RAF Museum signs MOU with Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

Attract's client The Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust has established an excellent link:

The Royal Air Force Museum is proud to announce its official association with the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

Today a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was formally signed between the Royal Air Force Museum and the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust (PDST) in the presence of the Museum’s CEO Maggie Appleton MBE and PDST Chairman, William McNamara, OBE.

The MOU will see the RAF Museum and Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust establish a partnership to foster the interests of both parties through collaborative programmes and events. It will also offer professional development for staff, apprentices and volunteers and develop opportunities for complementary fundraising.



Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust Chairman William McNamara and RAF Museum CEO Maggie Appleton

RAF Museum CEO Maggie Appleton says: “The Trustees and team of the Royal Air Force Museum are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust. As a National Museum we see it as our responsibility to share our expertise and experience with other organisations and equally look forward to learning from them. This arrangement will enable staff from both organisations to develop relationships as well as provide a substantial legacy for our respective local communities. We look forward to this important collaboration and to working with our new partner.”

Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust Chairman William McNamara added: “Pembroke Dock’s military heritage includes very important maritime aviation chapters which feature at our Heritage Centre.  Our new partnership with RAFM is an important milestone for us. It is an exciting prospect for all involved in the Sunderland Trust - trustees, staff and our skilled and dedicated volunteer team - to be able to work in collaboration with the national aviation museum. Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust will be able to benefit in so many ways from this partnership and we look forward to a prosperous and beneficial future on many projects.”

 

Picture caption (left to right): Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust Chairman William McNamara and RAF Museum CEO Maggie Appleton

 

Attract client walks to the South Pole

William McNamara OBE

Walking to the Southpole - William McNamara OBE is used to a challenge, in fact he’s become quite adept at them with his role as CEO of Bluestone and chairman of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust/Flying Boat Centre, one of Attract's clients, yet he’s sure to face his biggest challenge to date as he undertakes the ultimate adventure – an expedition to the South Pole. William has been fascinated by Antarctica for many years. It is a continent of superlatives, the largest, the highest, the coldest, the driest on the planet. The aim of the walk is to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The aim is to forge an ongoing relationship with Teenage Cancer Trust so that Bluestone can provide quality, fun, short break experiences for families of cancer sufferers and maybe national events bringing many similarly effected families together. Bluestone is a significant new business within the National Park, Pembrokeshire and indeed Wales. It has impressive social economic and environmental credentials which are entirely appropriate in this day and age. As William says "It has indeed been a great privilege but also a significant responsibility to be given the sanction to build and operate such a business in beautiful countryside in a stunning part of West Wales. Thus compassion, benevolence and creative partnerships to make a real difference within our communities are entirely appropriate whilst maintaining strong financial objectives."

More on William McNamara's walk to the South Pole and his fundraising efforts here http://www.90degreessouth.co.uk/

Museum Volunteering - Archive Crew have history on their hands

A vigorous volunteers' programme is a sine qua non for most small attractions and museums. The Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust that set up and run the Flying Boat Centre in Pembrokeshire is a good example as a recent press release demonstrates.

Pembroke Dock’s 200 years of history is in excellent hands. For the past 12 months a dedicated team has been cataloguing, recording and conserving a remarkable and wide ranging collection - covering so many facets of a community with a proud military and social history. They are members of the ‘Archive Crew’ at the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust’s Archive Centre, currently located in the town’s historic Market Building.
Under the guidance of Archive Manager and Curator Dave Pring they have, in the first year of operation, worked on over 12,000 items, from photographs and documents to uniforms, aircraft equipment and ships models. Items from the Haven Sunderland flying boat, serial T9044, are among the artefacts.

“It is a remarkable collection and we have only really scratched the surface,” said Dave, an IT specialist and qualified trainer. “The Pembroke Dock Collection includes important individual collections and those from service organisations and the town’s Museum Trust. It is hugely significant nationally and internationally as well, as we are constantly reminded as we receive many enquiries and requests from all over the world. Tracing family history is a major area of interest here.”

Dave and his team of 12 volunteers estimate that they have a 20 year project ahead of them, as new artefacts and material come to the Centre all the time. The archiving and recording work being carried for the Sunderland Trust is recognised as achieving the highest standards in Wales and the skills being taught to the band of volunteers is likewise of the top order.
“The team is hugely enthusiastic and developing so many skills,” added Dave. “Some of the team also volunteer at the very popular Flying Boat Centre and the Trust is fortunate to have so many committed volunteers.”

