Important notice re membership subscription renewals

If you are an SSBR member you have probably just received the new edition of Mainsheet, or if, like me, you live in an area where the post comes once a week if you are lucky, you may still be waiting for it.

I’m reliably informed that the current Mainsheet has some first class articles, and also included in the package is the membership renewal form for the year 2022.

Many members are now using electronic payments so the form includes the SSBR bank account details, but unfortunately there are errors in the numbers shown.,

The form has a seven digit account number but it should be eight numbers.   The correct SSBR account number is: –

74798700

And the sort code is wrong too – that should be

09-01-52

Our Membership Secretary, Mark Allinson, sends his apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Update on what we are doing

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2020  –  Well, here we are again, once more in Lockdown although a little less severe this time.   Work on maintaining barges goes ahead as that’s something that can be done in isolation, or with  sufficient room for social distancing by a few volunteers.

We at SSBR cannot hold meetings in person, but have met by Zoom so the admin gets done and decisions get made by Zoom, email or telephone.   One of those decisions was that we could not hold The Bargeman’s Award competition in 2020, but let’s hope we can get back with it in 2021.  Incidentally, it was good to see one of our former winners, Laurie Watkins, on Channel 4 TV last week, when he and skipper Andy Taylor took sb Lady Daphne up river to the Pool of London with Gyles Brandreth and Sheila Hancock on board.   They were making an episode of the Great Canal Journeys programme, and were very excited when Tower Bridge lifted for Lady Daphne to pass through.

Members of SSBR will, in the last week or so, have received this year’s edition of Topsail and the autumn issue of Mainsheet.   How’s that for a bumper bundle of treats!   Congratulations to Editors, Richard Walsh and Charles Traill, and indeed their respective printers, for getting them out in these difficult times and keeping up contact with our members.

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Since we wrote in May about how SSBR’s programme would be affected by the Coronavirus pandemic life has continued in much the same way for many of us.   The easing of lockdown has meant that some travel is allowed, but most people seem to think it is better to stay as near home as possible.

The Committee feels it is unlikely we shall be able to hold any meetings this year, but we are in frequent contact to deal with matters as they arise.

Meanwhile Sue Reed has had to stand down as Membership Secretary.   We thank her for her work since mid 2019, including handling the start-of-year subscription renewals.

For the time being Richard Walsh has kindly agreed to be Acting Membership Secretary and he will be dealing with both new applications for membership and annual renewals.   He looks forward to hearing from new members  –  there is a membership form which can be accessed via the SSBR Membership tab above, and it includes Richard’s address.   Any existing members with queries about their subscriptions can contact Richard.   We apologize to anyone who received a reminder letter when they had already paid.   Unfortunately in the hand over of records and scramble to get out the mailing a few errors occurred.

If you need to contact  Richard about membership, his details are:-  Richard Walsh,  39 Friars Road, Braughing, Hertfordshire, SG11 2NN.   Telephone:  01920 821683.   Email:  Richard@chaffcutter.com

A good day for an AGM

Very well attended SSBR AGM today at The Three Daws, Gravesend.   The room was full.

Chairman, Elizabeth Wood, had come to the end of her three year term of office, in which much has been achieved. She thanked all her fellow Committee members for their help to her and to the Society.

Secretary, John White, said that inquiries from people seeking information about barges on which family members had worked, etc, averaged two a week.   In addition, he was working on a book about the 4,500 sailing barges for which he held records.   It would probably be called something like The Barge Directory.   He was making good progress with it, but there was still much to do.   The earliest barge he had found was built in 1751.

Treasurer, Graham Dent, presented audited accounts for 2014, which showed a loss of £2,877, but this had been caused for good reasons.   There had been extra expenditure to mark our 50th anniversary year, and members had received free of charge two books, The Prowess of Charlie Fielder and Still in the Samphire, which involved printing and postage costs.    Excellent value for members.   Graham thanked Chris Snelling for examining the accounts.

Membership Secretary, Margaret Blackburn, reported that membership in 2014 totalled 421, so keeping us well above what had been our target of 400.   27 new members had joined in that year.   To date, in 2015, 369 membership subscriptions had been received, including 9 new members, so hopefully we would maintain our numbers and maybe increase them.

