Alan Titchmarsh explores the Mary Rose Museum and encourages fundraising for the new museum

Alan Titchmarsh talks about some of his favourite artefacts from the Mary Rose Museum and looks to the future of the new museum opening in 2012.

To help fundraise for the new museum visit www.maryrose500.org

The video footage was kindly produced by Solent University.

Update from Behind the Scenes of the Victorian Festival of Christmas from Terri Hall, Events Co-ordinator

A very Good Afternoon to you all,

Me again – Terri Hall, the Events Executive here at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

I do hope you are all well and getting into the festive spirit! We definitely are as our A Victorian Festival of Christmas build is only 1 week away.

The event itself is Friday 26th – Sunday 28th November from 10am – 6pm, but we have a whole week’s work to do building the event before you lovely people come to see it.

Our super Event Management Team, REM, will be rigging such things as Fagin’s Tavern (which is bigger and better this year as it now has a capacity of 600), all the twinkly festoon lighting, real Christmas trees, snowflake flags, of course snow to make the site look extra magical and much, much more.

Since my last blog I have been very busy organising all sorts of elements of the event… like working out the licence to show 3 BBC Beatrix Potter films, I decided to go with The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck and The Tailor of Gloucester – so make sure you drop into Action Stations auditorium for one of the 2 viewings each day (timing will be shown on the free programme that you will get when you come through Victory Gate).

Also the very friendly licensing ladies were kind enough to let us use 4 Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit illustration / colouring sheets – so don’t forget to drop in and get all arty at Beatrix Potters illustration lesson at the back of Boathouse 7.


Of course I have been honoured to be working closely with Santa, Mrs Santa and their Elf’s, who will all be joining us on board HMS Warrior 1860. I have had to be very good indeed as I need to ensure I get on the “nice list”!

As well as the creative stuff, I’ve also been planning important behind the scenes things like working closely with the Navy, MOD, MGS (Guard Service), MDP (Police), Health and Safety, Base Security, etc as we are lucky enough to have them just next door and they play a vital role in helping us prepare for this event, also ensuring we have enough bins, porter loos, etc on site, liaising with First Bus and Portsmouth City Council regarding the Park and Ride service which will be in operation on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th November, more details can be found at the link below:
http://www.christmasfestival.co.uk/visitor_info.phpPlus lots more that I will not bore you with, unless I ever bump into you in the pub in Southsea!

Right, all this talk of what I’ve been up to is making me think of things I still need to get done. So I’m going to scoot for now and I hope to be able to give you little updates during next weeks build week.

Take care until then.
Terri

Latest Blog from HMS Daring

Good Morning Campers,

Sorry but it’s been a little while since I have been able to get on here and tell you about what I’ve been up to. Well, it’s been hectic as usual and right now I’m sat in the Chart House but the ship isn’t moving , in fact DARING is sat in dry dock having a little bit of engineering work done to her. It’s the first time she’s been out of the water since she was launched in 2006. What a sight she is too – have a look at the photo of some of my shipmates ranging her anchor cable into the dock bottom. HUGE!

A brief visit to Den Helder in Holland at the end of June gave us the opportunity to present Daring to the Royal Netherlands Navy and have a Ship’s Company photograph taken in the glorious sunshine. We returned to take our affiliates and families to sea for a Day out in the English Channel. It’s the one opportunity in the year that we get to say thanks to all those who have supported us in some way or another. The day was enjoyed by all, with the Ship’s helicopter even making an appearance. The day wasn’t all fun and games for the Ship’s Fighter controllers were conducting a radar trial with Royal Navy Hawk jets who, after the trial, came in low and fast to wow those watching on the upper deck.

You might have noticed some service personnel on your TV screens whilst the Wimbledon competition was running this year. Daring also sent a couple of her Ship’s Company to help steward the event. One of our guys gave the father of Serena and Venus Williams (Richard) a Daring Baseball cap and he’s photographed here wearing it at the final between Serena and her opponent Vera Zvonareva. Serena went on to win.

So there’s a lot to be done now to get DARING ship shape in time for Navy Days but I’d say we’re on track and I’m looking forward to refloating DARING in the dock as I wasn’t here when she went in!

Navy Days takes place from Friday 30th July - Sunday 1st August. For more information or to buy tickets visit: www.navydaysuk.co.uk

Week 5 of the 'Weekly Wednesday' blog from Able Seaman Rob Foster, HMS Daring

Boys are Back in Town


We left Portsmouth in April for the inclement shores of Cornwall and the South Coast Exercise Areas. Since then we’ve spent 19 days alongside in other ports (mainly Devonport) and 59 days at sea. Last Friday, 19th July we sailed into our home town of Portsmouth where the familiar sights of Southsea, Gunwharf and well wishers on top of Round Tower greeted us. It certainly feels good to be back in Sunny Pompey. We weren’t in long before leave was granted and we finally got a full weekend to go home. Being a Derby lad I hadn’t had the opportunity to go home for quite some time as it’s just too far away from Plymouth. It was good to get back in the tractor on the farm and get some of mother’s home cooking down my neck – beats those chips and beans I’ve been eating for so long.

