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.*
On Tue, 5 Aug 2025, 17:39 Mick Dawson, <mick.dawson@nemaritimetrust.co.uk> wrote:
Dear Alec,
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.
Regards
Mick Dawson
For the attention of the Chairman of NEMT
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.
Continue reading1. 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:
Mick,
Please find the attached letter of intent from the NEMT board. with Gordon Brown’s bequest of the flats at Dinsdale Road.
I hope that you find it useful.
Best regards
Jerry
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.
North East Maritime Trust
GoldenGleamRestoration #NorthumbriaFishingHeritage #MarineChandlery #MaritimeHistory
BoatRestoration #UKboating #uksailing
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
Mr Renwick, the Chairman of NEMT gained total control of nemaritimetrust.co.uk by the simple deceit of persuading an agent for the Website Provider, TSOHost, in early 2024, to make him its administrator, while at the same time denying its owner, myself, access. The site that had been run by me on behalf of NEMT without complaint for over a decade.
When I discovered that Mr Renwick had changed the site from publishing details of what NEMT had achieved in restoring various vessels for nearly two decades, by adding a post that more resembled the likes of one that could be found on various Social Media platforms such as the one called X, I contacted TSOHost with a view to having the control of my site returned to me but but failed.
Resides on X as https://x.com/NEMTnews
This is a rewrite of the commentary on ‘NEMT News’, first first posted on December 1st, 2023. It was about the misinformation being produced by the Chairman of NEMT to hide the fact that under his direction the website nemaritimetrust.co.uk had almost been lost:-