Watchful - BA124

old stella maris

Hi John

Seems a shame that this old boat should be hidden away like this - we stumbled upon it purely by chance, pity that Ayr Council haven't done more to preserve and promote the testimonial  

Regards

Steve E.

its not hidden away it is at the start of the seafront for all to see, have a look at the bottom of the high street and youll get the picture, £15000 junkets to dubai to promote ayrshire golf  in the same week they shut down the gaiety theatre and girvan swimming pool, the whole town is a disgrace  

It is 'hidden away' from the Tourist, i.e.me! - nowt in any tourist brochures that I obtained from Ayr Tourist Information office that it is in existence - as I say, stumbled upon it by accident - shame on the Cooncil  

the best thing for it would be scrapped an absolute eyesore from day one

Or dare I say, put her on display properly as part of a heritage site with info for school parties, tourists with an interest in history, tradition, fishing ,social culture,boats..... Spend  some money and re create her with W'head wheelhouse, masts, brailer pole, lights, DF......... Surely Ayr council have a budget for tourism/heritage etc.  OK she will not sail again but surely she is worth better more than this. All this grand talk of the old days and old boats and I have had a mini rant on this site before about this. Any one with an interest should be having a go at doing something about it and giving those responsible for her as much advice and assistance as possible and make it happen cos if not then there goes another one. On this site is a pic of the Maireared 1932, a lot older than the Watchful.  For goodness sake one person has single handedly given the Shemaron a new lease of life ...look out for pics  to be posted soon!

i tried to speak to Ayrshire council today about watchful, no one seemed to know who is responsible i was told that they would make enquiries and let me know , i think various bit and pieces were collected for the boat to restore her as a static exhibit it would be good to know where these are .it looks like nothing has been done for years , this combined with the way it is mounted on the concrete means it will probably stay on shore, how about painting it putting a replica wheel house on her some masts and rigging and transport it to campbeltown it could be put on permanent display near the harbour as a reminder of campbeltowns history , it would cost a fair bit probably about the same as an average MP,s second home allowance , the on going maintenance would be OK i for one would help as I'm sure others would

Chris Malkin

how about getting the town tidied up never mind an old ringer, there is absolutely no way will south ayrshire council restore this eyesore, they have shut down more things in the last year than anything else,

Ayr council are not alone there HB,all the local councils around the uk are MONEY GRABBING BA**ARDS,who don't give a f*ck about the town / city they're RESPONSIBLE for.



                                                    

comments nearly   4 years old !!!!!