and all but one of the crew of the fishing cobble
Economy, to whose aid the courageous men had gone:
GORDON BURRELL
GEORGE FIRTH
JOSEPH KENNEDY
DAVID BURRELL (aged 9)
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends" (John, 15:13)
Since the beginning of May we have been trying to
return the George Elmy to
Seaham.
Seaham Town Council were informed of the impending
sale of the George Elmy
and given every opportunity to purchase
but
failed to do so. With the backing of Seaham Heritage
Group, (the earthbound arm of East-Durham.co.uk) and
a loan from Tommy Smith, I decided to go ahead with
the purchase of the lifeboat which had played such a
huge if sad part in the history of our town.
On the 11th May
I
made contact with Mr Gerry Hillman of Ambenwood,
Exmouth and agreed a price of one thousand nine
hundred pounds for the supply and delivery of the
George Elmy. This we thought a very good offer and
proceeded with the
purchase. The lifeboat was delivered to Seaham at 5.40
pm on Friday 15th of May, much to the delight of
ourselves and the many Seaham people who turned out
for the occasion.
With donations from Seaham Coast Guard, East Durham
Heritage Group, expats from America and France plus
donations left by members of the public of Seaham at
Meat Mart and Brooks Fish shop in Church Street we
have reached approximately
75%
of our target.
Many thanks to the people of SEAHAM.
We have also held talks with Lisa Jordan,
Regeneration Co-Coordinator;
Lynsey Garraghan,
Community Officer; Niall
Benson, Heritage Coast
Project Officer and Norman Conn,
North Dock Development Officer. All of these people
have given sound advice and help, for which we thank
them very much.
Last but not least we owe a massive thank you to
Seaham Harbour Dock Company for allowing us to have
the use of the space to store the George Elmy.
We hope to publish an update every week so please
watch this space.
Brian Scollen
We have started on a
long journey with this project but with the help and
support of the townspeople of Seaham we hope to have
it completed before November 2012.
We hope to publish an update every week so please
watch this space.
Brian Scollen for East Durham Heritage Group
Please donate to the
George Elmy Restoration Fund
(East-Durham Heritage
Group)
Your help would be
greatly appreciated
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