Today is Tuesday and whilst we may not be at sea we’re back at it. Preparing the ship for the busy month that lies ahead in the run up to Navy Days 2010. Got to go now though, The Navigator’s looking for those charts I locked away last week...

Find our more about Navy Days at: www.navydaysuk.co.uk

Week 4 of the 'Weekly Wednesday' blog from Able Seaman Rob Foster, HMS Daring

In the lead up to Navy Days which is taking place from Friday 30th July – Sunday 1st August at Portsmouth Naval Base (www.navydaysuk.co.uk), we will bring you ‘weekly Wednesday’ updates from on board HMS DARING - one of the ships open to public during the event.

Week 6 and the final week of Operational Sea Training. The time is 1200 - Midday. Already we’ve sailed into Plymouth Sound, collected the FOST staff via boat transfer exited the sound in a coordinated departure with German Frigates Koeln and Luebeck, conducted a high speed pilotage of the training ‘Mine-Swept Channel’ (PILOTEX), had a man-overboard exercise (MOBEX) and conducted a replenishment at sea (RAS) with Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Wave Knight. Later today we’ve got another Flying Exercise (FLYEX) with our Lynx Mk 8 Helicopter. and somewhere in between all this I’ve had to pop down and write my quick update. Probably the most exciting was the man-overboard. FOST staff throwing the dummy overboard whilst doing 20 knots and within a mine swept channel! (See photos)

All we need to do now is prepare ourselves and the Ship for FOST’s final inspection tomorrow. We’ll be up against submarine, ship and air attacks. Falcon and Hawk aircraft will test this Destroyer’s ability to defend herself and others from air attack. But we’ll be ready! Tomorrow we’ve got a mission and that mission is to win. The last time Daring did Navy Days was July 2009 in Devonport. Back then she was more a trials ship than anything else. This year she’ll be front and centre in her home port as an extremely capable warship.

More information about Navy Days can be found at: www.navydaysuk.co.uk

Week 2 of the blog from Able Seaman Rob Foster - HMS DARING

In the lead up to Navy Days which is taking place from Friday 30th July – Sunday 1st August at Portsmouth Naval Base (www.navydaysuk.co.uk), we will bring you ‘weekly Wednesday’ updates from on board HMS DARING - one of the ships open to public during the event.

Week 3 of Operational Sea Training – We’ve hit the wall, 3 weeks into the training, half way through and are now on the home straight. This week has been no less busy – already we’ve conducted Naval Gunfire Support practice using the Ship’s 4.5in gun. Firing against a sea target we used Royal Marines spotters to assess the accuracy of the gunfire from an airborne helicopter. One of our shipmates with an eye for photography managed to take a shot of the round leaving the barrel – Awesome!

Here at Flag Officer Sea Training we’re constantly being assessed. Despite Daring’s magazine being able to hold twice as many rounds as any other ship in the fleet we still conduct ‘Emergency Re-supply Drills’ – moving 28 rounds (105Kg each) up two vertical decks to the Gun bay ready for firing. We ‘smashed’ the drill completing it in under 15 minutes.

Meanwhile I was in the charthouse conducting the altogether less ‘steely’ but equally important job of correcting the paper charts and Admiralty Publications. Using the charts I had recently updated from the international amendments received onboard – The Navigating Officer was able to plan his next serial of the week in complete confidence – A stern Replenishment at Sea driving the ship to within 200 yards (1 cable) from the stern of Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker – Wave Knight.


For information about Navy Days 2010, please visit: http://www.navydaysuk.co.uk/

For information on HMS DARING, please visit: http://www.hmsdaring.com/

Firsthand accounts of life on board HMS Daring, (open to the public during Navy Days 2010).

In the lead up to Navy Days which is taking place from Friday 30th July – Sunday 1st August at Portsmouth Naval Base, we will bring you ‘weekly Wednesday’ updates from those currently serving on board.

Hello Readers! My name is Rob Foster. I’m an Able Seaman in Her Majesty’s Ship Daring. This is my 3rd ship in the Navy which I’ve served in for 6 years now, I joined Daring in January 2009. The same month she entered her homeport of Portsmouth for the very first time.

Daring is different to the other ships I have had. She is modern for a start, and so much more capable. My branch is ‘warfare specialist’ which involves a lot of time in the Ops Room helping to fight the ship by analaysing radars, listening to communications, watching cameras, tracking air and surface contacts and reporting them to the command. At present however, I’m working for the Navigating Officer – Lieutenant Knott, as the Navigator’s Yeoman. It’s my job to make sure that all the charts are up to date for all the areas the ship may go into. Currently the ship is undergoing Operational Sea Training (OST) which is six weeks long. During this time we basically go through every part of our job until ‘the staff’ (the guys who inspect us) are happy that we can do the job to a good standard and asses we are safe to deploy anywhere in the world. This involves long days of hard work but it’s worth it in the end. We’ve just started week two of OST where up to now we have been doing a lot of flying serials – landing and launching the Ship’s helicopter, Officer or the Watch Manoeuvres – driving in close company with 2 other warships and a RAS (replenishment at sea) this is where we took on fuel from an auxiliary vessel whilst underway at sea.

For information about Navy Days 2010, please visit: www.navydaysuk.co.uk