* New volunteers are welcome and should get in contact with the Sunderland Trust (01646 623425) or PAVS.

The Sunderland Trust Archive Crew came together to mark the first successful year of operation. Pictured are, left to right: Back row: Judith Davies and Glynnis Iles (Sunderland Trust Project Team); Iona Thomas, Trish Pritchard, Mary Meldrum, Barry Clark, Kay Hancock, Margaret Clark, Pari Taheran, Chris Howell. Front row: Malcolm Miles, Tony Craney, Dave Pring and Colin Hancock.


PICTURE: Sunderland Trust.

Creating sustainable tourism

Pembrokeshire’s Bluestone National Park Resort has been named the overall national Example of Excellence in the Rural Action category during Business in the Community’s annual responsible business awards, the 2011 Awards for Excellence.

Following on from their ‘Big Tick’ win at the Welsh awards event in June, Bluestone beat off stiff competition from organisations across the UK including EDF Energy and Milklink to win the accolade.

Bluestone’s award winning initiative is believed to be a world first for the leisure industry. Their landmark leisure attraction, the Blue Lagoon, is heated from biomass energy that comes from crops grown by local farmers. This partnership with Pembrokeshire’s farming community invests in the local economy and reduces the resort’s carbon footprint. This award winning initiative was recognised by judges for having ‘sustainability at its very heart’, and for the courageous approach with which the business supports the region’s rural economy.

William McNamara, founder and managing director of Bluestone, said: “This is a proud day for us. We set out to establish Bluestone as an environmentally sustainable business working with our local community. Just three years after we opened Bluestone, we have achieved national recognition for our work. But we have much more to do and being named as a national ‘Example of Excellence’ will drive us forward to achieve much more.”

See more on the award at the BITC site here

William McNamara is also chair of Attract Marketing client, the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust that with support from the Welsh Government and others including the Milford Haven Port Authority and Chevron has set up the Flying Boat Interpretation Centre and Workshop within the old Royal Dockyard and that now attracts many thousands of visitors since its opening in 2009. The Trust is leading initiatives to create a major visitor attraction and museum which will reflect the remarkable military heritage and the social development of Pembroke Dock over the last 200 years. Plans centre on the beautifully restored Garrison Chapel, dating from 1830, and one of the most significant military buildings in Wales.

Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, a group on Flickr.

Photographs celebrating the heritage and achievements of Attract clients - Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

Trustee appointments to Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

The Chief Executive of the Milford Haven Port Authority, Alec Don, has accepted an invitation to become a Trustee of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust.

He joins another recently appointed Trustee, Mr Phil Thompson, on the board, strengthening the Trust which is leading unique and high profile heritage initiatives in Pembrokeshire.

Mr Don joined the Port Authority in February while Mr Thompson, now a director with CIOTEK PR and Events, retired earlier this year as Public Affairs Manager at Chevron’s Pembroke Refinery.

Welcoming the new Trustees, Trust Chairman William McNamara said: “As a Trust we have made considerable progress in a short time but we are very much aware that we needed to recruit active Trustees who are prepared to work hard to help progress our exciting plans which have caught the imagination of so many people.

“The Port Authority has been a key supporter of the Trust from the beginning and Phil Thompson has worked closely with us all this time as well so we are delighted that they have agreed to join us.”

Already the Trust has established a unique visitor attraction in the Flying Boat Centre in the former Pembroke Dockyard and which has attracted over 7,000 visitors. It is also working towards recovering the remains of a wartime Sunderland flying boat which sank locally 70 years ago, and moving ahead with plans with partner organisations for a military heritage centre at the beautifully restored Garrison Chapel, one of Pembroke Dock’s most famous and historic buildings.

“The military heritage of this area is remarkable and of national and international importance and our new Trustees will help us to take our plans forward,” added Mr McNamara.

Alec Don said: "I am delighted to become more involved with this fantastic project. The Sunderland Trust is to a substantial extent intrinsically about the history of the port of Milford Haven and Pembroke Port. The large Sunderland hangars at Pembroke Dock continue to have a vibrant economic life as part of the port and I hope eventually we will see Sunderland T9044 raised and installed at the centre of a new national visitor attraction for Pembrokeshire.

“I very much look forward to working closely with William and my fellow Trustees to make this hope a reality."

Caption to picture:

New Sunderland Trustees Alec Don (left) and Phil Thompson.
PICTURE: Martin Cavaney Photography.

Attract Marketing  is working with the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust to develop the visitor attraction.