PS MEDWAY QUEEN
1985 - 1987

HOW THE SOCIETY STARTED
Marshall Vine, now the President of the society,sat outside the Corn Exchange, Rochester, with a small placard in 1985 to bring to the attention of the public the plight of the Medway Queen, that was to be the beginning of the society.
So quite a lot is owed to his perseverance.

We are now 23 years on from the formation of the Medway Queen Preservation Society, they seem to have progressed little in the final restoration of the Medway Queen.
It is so easy to solve problems with hindsight, if it were possible, we would have no problems.

But one can learn by their mistakes, sadly this is not always the case with the society. In their early days they were feeling their way, and were comforted by promises of assistance from all quarters, sadly this did not offer much financial assistance, but lots of talk, being cheap.

Some offers in kind were possibly lost by less than diplomatic actions, and response from some members who should have known better, being committee members.

The then Gillingham Council did offer help in kind, removing mud from the interior of the boat, sending a "Gully Emptier" at weekends. Police diving teams were helpful, surveying the hull of the boat. Port authority boats kept an eye on thing when we were not on site. A old first worldwar pump was loaned to us from the Dockyard Museum, being a god's send, this made easier work to move the tons of mud that had accumulate in the boat.

Most people around did try to help, but money was the main worry, little can be achieve without it, with all the goodwill in the world.

All the usual ways to raise money was implemented, including money out of their own pockets. Albeit work was commence on Medway Queen before we owned it, it was a necessity that this should be the objective of the society to buy the ship, lock, stock and barrel.

The Medway Queen at this time was in the hands of the Receivers, they had to dispose of the boat at the best price that was possible. They eventually settled for the Scrap Value, being £15.000, most of this they manage to scrape together, but some members bravely re- mortgage their homes for the rest, that is dedication, all have now been paid back for their kind deed.

They now owned the Medway Queen, and could freely work on her now, but once again it was down to a handful of members that worked for the next 18 months, to rid the vessel of mud, patch and eventually raised the Medway Queen.

Their reward was finally floating her and then moving downstream to Damhead Creek, where the story really begins.