Image taken from the NEMT Spring Newsletter which was circulated amongst its members in April 2025 and it does not matter whether Dave is asleep or not because he gives it scale which indicates that the boat that they are building for the South Shields Sea Cadets is about eighteen foot long with a beam of six feet(5.5m x 1.8m) and we were told:-
The boats are jointly designed by the combined efforts of NEMT, SSSC and Marine Architect Francois Vivier, with boat parts supplied by Jordan Boats in Cumbria.
Mr Vivier, the Marine Architect has produced mostly sailing craft over the years but one of his designs, Ebihen 16 Strip Planked Traditional sail boat of 4.8m water line length, almost matches perfectly what Dave Parker and other NEMT volunteers were building when the Colden Gleam was finally moved from St Peters Basin to the NEMT Workshop off Wapping Street.
Having worked on two St Ayles Skiffs in Amble, I knew that the kits provided by Jordan Boats, the Home of Plywood Boat Kits, were in the form of the planks and frames, cut from 2440mm by 1220mm sheets of very good quality marine ply of 9 or 12mm.
It appears that the rowing boats being built for the Sea Cadets was with the aid of a grant from UK Docks of £10,000 were similar to the St Ayles Skiff but with a central flat panel, rather than a keel running the length of the hull.
A month ago the counter for nemaritimetrust.co.uk passed 110,000 late on the 27th and this morning read 116,040 at 12:30 i.e. about 6000 a month while in March it was 8,500 which represents a drop of 30% interest in the website over the last six months. Hopefully it is a seasonal thing but I think it is because there has been very little reported on the progress made on the restoration of the Golden Gleam since February or on the boat they are making for the Sea Cadets who are based on on the same quay, about a hundred yards upstream, as reported in the publication of the Newsletter in April 2025.
The article about the about Sea Cadets boats appeared on the third page but what I found rather unsettling was the personal attack on my integrity delivered in its headlines.
It was a rather tongue in cheek message because by mid 2024, I realised that he had deliberately removed the history of NEMT with regard to them restoring vessels and NFHT looking after them once they had been restored that I was reminded that some of lies told by the Chairman of the North East Maritime Trust, Mr A Renwick, after he took command of the North East Maritime Trust in 2020 were often of a fraudulent nature.*
I was most upset to find after I had travelled all the South Shields last Saturday to see how your volunteers were getting on with the restoration of the Golden Gleam only to find both the shed and the slipway locked up and it appeared that everyone had taken a break for the summer. It was only when I noticed the Rachel Douglas poorly moored in the river end of an old dock that I realised that something was wrong and I have taken the trouble to put the detail behind my disappointment in the Gremlin’s Tale – attached.
On Saturday, the second of August, I decided to travel down from Amble to visit the North East Maritime Trust (NEMT) to see how their team of volunteers were progressing with the restoration of the Coble Golden Gleam and was disappointed to find both the workshop and slipway closed and discovered on my way home, the Rachel Douglas, looking like she had been abandoned in the so called ‘South Shields Marina’.
One might argue that to say abandoned is a bit strong but I cannot imagine that she was sent down from St Peters Basin, last weekend, other than to be given some care and attention on the slipway owned by the charity of which you are currently the Chairman and it would appear that someone associated with NEMT, if not an actual member, holds a key to the gate shutting off the path by which the Rachel Douglas was moored by tying her to a couple of railing posts.
The path was part of what is now known as The King Charles III England Coast Path but the piece of it against which she is moored was given to the residents the flats overlooking the ‘marina’ by South Tyneside Council in 2017 and I was one of those who protested as soon as the gate was put in place and one of those who first came up against those in the Council who were willing to support the closing of the path to the public. The case is now with the Defra Team and I sincerely hope that you have not sided with those in the Council who were against the public.
In the latest NEMT Newsletter you said on Page 1 – for those who wish to see the complete newsletter, please contact, alec.renwick@gmail.com:
Headline News – As you may know, our original website has been hijacked by a former member and is being used to disseminate incorrect information sometimes bordering on slander. This member left under a cloud of rancour and suspicion many years ago and his membership was rescinded. Our new official website can be found using the following link: www.nemaritimetrust.org.uk.