Charles Traill, Editor of the twice-yearly Mainsheet, said he was very grateful for the news and information provided to him by members and for photographs he was sent.   He thanked Margaret and Brian Blackburn for proof-reading and despatching the magazine.   Next year would see the 100th edition of Mainsheet published, and in the same year the annual Topsail publication would reach its 50th edition.   So something special would be needed.

As well as being Editor of Topsail, Richard Walsh co-ordinates other Society publications and keeps us informed about other barge publications.   Still in the Samphire by the late David Wood reflects the history of the Society gathered from Committee minutes and the recollections of David and other members, and had been published in 2014 to celebrate the Society’s 50th anniversary.   Also written by David Wood, (a long-serving Committee member), together with Richard Walsh, is The Prowess of Charlie Fielder.   It has received excellent reviews, including one by a distinguished reviewer who described it as “ground-breaking”.

The next Society publication, (currently being prepared), is the history of EJ Goldsmiths of Grays, the company which had the biggest fleet of sailing barges.   It is being written by Graham Dent and edited by Richard Walsh, with many pieces of information about both the fleet and the Goldsmith family continuing to be received.

Our Archivist, Don Wright, reported that 2014 had been a good year for the donation of photographs, manuscripts, books, etc, to our Archive at Fambridge.   More than 16,000 items had now been catalogued, with a further 4,000 partly done.   Don said that members were welcome to visit the Archive by appointment, and that anyone who wished to do so should contact him.

The next item on the Agenda was the election of officers and Committee members followed by the presentation of the Society’s three trophies to the winners for the year.

Richard Walsh was elected SSBR’s new Chairman;  Charles Traill was elected Vice Chairman;  the other members of the Committee were re-elected, to be joined by a new member, Linda Hoy.   Since the meeting, Tim Mileson has been co-opted to the Committee.

The trophy winners were:-

Half Model  –  Robin Neale for cataloguing the Charles Dance collection.

Colindell  –  Toby Lester and Linda Hoy for the restoration of sb Ironsides.

Deadeye  –  posthumously to the late David Wood for The Prowess of Charlie Fielder.

Chairman Emeritus, Tony Farnham, kindly donated a barge picture  –  a steel engraving  –  to be raffled for the Society’s funds. 

After a break for a welcome cup of tea, two films were shown:  a short dvd made by Robert Gillard of his father’s cine film of the 1966 Medway match, and one by Simon North about the restoration of sb Centaur.

See what you’re missing if you’re not a member!

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Learn more about sailing barges – join us in the SSBR

Want to know more about the beautiful Thames Sailing Barges, or do you know somebody who might?   For just £20.00 a year you can subscribe to the Society for Sailing Barge Research and receive our two excellent publications, Topsail and Mainsheet.   There are also some other publications by the Society for Sailing Barge Research which are sent out free to our members.   So if you would like to know more or are looking for an interesting Christmas/Birthday present why not sign up.

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From the back of my head

The committee members of SSBR usually get advance warning that the latest edition of Mainsheet is on its way.  So when that light thud came as the post hit the doormat this morning I guessed it had arrived.

Charles Traill always plays his cards close to his chest and will never tell us, beyond perhaps a small hint about one item, what the contents will be.   It has to be a surprise.   So there is always much interest in what we will find when we open the publication.

As agreed at a committee meeting in January, Charles had included a resumé of our deliberations about the future, and with it was a photograph of the committee.

“Gosh”, I thought, “my hair does look nice, all those lovely long curls”.   I hate having my photograph taken, but this was good, this was acceptable.   For dear Charles had stood behind me to take his picture of the committee and it was a photo of the back of my head!

What is more important though, and much more worth saying, is that the current Mainsheet lives up to its reputation as a first class magazine.

Those of you who follow The Barge Blog and its Facebook page see interesting and often chatty news about barges, barge people and the barge world, together with great photos, old and new.   But you could get so much more if you joined the Society for Sailing Barge Research.   For an amazing annual subscription of £20 you not only help preserve documents, photographs and artifacts on Thames sailing barges and promote research into the vessels, you also receive two copies of Mainsheet each year and an annual Topsail, our acclaimed in depth study of the history of sailing barges.   And you also receive discounts on other publications commissioned by the Society.   Here’s a link to the  SSBR Membership Form .   Do join us now.