Video - Help needed to save this 'Varnished Elegance' - The Thames at Windsor - Discussion Areas - The Royal Windsor Forum - Message Board

RSS
Email

0 Kudo

Video - Help needed to save this 'Varnished Elegance'

Author	Comment
thamesweb	Video - Help needed to save this 'Varnished Elegance'	Lead	[-]
Posts: 1321 (08/11/04 01:59:06) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None Some of the details in this post are no longer relevant but are retained for the record. The latest news is included at the end of this thread. As of June 2005, the New Windsor Castle is lying at Sunbury at Turks old boat yard which will shortly be redeveloped. The current owner is anxious to see the Windsor Castle moved and it is certain that she will be scrapped if a new owner cannot be found. The Royal Windsor Website is therefore looking for benefactors to come forward and support a venture whereby the steamer can be moved to Reading and renovated by a team of young volunteers. In a story published in the Windsor Express on April 22nd, cash is urgently required to purchase the vessel and ensure her safe transit to Reading. Once safely out of the water and on a hard standing, work can begin. One of the reasons why we are so keen to see her saved is that she was actually built at Windsor, on Jacob's Island, the only passenger steamer ever to be built on this stretch of the river. In addition, this is the stretch of the Thames where she spent most of her working life, and was a grand sight in the summer! Many Windsorians will have enjoyed Riverboat Shuffles in the summer months, and many too will have found their future wives and husbands during such delightful river trips. One other reason why the New Windsor Castle is so important is that she is a Dunkirk Little Ship, actually registered to assist in the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk in 1940. The New Windsor Castle also operated in the Pool of London helping to move passengers around the city when the roads were blocked during The Blitz. If you are able to help save the New Windsor Castle with a donation, please contact the Royal Windsor Website for the latest information. Our email is editor@thamesweb.co.uk. Many thanks If anyone has any photos, stories or other reminiscences of the Windsor Castle, do please let us know. We are particularly keen to obtain pictures of her being built on Jacob's Island. We would also love to receive copies of photographs and other news of both The Empress of India and The Windsor Belle. Last Edited By: thamesweb 06/30/08 10:41:46. Edited 2 times.
thamesweb	Re: Help needed to save The New Windsor Castle	#1	[-]
Posts: 1321 (06/17/05 08:19:36) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	We are very pleased to be able to include the following article that Chris Evans has written about his memories as a lad while working on the pleasure boats at Windsor Promenade in the 1960s. He also worked on the New Windsor Castle. Chris Evans Remembers Thanks are due to Chris and The Boater magazine.
thamesweb	Re: Varnished elegance - Background to Jacobs Steamers	#2	[-]
Posts: 1321 (06/17/05 09:06:33) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	For many years Jacobs operated The Windsor Belle, The Empress of India and the New Windsor Castle, three large and beautiful varnished wood river steamers, from the Windsor promenade until The Empress and the Windsor Castle were bought by Turks of Kingston. The Empress has since sunk (c. Winter/Spring 2005) and been broken up, and the same fate awaits The New Windsor Castle unless she can be saved, but the Windsor Belle is apparently in wonderful condition. The Windsor Belle soon after she was built in 1901 The Windsor Belle today Herewith details from National Register of Historic Vessels: The Empress of India was built in 1898. Gross Tonnage: 53.00. Length Overall: 21.64 metres. Passenger Vessel. Bibliography, Hamer, Geoffrey, 1995, Trip Out 1995/6 - A Guide to the Passenger Boat Services of the British Isles, pp. 22, G P Hamer. Also Hamer, Geoffrey, 1996, Trip Out 1995/6 - A Guide to the Passenger Boat Services of the British Isles Supplement, G P Hamer. The Windsor Belle was built in 1901 by Edward Burgoine, for ArthurJacobs, Windsor. Saloon Launch. The New Windsor Castle was built in 1923 on Jacob's Island, Windsor. (New Windsor Castle, Arthur Jacobs, Windsor, Passenger Vessel). The New Windsor Castle in her heyday The Empress and the New Windsor Castle were laid up at Sunbury [as of 2002], due to strict