You had over four months to respond to my email of the 16th November 2024 where I pointed out that the website nemaritimetrust.co.uk was never yours, it had not been hijacked by anyone but moved by me to another provider because you had gained control of the original website by giving misinformation to one of the agents of the former provider TSOHost and I am still waiting for your response:
Unfortunately our site has been almost destroyed by scamming, but we are trying to sort it out. As you can see, certain nasty Trustees of Northumbrian Fishing Heritage Trust (NFHT) have deleted some of our precious content. Pathetic, isn’t it! However, this disgraceful act has pointed NEMT in the direction of rebuilding our now outdated website, which we hope will soon be active. Thank you for your patience.
Headline News – Due to unforeseen circumstances our Website is currently still offline. We apologise if you have been affected by this or for any inconvenience caused. But be assured that we are trying to sort this out, in the meantime please be patient. However, our new Website below will replace and be much better than the original which was very unreliable anyway. Once this horrible little gremlin has been removed we hope to be back on-line very soon with our new improved Website address as follows – www.nemaritimetrust.org.uk
The Website was not offline but placed in a temporary home by the so called horrible little gremlin while he rebuilt the Website that he had maintained for over 10 years. It was your calling me one of the certain nasty Trustees of Northumbrian Fishing Heritage Trust on my own Website that forced me to move it to another Provider. I discovered in March 2024 that you had not only persuaded TSOHost’s agent to make you an administrator of the website nemaritimetrust.co.uk but also had managed to persuade her to remove me at the same so that I could not correct your false accusation.
I copied Messrs Lund and Parker and Sue Griffiths into my email to you in November last year because it appears that none of them ever questioned any of the lies repeated in your newsletters and emails and this brings me to your Consider Urgent Email to the Chair of NFHT on the 15th March 2024 which I consider to be a personal attack on both Peter and myself:
Against Peter, ‘It is apparent that you, presumably acting for (NFHT), have sent an unauthorised personal letter to NEMT members which contravenes data protection laws and your previous position as Secretary of this Trust. Against me, ‘I also notice that Mick Dawson (NFHT) has conspired to scam our website with similar unauthorised data, blocking any input from NEMT.
If you were asked to provide just one of those unauthorised personal letters or any unauthorised data you will fail because there were no unauthorised personal letters and likewise you will fail to provide any examples of similar unauthorised data. It was not I who blocked you from any input to the Website because you had ensured that I had no access to my own site a while before 15-Mar-24.
In November 2020 I noted that someone had complained on Facebook that Peter had left Golden Gleam to rot on a farm near Seahouses and let you know a member of the Coble and Keelboat Society was being unreasonable and you responded favourably with:
Many thanks Mick,
This Facebook post is a typical example of todays social media frenzy, which can be so damaging if not acted upon. I call them “keyboard warriors” who mostly either don’t have a clue or just want to cause trouble from the safety of a screen. As you know, we’ve had some of that at NEMT! Pleased it’s now sorted out.
Yet less than four years later you were falsely accusing me, in your newsletter and elsewhere, of stealing the Website Nemaritimetrust.co.uk from you and writing to the Chair of NFHT on 7-Jan-23:
Please find the following attached by Mick Dawson an NFHT director, most of you will not know him. However apart from more aggressive, personalised emails to me, which I find objectionable.
Now both you and I know that I had been a long standing member of NEMT since at least 2004 and most members who were around at the time I moved to Amble in 2017 would have known that as well. What they would not have known was that there had never been any aggressive and or personalised emails sent by me to you or any other member of NEMT and I challenge you to produce one.
One does have to look far to find the reason for your personal attack on me and it is the settlement of Mr Gordon Brown’s Legacy to the two Trusts NEMT and NFHT made at a NEMT Board meeting on 16th May 2018 where it was determined to split the legacy unevenly between the two Trusts and very much in favour of NEMT.
