A letter from your Chairman Mark McNeill
Dear Friends and Supporters The support we receive from so many of you is very much appreciated and has allowed us to turn the museum around and deliver some exciting exhibitions as well as take on some significant new boats like BAR T1 and the Dolly Varden, both which we would have been lost forever had we not saved them, we just would not have been able to do it without your help and financial support. For the last two years the Museum has launched an annual fundraising campaign to coincide with the Localgiving Grow Your TENNER campaign. In the first year from November 2016 we raised £8,650 and last year from October 2017 we raised £9,380, which was remarkable considering that I was unable to dedicate much time to promoting the campaign due to family reasons. So this year I am being a bit more ambitious and setting a target of £15,000!!! The Museum has come a long way over the last three years. The Boat Shed in the Medina Village Cowes (West) has finally opened, and the Gallery in East Cowes has put on two very good new exhibitions this year - Hidden Heroes in February funded by Arts Council England, and WW1 Isle of Innovation from November which was funded by a Heritage Lottery Grant. More details about both can be found on our website, www.classicboatmuseum.com under the NEWS section. We have also set up a new website, have recruited some excellent new volunteers and trustees.The plans for the future are very exciting and ambitious, to build a world class Maritime Museum for Cowes, for more information please read the article published in the June Classic Boat Magazine which is also available in the news section of our website.
This year we will use the funds raised during this campaign to improve our infrastructure at the Boat Shed. It’s a boring subject, but we have NO Toilets on site for the public and then the more exciting parts which will be to upgrade the Gallery's main exhibition area which has not really been changed much for quite a few years. The volunteers have done so well with the new exhibitions this year that they now want to continue working on improving the visitor experience to bring the rest of the Museum up to the same standard as the new exhibitions. We also need to upgrade the archive room and buy some new shelving now that we have had to move it up to the first floor, as we suffered some water ingress which has caused some damp problems. Luckily only a few magazines and one box of photographs were damaged. We would like to also start building a small fund be able to acquire significant items that occasionally come up for sale and should really not leave the island. Something that we have never been able to do before, but which is essential to grow the collection and preserve the islands maritime heritage.
WW1 Exhibition model of the Gridiron shed, built by a volunteer including the model planes. So how does it work? Just like it has the last two years, and the launch date is 11th December from 10.00am. This year the Match Funding is only for donations that are set up on a monthly Direct Debit and it works like this. If you are willing to support us and donate any sum from £2 up to £10 a month for a year, giving us £24 to £120, we will receive £2 to £10 a month for the the last six months in Match Funding which will bring our total to £30 to £180, and if you are a UK tax payer and tick the Gift Aid box we will receive another £6 to £30 back form the Tax Man resulting in a total of £36 to £210 being received by the Museum. I appreciate that this is more of a commitment than previous years, however you can give any amount you like from £2 to £10 and we will receive the Match Funding for the last six months. If you are feeling generous you can give more and that would be greatly appreciated however the match funding will only be on the first £10. The pot of Match Funding is limited to £100,000, so if you would like to support us this way please put a note in your diary to remind you to do this on the 11th December just after 10.00am. Once the pot has been used that is the end of the Match Funding! It is easy to give - just click on the link below and follow the instructions, PLEASE REMEMBER THE CAMPAIGN STARTS ON THE TUESDAY 11TH FROM 10.00AM, donations before this date and time will NOT be Match Funded. https://localgiving.org/charity/classic-boat-museum-cowes/ And for more information about the Localgiving campaign please use the link below. https://localgiving.org/what-we-do/campaigns/grow-your-tenner If you have trouble finding the Museum on the Localgiving website we are registered under our Charity registered name which is " THE CLASSIC BOAT CENTRE TRUST " If you are one of those people that hates Direct Debits, and I know some of you do and would like to make a donation directly, then please ether send a cheque made out to The Classic Boat Center Trust to 36 Castle Road Cowes PO31 7QZ or alternatively you can make a one off payment through the local giving website and to make an electronic payment direct to our Lloyds Bank account the sort code is 30-95-99 account number 02362152 . You will also find a Gift Aid form attached that you can return by email if you are a UK taxpayer. And finally a very big thank you for reading this and supporting us. If you have not already signed up to our website news flashes, please do sign up and you will receive updates and news of new exhibitions and information on our progress. We do not send out boring monthly news letters and we only have a fundraising campaign once a year. Kind regards Mark A. T. McNeill Chairman Cowes Classic Boat Museum
The Rev Charles Paterson. Hidden Heroes Exhibition