Newbiggin by the Sea Heritage Partnership

The Mary Joicey Lifeboat

Newbiggin by the Sea was originally a fishing and mining village on the north east coast of England. Its involvement with the lifeboat by the local people is well documented in other references. The Mary Joicey was the last traditional style lifeboat to be stationed at Newbiggin and is now one of only six of its type in the country presently located in the South of England and becoming a boat at risk.

Newbiggin has suffered from the impact of the decline in the traditional industries of mining, shipbuilding and fishing in the area. The impact has been severe. Using the new Super Output Areas’ (SOA’s) and the 2004 indices of deprivation (ID 2004) Newbiggin East has a SOA ranked 972 where 1 indicates the most deprived. This ranked in the 3% most deprived SOA’s in England and Newbiggin West had a SOA ranked in the 6% most deprived. Unemployment rates badly with one SOA ranked at 247 out of 32482 putting in the top 1% of Employment deprivation and Newbiggin West has a SOA in the 4% most deprived

The Challenge

To provide a permanent home for the Mary Joicey and to build on to this by partnering with other Agencies to provide a Heritage Maritime Centre together with facilities for a maritime education and training centre for young people. The centre will be a focus for encouraging visitors to the village along an established trail of related attractions which will help assist the economy of the village.

The Vision

Our vision is to build in what is otherwise an area of waste ground a purpose built structure which will house the Mary Joicey. The facility will have training rooms as well as a museum where artefacts relating to the heritage of the village, its involvement with the RNLI and the fishing and mining industry will be displayed. We will use the project to provide a focus for youngsters who have social and economic problems during the renovation.of the boat and we will use the facility as a visitor centre and encourage local people to sell the produce of the sea to visitors.

By incorporating training rooms in the facility we will be able to provide for sea safety and local learning initiatives giving youngsters the opportunity to see what the sea and its environment has to offer and why we must protect the coastline.

We would wish to see the project becoming part of a maritime heritage trail that would include the Quay at Hartlepool, Souter Point Lighthouse at Sunderland, Tynemouth Voluntary Life Brigade Museum, Trinity House at Newcastle upon Tyne, St Mary’s Lighthouse at Whitley Bay, Mary Joicey at Newbiggin and the Grace Darling Museum at Bamburgh. All linked by the maritime connection.

Mary Joicey Update 2008

May 2008

With the promise of finer weather the covers were removed during the month. Work began on rubbing down the hull as well as some selective filling. The engines were turned over using the starting handles then they were started for the first time in almost seven months without a hitch on the first attempt – a testimony to the quality of this vessels propulsion system. On the 26th a Volunteer Day took place on the lifeboat with a number of tasks undertaken including painting, removal of defective timbers and replacement of the same.

June 2008
Unsettled weather continued to hamper any weekend outside works on the project and limited activity could only be managed. One of the highlights of the month was the delivery of the new bow pudding, a large rope fender which is fitted to the sharp front end of the lifeboat. The bow pudding had been made by the Fender Man in Wales where he had used the original dilapidated pudding as a pattern to make a first class replacement. As Mary Joicey was making a Royal appearance on the 26th this new fender was temporarily fitted. Work was also begun on replacing the rubbing bands on the port hand side. The replacement oak timbers have cost over £400 amd fundraising continues to pay for this timber. The timber supplier was given samples of dilapidated timber from the air boxes and deck mouldings so that the precise curved in section profile could be achieved. The fixing of these timber proved to be a challenge to the volunteer team who had to work off a temporary scaffold tower. The first part of the job was to remove and cut away all existing timber removing any brass screws and cutting the back exiting timber with a wood chisel. The new timber was offered up to the lifeboat and initial fixing made. The challenge however was the bending of the timber both in the horizontal and vertical planes. It was clear after the first timber was being fixed that the strain of this bending was pulling out the new fixings so unfortunately the work was abandoned. In order to progress some of the timbers were taken to a nearby pond and sunk underwater amongst the pond life. The aim was to soak the timber and make it more flexible for fixing. After two weeks in the pond the timbers were recovered and this time the fixing was a success. This was possible thanks to dogged determination of the volunteers and additional fixings. On completion and standing back the replacement works looked marvellous, worth the effort indeed.

The other highlight of the month and an event of significant importance to the project was a visit to Newbiggin by His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex. The visit took place on the 26th when our supporter Malcolm Elvy brought his specialist boat trailer up from Hampshire for the day. Malcolm had very kindly helped us by bringing up this specialist rig at cost price only, truly a marvellous gesture. With the help of a large mobile crane the lifeboat was lifted onto Malcolm’s trailer then transported back to Newbiggin’s Church Point car park. After Mary Joicey was checked over by the security team she was joined by Newbiggin’s first lifeboat tractor a petrol Case LA registration no. KLA 84, the RNLI’s 50th lifeboat tractor. Despite poor weather around the region fine weather embraced the village for the visit when His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex made his walk along the promenade during the afternoon. He was brought along to the existing Heritage Centre to meet volunteers and be presented with a copy of the project brochure. He was then taken along to Mary Joicey to have a look at the restoration work and meet more of the volunteers. He was presented with a painting from Tim Martin, one of the volunteers and former Second Mechanic on Mary Joicey. The Earl was interested to learn about the project and the lifeboat restoration commenting on the extensive work needed to deliver this part of the project. After he departed Mary Joicey was taken back to Ferguson’s yard and replaced onto her launching carriage.
The 26th was also notable in regard to the planning permission for the project which received a unanimous vote of support from the planning committee during the planning meeting that evening.

