The Maritime VolunteerThe Journal of the Maritime Volunteer Service

Registered Charity in England & Wales No. 1048454 and in Scotland SC 039269

www.mvs.org.uk

Year 21Issue 1Winter

2014-15

Summer 2014 withthe Isle of Wight Unit

Picture: BVD Marine RIB with Skipper Kerran Talbot and P/Vol Joe Weltch

ContentsSummer 2014 with the Isle of Wight Unit

New HoU appointed to MVS Rushden

Severn Clears the way

Young volunteer takes over at MVS Northumbria

Building a new MVS for Manchester...with LEGO?

Armed Forces Day

Former RNXS ship arrives in Lancashire

MVS Bristol at Emergency Services Day

MVS links up with Seawatch

Rogues gallery of Lifejackets

MVS Arkwright back in the water

East Sussex 1 on duty at Cowes week

Back on the Ocean wave

MVS takes a stand at the Emergency Services Show

End of season Fish and Chips

Safe working in flood conditions

My life at sea with the Combined Cadet Force

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From the Area Volunteer Officer (North)Hail from the North, although at the moment the North is a bit of a misnomer as we cover an extreme large area, from Wapping Steps on the Thames to the far reaches of Scotland and a trip across the Irish Sea to Bangor Northern Ireland. Despite a busy year we have had to close some of units, with the hope of new leaders coming forward to reopen and revitalise the MVS in East Anglia and Eastern Scotland – the scope in both areas is vast.

We are hoping very soon that we will have an Area Officer to cover Central England, but with a special interest for our Units in Wales.

During the year all units have been advancing the education and training of their members and in many case members of the general public in all aspects of maritime and communication skills and knowledge. Following our second object - The protection and preservation of life and property primarily, but not exclusively, within the maritime environment. - a number of units also undertook specialised training – MCA beach supervisor courses, Record Keepers Courses and not least we have several members who can save the whale (well if you get another 59 people to help you get it back to safe waters) by undertaking Marine Mammal Medic courses. At least two Northern Units work closely with their Local Resilience Forums.

Our work alongside the Sea Cadets and Scouts continues to grow, along with steady support for our communities with the provision of safety patrols and environmental protection duties. The door is opening for us to work closer with our local communities.We are very pleased to host the MVS Annual General Meeting at the end of November in Liverpool.

From the Area Volunteer Officer (South)Over the past year there has been considerable discussion regarding the size of regions and accessibility for the RVOs. It was decided by the Committee of Management some time ago that each region throughout the country should be reviewed and consideration given to making boundary changes to make units more easily accessible for the RVOs. The first change that was made in the south was SW Region, which covered the whole of Devon and Cornwall and created an impossible task for any RVO.

At the 2014 Solent regional meeting changes to Solent were discussed and it was put forward at the meeting that all units in Dorset could form one region, leaving RVO Solent with Gosport, Portsmouth & the IoW as current units and to form Lymington and Southampton. Nigel Barrow was subsequently elected by the three units in Dorset to be their RVO and took post earlier this year. David Button took up post as RVO Solent.

Boundary changes were also agreed for Cinque Ports at the regional meeting in the spring and the changes took effect shortly after. Thanet unit is now in East Kent Region and Les Miller RVO East Kent with the remit to investigate the possibilities of setting up new units in Whitstable, Deal & Dover.

All the units in the Southern Area and those being care-taken during the inter-regnum with no AVO Central in post have been actively involved in working within their communities supporting Local Authorities in the winter floods, Harbour Masters and Air Show organisers with afloat events in the summer, exercising with RNLI, Independent Lifeboats and National Coastwatch, training young people from organisations such as the Scout Association & Sea Cadet Corps, supplying safety boats and crews for charity events on the water. Ashore units have provided communications, marshals and stewards for other charity events. Good links have been formed with NCI in some places at local level along the south coast and successful exercises have taken place with NCI and MVS. This can only be to the advantage of both organisations.

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Summer 2014 with the Isle of Wight UnitThe Isle of Wight unit has had a busy summer season

this year, having been involved first in May with the

Riverfest at Newport Harbour, where one of our

members was dressed as King Canute and took part in

some of the festivities, and also raising much needed

funds for the unit by people wanting to have photos

taken with him.

