A night out with the Matthew

Twenty six volunteers spent an evening on the Matthew, gently gliding over in the vague direction of St Mawes. Althoguh Rob used the engine to leave the pontoon, there was sufficient breeze to raise a single topsail, bringing her hull speed to a dizzy 0.9 knots. The more adventurous were all for raising a few more sails but their loudly dropped hints were not heard.

In this picture a impromptu prayer meeting begs for more wind (actually they were lowering the topsail).

Meanwhile, on deck, Pat was doing his laser-eye trick at Lynn as he explained the difference between a back splice and an eye splice.

The really impressive part of the evening, other than the cold of a May evening which reminded on just how bitter it must have been on the original Matthew in the North Atlantic in winter, was Rob's steering as he brought the Matthew back to the pontoon. He took her right up to the Harbour Master's fuelling station, almost berthing for fuel, and then reversed her gently past £millions of yacht and through onto the pontoon; neither breeze, nor gust, nor b-minded tiller prevented him having complete control at all times. Not one for the amateur.

A great night out.

Boat Volunteer Team Meeting

On Thursday 12th May we held a meeting of the boat volunteer team to formally introduce Mike Selwood and to plan for some changes in the workshop. In future we’ll be building fewer big exhibition sets in there, moving those operations to Ponsharden.

In the workshop we’ll be focusing on the obvious links with the boat building gallery, putting more boats from the collection on display and carrying out practical boat restoration and conservation.

A warm Museum welcome to Mike Selwood

We welcome Mike Selwood as the new Assistant Boat Manager. He comes to us from Falmouth Marine School, where he worked as Technician and Tutor on the Traditional Boat Building courses at Ponsharden. A keen sailor, Mike is no stranger to the Museum and says he’s looking forward to some new challenges – there will be plenty of those.

Sleep all over

Eighty people slept the night in the Museum on the doubtfully wise date of Friday 13 May. There was a host of activities to amuse:

- Pirate galleon (Scrapheap) challenge
- Washed-up Will's torchlit tour (aka Mr Dapper)
- Rescue de Pirate (aka John Henry Pascoe and Mr Trengrouse's equipment)
- Rope (string) making
- Badge and hat making
- Pirate sing-song  (with a sing-off between the Scurvy Dogs and the Bloodthirsty Buccaneers)
- Midnight feast (with llights off immediately afterwards)
... somewhere in the middle of this was a little sleep followed by a HiDiHi wakeup call from Debs, a Scooby Doo movie and some breakfast.

People slept wherever they liked. One family even took over the polar tent.

The whole thing was organised by the dynamic Education duo, seen here clutching John Henry, 'assisted' by Stuart who seems to have taken pity on one small child who missed out on the chocolate.

A grisly challenge

Can you guess who was bearing all in the office today?

Grumpy Volunteer's Corner

by Keith Evans

Arriving in the Main Hall one morning last week I found Milly and Andy crawling around on all fours. 'That's odd' I thought, 'you don't usually find Milly and Andy crawling around this time of the morning.' On closer inspection I found that they were sticking footprints of penguins and polar bears across the floor. Mily was looking quite, how shall I say, lithe and Andy was looking a little worse for wear. He looked up and growled 'Don't say a word.' Not that I was going to, diplomat that I am! I did suggest that they could borrow a live penquin and polar bear and paint their feet but I suppose there would be a Health and Safety issue. After all, penguins can give a nasty peck. The polar bear might be useful to see off a few obstreperous kids.

By the end of the morning I think they both deserved the Polar Medal, physiotherapy to their knees and a back massage. Offers to the Editor please. I'm first in the queue to treat Milly. As for Andy, he'll have to take pot luck.

Two new First-Aiders

Congratulations to Kate & Debbie who both achieved their First Aid at Work qualification in April.