Welcome to the Autumn 2015 newsletter

This edition is a Dunkirk special, and we hope you'll enjoy it.

We are delighted to be able to bring you longer versions of the Dunkirk reports from the newsletter.

The report of the Ostend voyage, and Colin Sains' diary of events, will appear in the next newsletter which we hope to distribute along with the AGM papers at the beginning of October. The next newsletter will include reports on the Leigh Society Open Day, Leigh Maritime Festival, Sea Scout Cubs on board and St Clement’s Pilgrims on board.

May we also draw your attention to our new Facebook page, which you can find here: https://www.facebook.com/EndeavourTrustLeigh. There's very little on there yet, but please do 'Like' the page and we'll start putting stuff on there soon. It's not intended as a replacement for the website, but more somewhere to interact with the wider world and promote the Trust - we'll be redirecting people to the website, a lot of the time. It also gives us an excellent place to put our photographs!

Trip to Dunkirk, Sailing to Ramsgate - Paul Gilson

The Endeavour’s voyages never disappoint and this latest one was no different.  We left Leigh around 13.30 on Tuesday the 19th of May and as usual the wind was fresh from the west  blowing at around force 6.  We had already decided that although it was windy we would be running with the wind and the waves, setting the large balloon sail to give us more power and to steady the boat, but little did we know how much power that sail would produce.

My Dunkirk Trip - Gareth Davies

Endeavour amid other Dunkirk Little Ships 

in Dunkirk’s inner harbour

I was lucky enough to get a place on the Endeavour’s trip to Dunkirk and sailed on the Leigh to Ramsgate and Ramsgate to Dunkirk legs.

Dunkirk 2015 - Chris Burls

It was back in March that members of the Thames Sailing Barge Trust were invited to bid for places on Pudge, on the Operation Dynamo memorial voyage to Dunkirk and I put my name forward. As a new member, it came as no surprise to be told that the actual Ramsgate to Dunkirk and back to Ramsgate part of the trip was fully allocated to long serving members, but that the Maldon to Ramsgate outward leg was available. I grabbed this opportunity as I had always intended to go to Ramsgate on the Wednesday of Dynamo Week to see the Dunkirk little ships gathered.

Anne and Theo's trip to Dunkirk - Anne & Theo Van't Hof

We joined the Endeavour crew on the Friday evening at Dunkirk and spent the next two days attending commemorative services and visiting the museums to learn as much as we could about what happened at Dunkirk.  We were also very fortunate to hear personal accounts from some of the veterans who were staying at the same hotel, including, Eldon Roberts aged 93, pictured here, who had flown over from Canada for the event (Eldon was mentioned in the last newsletter).  He told us in brutal detail how he had to make snap decisions to preserve his own life and those of his men and we felt very privileged to be able to be able to hear these moving accounts from one of the last remaining Dunkirk veterans.

Our Two Vice Presidents - Mike King

Jeremy and John pictured at the Summer reception with Endeavour

Jeremy Squier and John Milgate are our two Vice Presidents who became involved with Endeavour in very different ways.

Summer Reception

One hundred members and guests attended our third reception, held this year at Osborne Bros. on Billet Wharf in the Old Town. The weather was wonderful and very favourable comments have been received from many of those that attended, on the food and choice of venue. Mick and his catering staff did us proud.

Belfairs Academy Donation

The Endeavour Hub at the Belfairs Academy is one of their three colleges. Each college select a charity for the year and compete against one another during the year in various competitions, which include achievements and good deeds, thus earning points along the way.

Photo Gallery

We are pleased to include these photographs. Keep them coming in. Who knows, yours may be included in the calendar...