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THE TRUST

A new era dawns

The British Military Powerboat Trust is in the process of being dissolved. All the assets of the Trust, as well as the Membership, have been transferred and merged with the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, as from the 25th July 2009.

The BMPT Volunteers and Membership, have joined forces with the PNBPT Volunteers and Membership, and will continue to work on the restoration and maintenance of the BMPT, as well as the PNBPT boats, in the Historic Dockyard Portsmouth.

The British military powerboats of the 1930s and 1940s were the finest in the world. Developed from a series of record breaking speedboats, these rugged, graceful craft were so far ahead of their time that their design has never been surpassed. They saved over 13,000 lives in the course of World War Two. Yet most of them are now either forgotten or destroyed.

The Trust
The British Military Powerboat Trust was established to create a national Exhibition Centre which will display the innovation, development and history of the high-speed craft used by the British armed forces in the 20th century, and bring them to life. The emphasis will be firmly upon the chance for all to experience the dynamism of the real working object.

The primary aims of the Trust were to:
• Save and restore significant examples of historic military craft
• Exhibit examples in operational and static condition for the purposes of education and training.

Announcement May 2009.

An Extraordinary General Meeting of the BMPT was held on the 3rd May 2009.
Our President Dr Julian Lewis MP, as well as our guest Mr Peter Goodship, Chief Executive of the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, attended the meeting.
The meeting was chaired by Major the Hon Peter Baillie JP, and a total of 16 Members of the BMPT were in attendance.
The Chairman welcomed our President and Guest, who in turn made presentations to the Members.
The Members were invited to ask questions of Mr Goodship, in connection with the proposed Resolution, which questions were all answered satisfactorily.
The Chairman put the Special Resolution to the Members…:

“That the British Military Powerboat Trust Ltd will merge with the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and as a result thereof, the BMPT Ltd will be dissolved”

and asked for a show of hands in favour of the Resolution.
All Members present raised their hands and Chairman duly declared the Resolution to be adopted.

The Secretary advised that of the 123 postal voting forms sent out to the BMPT Membership, 89 in favour responses have been received. However, as a 100% response is required for the postal votes to count, we were only able to use the votes of the Members attending on the day.

As a result of this outcome, the BMPT Board has started to take the actions required for the transfer of assets from the BMPT to the PNBPT.
On the 7th May 2009, FMB43957 ex HMS Ark Royal was delivered to the PNBPT by road.
Further asset transfers will take place over the coming months, with ST1502 being delivered to Portsmouth, by sea, on the 18th July 2009.

The final AGM of the BMPTrust will take place at Portsmouth on the 25th July 2009.

This situation has come about as a result of a number of reasons.

• Despite years of searching, we have been unable to find the Trust and its boats, a permanent home here in the Southampton area.

• As the years pass, our local active Members are finding the physical requirements of manning and maintaining the boats, increasingly more of a challenge.

• Younger people are not joining the Trust, to take up the strain.

• The increasing financial strains on our available budget will eventually mean that we would have to start selling the Trust boats to private ownership, in order to stay viable.

The past few years have been difficult ones for the BMPTrust.
Whilst the name BMPTrust will cease to be, this is merely the end of our first chapter, and the beginning of a new and very exciting future for the BMPT 125 Membership, our boats and archives, within the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust.
All our boats, models, photographs, boat plans will be available for all to see, and with 600,000 visitors passing through the gates of the Historic Dockyard Portsmouth annually, the Trust’s assets will go from being seen by the few, to being seen by the many.
We consider therefore that we will at last be achieving the aims of the BMPTrust, albeit under the banner of the PNBPT, in a very responsible, positive, secure and long term manner.

 

Announcement October 2005.

The Trust moved its last boat out of the Husbands Shipyard sheds at 1200 on Friday the 30th September 2005.

The Trust entered into a partnership with a group called EISCA (Eyemouth International Sailing Craft Association).

This partnership was terminated by mutual agreement, in 2007.

In the meantime, we have been extremely fortunate in that the Officer Commanding the SMC (Sea Mounting Centre) at Marchwood, has offered us space to put our office portacabin, with our stores containers, as well as the small boats.

We have been offered a berth alongside, within the Marchwood Military Port, for ST1502.
This continues to be a temporary home, and we continue to seek alternative accommodation to see us over until the Poole Centre materialises.

Our larger boats are safely stored here in the South.

The Trust continues to operate at full strength, and the winter months will see a slow down in work done, and give the opportunity for those who have worked to achieve a successful result, a short break.

We continue to seek an alternative place for work to continue on the boat restoration process.

Due to the attempts of some individuals to get the old sheds listed, the owners had no option but to break them down.

The Husbands shipyard sheds are therefore no more, and the last of this type of shed here in the south, has gone forever.

 
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