May I remind you that you predecessor wrote regarding the Legacy a reply to an official complaint 2019-09-30, this copy with numbered paragraphs was long and complex but it confirmed, that Gordon wishes, with regard to his bequest to the two Trusts, had not been met, see paragraph 7:
7. The next matter of rumour is the Gordon F. Brown legacy and a supposed improper transfer of NEMT funds to NFHT. Gordon was an honorary life member of NEMT, as well as a founding trustee of NFHT. Before his death in 2016, he informed both trusts of his wish to leave his housing property to be shared between both trusts. Because of the complications with NFHT not being a corporation Gordon arranged for all to go to NEMT – on the basis of proceeds being shared. Gordon’s note dated 14/9/15 confirmed this and NEMT agreed terms with NFHT on 16/5/18, confirming same in writing to NFHT on 22/5/18. This was following legal opinion on the arrangement received by NEMT from John Devine, Muckle LLP, on 15/3/18. To have ignored the wishes of a dying benefactor would not only be wholly unethical, it would also have rendered it most unlikely that anyone would support NEMT with legacies in future.
1. NEMT, were given and still have a flat from which they get an income of about £10k per annum as part of the Legacy but contrary to Gordon’s wishes, NFHT, now known as Northumbria Fishing Heritage get none at all. All they received from the sale of the other flat was £13,000 and that was only after a second legal wrangle which settled in May 2023.
2. Mr Dudman implied, on behalf of the NEMT Trustees that the proposal to divide the Legacy inequitably was made by the NFHT, when he said “As this confirms NFHT’s proposal to us, I trust that you will find it a satisfactory way forward, cleverly shifting the blame for the outcome of the settlement away from NEMT’s board meeting of the 16th May 2018 onto NFHT.
In 2016 a pair of flats in the Heaton/Jesmond area of Newcastle were bequeathed and to be shared equally between both NEMT and NFHT, by Gordon Brown who passed away in May that year. At that time the pair would have fetched something around £150k if they were both in a good state of repair but it seems that they were not and one had to be sold to pay for the cost of renovating the pair of them.1 I was the secretary of NFHT at that time and received an email, from the secretary of NEMT, dated 22nd May 2018, saying:
We’re proud to be supporting the restoration of the historic sailing coble, Golden Gleam, in partnership with Northumbria Fishing Heritage. This incredible project is now underway at the NEMT workshop in South Shields, Wapping Street, where work has already begun on stripping back layers of paint to reveal the challenges ahead. We’re excited to supply materials and follow the progress of this important restoration, preserving the legacy of our region’s rich maritime history.
Stay tuned as we share updates on this fantastic project.
Great weather over the weekend (26th April) enabled the safe relaunching of our historic Tynemouth lifeboat, Henry Frederick Swan. A great trip to our Newcastle NE1, Quayside Moorings, was delightful. Great crew on a great little ship.
On June 18th 2024 the Chair of the North East Maritime Trust wrote to myself, Dave Parker, the three Trustees of the Northumbrian Fisheries Heritage Trust and the three Trustees of trust of which he was the Chair. I responded later that day with an email to the Chair of the NFHT explaining why he should not respond to it and concluded:-
“Two things, firstly his use of nemaritimetrust.org.uk in the second email to me and that the email to you this morning was also from .org.uk., and secondly that Mr Barnard is missing from Alec’s list. I think Mr Barnard has been advised by someone in the RNLI or maybe his former boss in the Police Force to put as much distance between himself and Alec as possible.
Mr Barnard had been a trustee NEMT for a few years and I’d like to point out before I continue with my criticism of his accusation, that neither Mr Parker nor myself were trustees of either Trust when Mr Renwick accused me for the second time of having stolen the Website nemaritimetrust.co.uk.
From: Alec Renwick <alec.renwick@nemaritimetrust.org.uk> Sent: 18 June 2024 00:09 To: Peter W; Mick Dawson; Branson, Richard; PAUL; David Parker Cc: Kevin Lund <kevin.lund@nemaritimetrust.org.uk>; Dr Griffiths, Sue Subject: NEMT Website