On 21st June there was the Round the Island Yacht race

with circa 1500 yachts of all sizes and classes racing

anti-clockwise around the Isle of Wight from Cowes.

This year the weather was against them with hardly a

breath of wind and so there were more retirees than

finishers. The MVS as usual played a part in this with IoW unit member, David Dobson, being our link with the

organisers, the Island Yacht Club, and Portsmouth unit MVS providing a marshal boat on the east of the island

between Bembridge and Portsmouth.

On the same day the IoW Unit was at an Armed Forces

day event in Ryde enjoying the balmy summer weather

and being able to see the racing yachts creeping by. The

IoW members provided communications cover for the

organisers of the AFD, and acted as stewards for the

veteran's parade and other events during the day.

There were several casualties during the day and MVS

personnel coordinated the response in getting the first

aiders and emergency services in place, including

creating an exclusion zone on the beach where a small

boy had been brought ashore and was given emergency

resuscitation by the Ryde Inshore Rescue first aid team and a qualified nurse who came forward from the crowd.

The Coast Guard vehicle was close by and also attended, and the SAR helicopter was summoned to take the little

boy to hospital. It landed on the beach where it stayed for close to 30 minutes while the teams tried to resuscitate

the child. He was eventually taken to hospital on the island and later transferred to a specialist unit in Southampton

General from where I understand he has now been

discharged.

Our team did well and kept calm and order amongst the

assembled crowd. The AFD day later continued with its’

programme and the final job for the MVS was to keep

the exclusion zone for the firework display on the beach.

We welcomed a new young member that day, Jo Weltch,

and he has trained with the unit since then and also

spent time onboard East Sussex 1.

HM1 with IoW MVS crew member in the white shirt ssssssssssssssss

Lepe 1 catching up with ES1 at the 'back of the Wight' Stage 4 Brook to Ventnor

Left to right- Bert Cuthbertson, David Dobson from IoW withRegional Engineer Eddie Oades from ESSH unit

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Severn clears the way

The Severn Unit has come to the aid of the Avon Lock Keeper Bob Scarrott who was concerned after a number of boats missed the turning to Tewkesbury after the sign became obscured by vegetation and trees.

Severn were happy to help and deployed three boats for the job. Unit members got to work clearing the signs on the Severn so that boaters coming downstream from Worcester could see the signs to Tewkesbury and the Avon.

Head of Unit Nic Price said, "It appears that some boats

had missed the turning to the Avon, and continued on

towards the weir and lock at Upper Lode on the way

down to Gloucester. The Unit is always pleased to helpAvon Navigation Trust whenever they can, and jobs like this show the versatility of our boats and members”.

Young Volunteer takes over at MVS Northumbria

MVS Northumbria has appointed its youngest ever secretary.

Nineteen year old Wearsider Alexander Rodgers from

Lambton in Washington has joined the service to

familiarise himself with all things nautical, prior to

applying for his dream job as a navigating officer in the

Merchant Navy.

“I joined the MVS for a number of reasons” says

Alexander.

“I’ve learned new skills about the maritime industry and

considerably improved my CV, which I hope will help in

my job applications.

Joining the MVS has also improved my team working

skills and social life too.”

The team get to work clearing away the vegetation and trees.

New HoU Appointed to MVS Rushden

Andy Smith, who was one of the founding members of MVS Rushden, is stepping up from his current second-in-command and training officer role to that of the new HoU.

In ‘Nelsonian terms’ Andy is what would have been called a ‘Landsman’, however he brings extensive experience, skills and knowledge to the unit as a retired Territorial Army officer (working with both the TA and Cadet Forces), a previous Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme Leader and as a member of the teaching profession since 1977.

For the past eleven years Andy has been a Senior Lecturer in Special and Inclusive Education at the University of Northampton and specializes in teacher professional development/training, school improvement, special educational needs and disability studies. Andy has a particular interest in the history of the Royal Navy and has been known to dress up as a Bosun from HMS Mars (1805) in order to terrorize the front row of his audience with waving cutlass, boarding pike, musket and weevily ship’s biscuit during his illustrated ‘Trafalgar’ presentation.

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Building a new MVS for Manchester … with Lego?

