Thames Maritime Heritage is a concept for 21st Century London which is rediscovering an almost lost or forgotten river. The dream of Thames Maritime Heritage is to preserve heritage boats on the Greenwich Peninsula, restore these craft to a useful life on the water, educate a new generation in the ways of the water, provide a learning conduit for potential ship's engineers and much more .
TMH is a joint venture centrally involving The Maritime Volunteer Service (HQ Unit) as leader with the Swiftstone Trust, the Massey Shaw project, the Kenya Jacaranda and others.
English Partnership, shipwright-training interests, local colleges and positive elements of the now defunct Mayflower Sail Training Society are involved in an embryonic plan to bring small historic ships, shipwrighting and river life together on the Greenwich Peninsula.
It is now very likely that by late 2009, ship-wrighting projects will swing into action under the umbrella of Thames Maritime Heritage on the Greenwich Peninsula. A River-Life Centre is envisaged where ship repairs and rebuilds will be undertaken by trainees under expert guidence and monitored by skilled volunteers and some paid staff.
Greenwich Peninsular Historic Ship's Harbour refers and has it's own discrete website at http://GreenwichPeninsulaHistoricShipsHarbour.webs.com
The ThamesMaritimeHeritage concept plans initially to bring together a steel tug, a fireboat and a converted Brixham sailing trawler at a single location in the tidal Thames where resources will be available to refurbish, rebuild, restore, refit three entirely different craft.
The facility will draw together existing but dwindling ship-wrighting skills, match them to young potential tradesmen tied in with educational establishments to restore heritage ships to go back to sea rather than rotting in some mud-hole.
The bigger picture envisages a riverside workshop, school, meeting place, eating place all embraced within the Thames Maritime Heritage RiverLife Centre on Greenwich Peninsula.