ISLE OF WIGHT PADDLE STEAMER RYDE RESCUED FOR RESTORATION
A rescuer has stepped forward at the eleventh hour to purchase and restore derelict Isle of Wight paddle steamer Ryde. The 1937-built Southern Railway ship, whose plight was highlighted in SR472, is lying at Island Harbour Marina near Newport, and must be removed imminently under the terms of planning permission for new housing developments. But Lisa Turner, managing director of ship restoration firm Siward & Co. in Cramlington, Northumberland, is acquiring the vessel and is in the process of setting up a charitable trust to carry out the restoration with volunteer assistance, offering apprenticeships to teach shipbuilding skills. Its website is
www.psrydetrust.co.uk Ms Turner, a graduate in underwater archaeology from the University of Southampton, plans to carry out an appraisal of the vessel’s condition in the next month with the assistance of the National Historic Ships register, and is exploring ways of moving it. It will be temporarily kept in Newport while a permanent restoration base is established. It is currently estimated that it will cost upwards of £50,000 to move the ship, which may involve cutting it into sections – and the total price of restoration to seaworthy condition is expected to exceed £10 million, for which grant funding will be sought. Ms Turner, who set up Siward last November, was also involved in a plan to restore the former BR cross-channel ferry TSS Dover, which became a floating nightclub in Gateshead, but was scrapped earlier this year after it was gutted by fire last May. Ryde also became a nightclub when it was moved to the marina following withdrawal in 1969, and was also gutted in a blaze in 1977. This damage was repaired, but it was abandoned in the late 1980s. Ms Turner commented: “Our team has over 38 years’ experience working with ships in various capacities, from engineering to welding – we started with four people and now have 25, and it’s still growing.” Ms Turner is keen to track down Ryde’s bell, which was sold in a Solent Railwayana auction on June 22 2013.