Armed Forces Day

A fund-raising day for Manchester’s new MVS unit at a supermarket close to the Ship Canal had the service rubbing shoulders with Emmet and Wyldstyle from the recently released Lego Movie.

The 120-year-old canal still connects Manchester, 36 miles inland to the North Atlantic.

When it opened, Manchester became Britain's third busiest port using the world's largest commercial canal.

In more recent years, encouraged by the canal owner's Ocean Gateway Scheme, the upper reaches have seen increasing mercantile traffic.

This is in addition to extensive leisure use in and around the regenerated Salford Quays and the MediaCityUK complex at the terminus of the canal.

The MVS is planning to start a new Port of Manchester Unit to offer water-based assistance to commercial and leisure operators as well as unique training and education facilities for local residents.

Simon Parkinson from the new unit with Emmet and Wyldstyle from the Lego Movie.

Months of hard work paid off for MVS Rushden as the unit successfully organised Armed Forces Day in the Northamptonshire town. The support from the local community who lined the streets for the parade was overwhelming.

The event was opened by local MP Peter Bone and town Mayor Richard Lewis at Rushden Railway Station, which is now a heritage station at the end of a short running line.

MVS National Communications Manager, John Spencer-Barnes said “It was an amazing achievement by the team in Rushden. Many people told me how impressed they were by the quality of the day and the commitment shown by our volunteers.

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Former RNXS Ship arrives in Lancashire

The MVS National Communications Manager, John Spencer-Barnes, was invited on board HMS Biter when the ship visited Fleetwood in Lancashire.

The invitation came about through John’s real job as a journalist with the BBC.

Biter was built in 1986 and commissioned into the RNXS, the forerunner of the MVS.

Biter is an Archer-class P2000-type patrol and training vessel which is assigned to Manchester & Salford Universities Royal Naval Unit and is based at HMS Eaglet, the Royal Naval Headquarters in Liverpool.

The ship carries a full-time Royal Navy crew of five and is usually joined by up to 12 university students at any one time.

As part of her summer training voyage she has visited Troon, the Isle of Man, Fishguard, Milford Haven and Bristol.

MVS Bristol at Emergency Services Day

The RNLI and other regional emergency services were

joined by the MVS for a 999 day on the Beach Lawns in

Weston-super-Mare.

Councillor David Hitchins, this year's Chairman of North

Somerset Council visited the stall and the unit explained

its maritime training role and the work they do in the

designated Silver Control Room at Avonmouth.

The unit enjoyed meeting the local Sea Cadets, the

Environment Agency and the Coastguard as well as

many others.

Members also spoke to many members of the public

who were interested in what the service does.

MVS links up with Seawatch

The Seawatch Foundation held its National Whale and Dolphin Watch Week across the UK at the start of this month.

MVS AVO North, Chris Todd joined Seawatch North West local coordinator, Stacey McCarthy at Rossall Point Tower at Fleetwood in Lancashire.

Unfortunately the sea state did not help the watch with only a number of “possible” sightings getting into the log.

This meant there was time for both the MVS and Seawatch to explain their objects and aims to each other.

Stacey noted that the MVS have four Marine Mammal Medics locally and hopes that the two groups can develop joint working.

Chris Todd and Stacey McCarthy at Rossall Point Tower

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Arkwright back in the water

The Portsmouth Unit has made use of an award from the National Lottery funded “Awards for All” scheme to enable them to re-engine and carry out a comprehensive re-fit on their 34ft training craft MVS Arkwright.

The unit has also been helped by Serco, who offered their assistance in providing dry working conditions and Hendy Power at Cosham, who were able to offer give advice in purchasing the new engine off the shelf.

MVS Arkwright was lifted out of the water by Serco back in March and after hundreds of man hours was re-launched four months later.

Arkwright is used extensively to train and educate all comers in boat handling, navigation and general seamanship and can often be seen around Portsmouth Harbour and the Solent.

The Portsmouth Unit likes to get involved at all levels with anything that happens on the water locally and members are encouraged to spread their talents far and wide in the local community. interested in what the service does.

Rogues Gallery of Lifejackets

The MVS is urging all units to make sure that their

lifejackets have been serviced by a professional

company and that they have a certificate confirming

this.

The policy for commercial companies is for lifejackets

over ten years old to be discarded as they cannot have a

safety certificate.