July 2008

Poor weather again hindered work on the restoration and progress was limited to further work on the boat timbers. With the forward air box port side timbers fixed the next challenge was the fixing of the heavier deck rubbing band. The lessons learnt from the air box timber were used here and temporary securing ropes were deployed to hold the timbers under load during the bending process.

Mary Joicey also had an overnight visit with her of another northern restored lifeboat ‘William Riley’ who was on route to lifeboat day at Newbiggin. This superb pulling lifeboat showed the quality of restoration that can be achieved and was an inspiration to our restoration team in their endeavours.

August 2008

Despite continued poor weather, particularly at the weekend, and also holiday commitments some progress was made on the timbers.

September 2008

Work continued on the heavier deck timbers and these were completed during the month. The temporary scaffold was brought along to the aft air box and the removal of curved link timber between the air box and the deck was carried out. The timber was totally dilapidated and the remnants of timber were put together to make a future template for what promises to be a difficult piece of the restoration.

October 2008

Unsettled weather continued to thwart the efforts of the team and only a few days of work were carried out. The removal of the aft air box rubbing band proved particularly challenging with extensive cutting out of timber using chisels and removal of many existing brass screws. A new rebate for the timber was eventually formed and the bare timber primed ready to receive a new timber moulding.

November 2008

Shorter periods of daylight, unsettled weather and frost allowed only minimal time working on the restoration. Nevertheless the final section of moulding was installed and virtually all of the port side timber replacement is now completed. With that work done and the onset of winter the lifeboat tarpaulin was pulled onto the lifeboat and this was secured ready for the worst of winter weather.

Click the photo for a gallery of images

Summer / Autumn 2007 update

As for Mary Joicey, she has not been forgotten. We have been able to put some time into working on her to progress the restoration though being outside is not ideal.Dad and I spent some time on the hull and the net result is that the hull is now rubbed down and primed. We lost some time early in the summer when my Dad suffered a heart attack which put him in hospital for two weeks. Thankfully he made a full recovery and has been able to assist with the boat restoration once again. Filling between the diagonal planking has also begun using a two part filling material. The results of this filler have been encouraging now we have done a trial sanding down exercise.

With help on the Volunteer Day and the efforts of Colin Graham to support Dad and I we have now been able to almost complete the filling exercise between the planks. The challenge for the summer of 2008 will be to keep the bare hull out of the sun. Albert Of Independent Scaffold, Wallsend has been kind enough to donate some debris netting and it is planned to hang this around the lifeboat to keep the sun off. As for donations I must also note the generous donations of paint from International Paints which has only been possible thanks to the support of David Storey. On the boat the wheelhouse roof timber repairs are almost complete and priming done there also. On the main engine room exterior the rubbing down has begun and I hope to complete this over the weekend ready for etch priming. This is an acid solution (special care to be taken) which is put on the bare aluminium over two coats. It provides a key for the subsequent paint layers and if it was not used then the paint would fall off.

I also hope to remove some of the other fittings off this area also which can then be painted in the workshop at home. In the wheelhouse the floor, walls and top have all been undercoated (some grey and some white) (thanks to the efforts of Alan and Pip Driver) and this area is now ready for glossing. The gloss work was achieved thanks to the efforts of Ken Snowden who has almost completed this area.With this is done then the raised floor behind the steering wheel was refitted and the necessary timber repairs done. The hinges supporting the floor here also needed significant work as many of them were seized. When the lifeboat was at sea the hinged floor in this area was lifted allowing the inspection tubes to the propellers to be opened up. The result of the efforts here is that the floor is now replaced and another part of the project can be signed off. The lockers in this area have also largely been renovated again at home in the workshop.

We have also paid for a new seat to be made for the radar operator position. The old one was rotted due to weather ingress over the years. Thankfully the work in this area can be given a lesser priority as compared to the hull as the outside work is weather sensitive. Peter Eltringham has provided vital support in this area carrying out locker restoration in his dining room. He has had to carry out a number of timber repairs as well as the full redecoration of the units.In the forward well most of the lockers are now refurbished and the 'well' gloss painting is complete apart from the main rope locker along the engine room bulkhead which whilst restored is needed the lids fixing and varnishing. With the availability of fine days running out this was accomplished during November and the engine room bulkhead here only needs painting.

Finally Dad and I recently built a scaffold tower at the front port side of the boat. The mouldings and some of the timber in this area are badly rotted and we need to get organised with some timber – again I want to go for quality hardwood for this to match the rest of the boat build. The quantities of timber were ascertained as well as the moulding profile. The cost of this timber is in the region of £400 using good quality hardwoods of two differing profile sections. The timber was purchased from out funds and hopefully somebody may wish to 'sponsor' these important mouldings. During the coming summer it is planned to progress the work in replacing these major timbers.

One of the final jobs before the covers went on was to complete the deck anti slip painting and also open up the void to the port side of the engine room. The cover was removed over a morning as there are many difficult bolts to get out and this plate has probably not been removed for over 20 years. Once in the void I noted two large wasp nests but there was no indication they were home to some swarms. Nevertheless a quick escape route was established form the boat via a nearby ladder and a pole was gently inserted up to the nest. After a quick prod the nest fell to the ground and after a few anxious moments it was clear there were no wasps to attack us.

With December upon us and thanks to funding via Stephen Humphrey at Wansbeck CVS a new large heavy cover was made for the boat and with a fine day the cover was lifted on board and lashed down for the winter. Before finally sealing the boat up the remaining navigation and electrical gear was removed from the lifeboat for testing over the winter months.

Latest News

We hope to remove the covers during April 2008 to continue with the restoration works. More news to appear when it becomes available.