European regulations concerning the carriage of passengers. The blue and white Gaiety seen above moored on Jacob's Island is a most beautiful steel hulled, twin screw, Thames steamer dating from 1887. Now diesel powered, Gaiety remains in regular service although the original aft saloon has been removed. She was originally named Oxford and operated initially on the Thames by Salters Steamers. In those days, river travel, scheduled passenger services throughout the length of the Thames, were very common but nowadays are very limited. From 1927 Gaiety (as Oxford) worked the Severn Estuary and The Kennet and Avon Canal before being brought back to the Thames at Runnymede, partly by road, by her new owners, the boat operators French Brothers, in 1987. We would like to include more about these most elegant steamers, especially pictures, so if you have anything, do please let me know at >editor@thamesweb.co.uk<. Many thanks Last Edited By: thamesweb 06/30/08 09:57:36. Edited 1 times.
thamesweb	Incidents at Windsor Bridge	#3	[-]
Posts: 1321 (07/08/05 06:00:51) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	One of the rumours - urban myths - that surround the 'New Windsor Castle' is that her master, Harry Lansley, on occasion would mis-time his approach to the promenade and be swept downstream onto Windsor Bridge. I can state categorically now that such an event never happened!!! Harry Lansley was a very competent skipper for around 40 years, and there are no reports of any such mishaps!!!
thamesweb		#4	[-]
Posts: 1249 (06/28/08 13:47:46) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	We have been sent the above 1980s picture of Empress of India and Windsor Castle by riverthames.co.nr. Our thanks to Ben. He reports that as of June 08 Windsor Castle remains at Sunbury. Last Edited By: thamesweb 06/28/08 13:51:01. Edited 1 times.
thamesweb	Video of visit to view the New Windsor Castle	#5	[-]
Posts: 1251 (06/30/08 09:51:54) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	New Windsor Castle Video June 08 I went over to Sunbury today and was fortunate to meet the owner of the New Windsor Castle who allowed me to go aboard and take a few pictures. He is keen to see the former steamer from 1923 survive in some shape or other, but it will take money and a lot of time. We wish him luck and invite interested parties to email editor [at] thamesweb.co.uk Last Edited By: thamesweb 06/30/08 09:58:54. Edited 1 times.
Pat Larkin	New Windsor Castle	#6	[-]
Posts: 221 (07/07/08 05:14:46) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Very sad to see the state this vessel is in, but glad to know that someone is hoping to save her and return her to the water. Watching your video, I noticed, briefly, a pleasure boat passing in the background. How ironic, I wonder if her skipper realises that he's just passing a once-beautiful boat, built on Jacob's Island all those years ago. Couldn't the owner of The New Windsor Castle apply for help from The National Lottery, or maybe Windsor and Maidenhead Councils could help out.
benm		#7	[-]
Posts: 7 (07/08/08 11:05:34) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Perhaps my favourite photo of Windsor Castle in her glory:
Pat Larkin	'Windsor Castle'	#8	[-]
Posts: 226 (07/10/08 06:09:21) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Another good photo. Everyone's relaxed and enjoying themselves, I can see why this is 'perhaps' your favourite photo of Windsor Castle', benm. Is the passenger, sitting in front of the lifebelt, opening a toffee perhaps, and is the chap in the white suit trying to attract the attention of the lady in front of him? Looking at the men in particular, they are mostly wearing suits with ties, making me wonder if this could be an 'office party trip'? Windsor Castle looks just about ready to come out of the lock, or maybe she's just 'gone in'.......a charming picture whichever way you look at it. Thank goodness for photos like this.
benm	Another View of the 'New Windsor Castle'	#9	[-]
Posts: 9 (07/13/08 15:18:08) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Can anyone have a guess at the rough date of this picture? She still has her open wheelhouse. Last Edited By: thamesweb 07/14/08 01:56:54. Edited 1 times.
Pat Larkin	Age of photo	#10	[-]
Posts: 230 (07/14/08 01:11:19) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Maybe Summer, 1953-ish? It's a lovely picture of 'her', whatever the date. My Husband says 1947-50. Do you actually know, or are you testing us benm?