Lifejackets over ten years old should not be used for

MVS activities.

All lifejackets should have a date of manufacture on the

label that can be found inside.

AVO South, Lynn Peppitt reports that recently she has taken two privately owned life jackets to be tested and both

failed.

Both of them looked to be in perfect condition.

A Rogues Gallery of lifejackets in shocking conditions can be found on the SeaSafe website,

East Sussex 1 on duty at Cowes Week

It was a busy schedule for East Sussex 1 during Cowes

Week this year.

Together with members of the Isle of Wight Unit, the

training vessel supported the Cowes Harbour Master in

maintaining an exclusion zone around a construction

site for a new breakwater.

Members from East Sussex Sovereign Harbour, Bristol,

Upper Thames, Portsmouth and Plymouth Units formed

the vessel's crew for the 8 days on station.

The Cowes Harbour Master thanked the MVS for its

assistance and asked us to come back next year.

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Back on the Ocean wave

Gosport Unit members have just completed a weeks yachting in the Channel Islands in the 40ft yacht, Ocean Wave.

The crew travelled to France to board the yacht in Cherbourg Marina.

The weather was blowing a good force 4/5 from the North making for an uncomfortable trip to Braye in Alderney.

Unusually after going to a buoy in a sheltered harbour, the boat still bounced around for the rest of the night, ensuring that nobody managed a good nights sleep.

Leaving Alderney the crew headed to Jersey and after rounding Point Corbiere entered St Helier Marina.

Originally planning to stay for one night, they extended to two nights so everyone could catch up on their sleep.

Using a back bearing on the transit, the crew left St Helier heading for Poole.

On checking the fuel level and discovering they didn’t have enough to make the south coast, the course was changed for St Peter Port in Guernsey.

There, they took on some of Guernseys finest red diesel and made fast to a visitors pontoon in the main part of the harbour.

Ocean Wave departed at 1900 for a passage through the Little Russel Channel.

Just after the watch was changed around midnight, the side and lights of a cruise liner were seen between fog patches north of Alderney, but she was only seen for a brief second or two, then not again.

Cowes was the crews berth for the night before the last day and a change of skipper with Stuart Harrison taking the yacht from its marina in East Cowes to Portsmouth.

MVS takes a stand at the Emergency

Services Show

The MVS has been back in Birmingham to raise the profile of the service at the annual Emergency Services Show.

Chris Todd, who co-ordinated the MVS effort said he

was pleased by the response, "This was the second

year in succession this show has been held at the NEC

and it was once again very successful and well

attended."

Members of the Tewkesbury based Severn Unit were inattendance, which proved useful for Head of Unit, Nic

Price, who said, "Many valuable contacts were made

during the day and we are very hopeful that some of the

people we talked to will go on to visit and hopefully join our units and could even start MVS units in other places."

The new HoU of Rushden Unit, Andy Smith said "We very much enjoyed our visit and found it most useful, as we

support our local emergency services and it was a good opportunity to visit them on their stands and also see what

products were available for us to buy and what modern technology could offer us in this field."

Publicity Officer Severn, Nic Price - HOU Severn andWayne Rogers - Rushden.

Chris Todd - AVO(North), Andy Smith - HoU Rushden, Sue Yates -

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Safer working in flood conditions

Members of MVS Units from Menai Bridge, Northumbria and Morecambe Bay gathered in Lancashire at the weekend to undertake Module 1 of the DeFRA Flood Rescue Concept of Operations.

The FRCO aims to enhance flood rescue capability in the UK by coordinating government departments, blue-light services and other agencies.

Whilst none of the units attending the training are on the National Asset Register for flood operations, the qualification provides a solid introduction to safe working around water.

The course includes risk management, hydrology, the physiology of first aid for drowning, hypothermia & cold water shock, and rescue techniques that can be employed from the relative safety of land.

End of Season fish and chips!

For the Tewkesbury based Severn Unit, their annual fish &

chips supper and night cruise is always a popular event and

this year was no exception.

Unit members and their partners took three boats, including

their own training vessel, MVS Minerva, up the River Avon

through Strensham Lock to the Flybridge at Defford for their

supper.

