jack and Joan Sudbury; medal collection - Dorothy Morgan; St Andrews Presbyterian Church crockery, courtesy of Mrs Rosalind Silcox; National Identity Card - Eileen Williams; World War I memorabilia - Ronald Benger; framed print, Our National Defences - Joan Scott; wartime newspaper - Sue Thomas; HMS Argonaut plate - Jean Brabon. HMS Amphion and a Dockyard launch souvenir programme Friends wishing to donate can do so as follows: ONLINE Donations can be made online - via Virgin Money Giving - please see link via our website POST Cheques please to our offices at Fleet Surgeon s House, 1 Terrace, Royal Dockyard, Pembroke Dock, SA72 6TD IN PERSON To the Flying Boat Centre or to our offices at Fleet Surgeons House Please remember Gift Aiding it if you are a UK taxpayer If you wish to make regular donations we would be delighted to hear from you, please call us on , or follow the following website link to our standing order form Welsh Version A Welsh version of this newsletter is available on request. Best Wishes from the Sunderland Trust Team Thanks and best wishes from us all, John, Glynnis, Eleanor, Mark, Leanne and all involved at the Flying Boat Centre, Fleets to Flying Boats, Glass House Coffee Shop and Sunderland Trust. Supported by: