John White, RIP

We are very sorry to have to announce the sad and sudden death of our Hon Secretary, John White.

John has been unable to attend meetings or undertake physical activity following an earlier heart attack, but has continued to support the Society working from home and dealing with queries from members and others.

He is, of course, the compiler and author of the acclaimed “Sailing Barge Compendium” and of its coming successor, “Directory of Sailing Barges”, which is currently being edited before printing. This mammoth task saw him identifying the history of over 2,000 Thames sailing barges for the Compendium, and over 4,000 for the Directory, In addition he played a large part in the setting up of our first Archive unit and the cataloguing of items deposited in it, and took part in our attendance at various sailing barge and other maritime events.

John will be much missed by all of us in the Society. We send our deepest sympathy to his wife, Jenny, and the family.

Red Sails over the Medway exhibition now at Sun Pier House, Chatham

Film clip about the Dunkirk Little Ships

This lovely little clip is part of a longer film about a lonely man, (played by Richard Harris), who helps a local girl, (played by Jenny Agutter), rescue a wounded goose from hunters. “The Snowgoose” by Paul Gallico was first published as a story in 1940. It was filmed as a TV movie and won a Golden Globe Award, with Jenny Agutter winning an Emmy,,

Towards the end of the film, as shown in this clip, the Maldon Dunkirk fleet of Little Ships is featured and of course there are lots of barges.