HoU Nic Price said "Although we started in the light by the

time we came to leave the Flybridge, darkness had drawn in

and it was a particularly dark night on the river, as there was

no moon.

Although this event marks the end of our evening training

sessions afloat for the year, unit members will still be kept

busy as a full autumn programme has been planned inside.

There will be plenty of opportunity to be afloat in the day as often as possible too throughout the winter. We keep two of our

boats out on the river the whole year, as very often we find the winter is one of our busiest seasons for call outs of various kinds

and we prefer to have the boats ready for action if required."http://www.seasafe.co.uk/.

MVS Minerva at Strensham Lock.

My life at sea with the Combined Cadet ForceChris Davenport of the Portsmouth unit writes on his experiences of working with the Combined Cadet Force in Hampshire.

I was sitting at home wondering what to do next when I had a phone call from an acquaintance that I knew when I had been working on the Naval Base at Whale Island as Chief Coxswain on the diving boats. He was originally in charge of the Army yachts based on the Island but later took up life as a Coastguard. He had left that job and was now in charge locally of training for the Combined Cadet Force and some of their boats. He asked if I would assist him and drive one of the boats on a part time basis and on Sub Lieutenants daily rate.

So, I started driving a Talisman 49. She sleeps 6 to 7 comfortably and I, as the Skipper normally have to sleep on a mattress on the cabin floor. She is fitted with a full working galley and decent heads plus all the navigational kit that is needed. The routine goes as follows.

The students, mainly from public schools, join at 0900 and then after issuing with all the relevant PPE have an hours safety and procedure brief. We then have a practice alongside for their benefit, and my peace of mind, which is followed by them bringing all the fenders in board and tying up using the knots that we have taught them. After further tuition we make our way over to Cowes or somewhere similar within a couple of hours steaming. 3 point fixes and general navigational training on the way, with them at the wheel until we get there. Alongside for a couple of hours and after a free lunch we make our way back again but this time they are in 95% control with me overseeing. Playing with the twin engines is a dream as we have to moor the boat in a space only 53 ft. long! Next year we shall be doing a Channel Sail and taking in Guernsey and France.

Facebook and Twitter

MVS Contacts

The MVS has an official Facebook page. Search for ‘Maritime Volunteer Service Official’ when you are logged in to find the group. You simply have to ‘like’ it to be kept up to date with the latest MVS news.

You can also get all the latest feeds by following us on Twitter

AVO(South) Lynn Peppitt avosouth@mvs.org.ukAVO(North) Chris Todd avonorth@mvs.org.ukNational Secretary Vacant secretary@mvs.org.ukNational Treasurer Les Miller treasurer@mvs.org.ukNational MVS Training Manager Liz Glare liz.glare@mvs.org.ukNational Communications Manager John Spencer-Barnes communications@mvs.org.ukNational PR Officer Keith Newman

The Maritime VolunteerThe Journal of the Maritime Volunteer Service

Newsletter Editor: Mark Jones - mvsnewslettereditor@gmail.com

The Maritime Volunteer Servicewww.mvs.org.uk

Patron: HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO KStJA Company limited by Guarantee No. 3003565.

A Registered Charity in England and Wales No. 1048454 and in Scotland SC 039269

@MVSHQ

pr@mvs.org.uk

Poppies bloom in Thanet

The Blood-Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the

Tower of London grabbed the imagination of the whole nation

in the weeks leading up to Armistice Day.

A similar, although much smaller commemoration was

organised by the MVS in Margate.

500 poppies were designed, assembled and painted by MVS

volunteers. Money for the materials was raised by the

members for 10 cans of classic red spray paint and over 600

feet of green fence wire. Beer cans were collected by the

members and then cut, shaped and assembled. The 500

poppies equate to 1 poppy per 20,000 military deaths.

The poppies built up gradually over three months reminding us that the deaths had also accumulated day by day,and were

removed at midnight on November 11th. The unit was thanked by the council for their efforts and was asked to repeat it next

year.

Unit membership is unique in that the majority of the members are financially, physically and/or mentally challenged. The unit

strives to care for the environment and members assist in carnivals, exhibitions, beach cleaning and other community events

in the area. Members benefit from the opportunities provided and have the confidence to take an active interest in training for

SRC Radio, Diesel and First Aid courses as well as the hands-on experience of boat handling.