3 will remain closely involved with the activities of the Club, and on your behalf it was pleasure to thank them for their wonderful efforts over many years, in Sally’s case a remarkable 11 years! (Report on page 11.) Progress is being made on all fronts. The chairman of The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery has met with the Club at the grave of Admiral The Hon Sir Thomas Bladen Capel (1176-1853), captain of the Phoebe at Trafalgar. Capel’s grave is one of the two outstanding conservation projects of The Trafalgar Captains’ Memorial and we hope that with the Friends’ support we shall be able to more easily raise the £9,000 required. Admiral Sir Henry William Bayntun, captain of the Leviathan at Trafalgar has a more attractive memorial and although the Heritage Lottery Awards for All scheme has not found itself able to support the conservation, we still have other potentially promising routes to explore. In both instances the Club will also be contributing to the work from its own funds. Research for the Nile and Copenhagen Captains’ Memorial is well underway and we aim to complete this so that plans for any conservation required can follow hard on the heels of the completion of works for Capel and Bayntun. The Club is also funding the maintenance work on the Bolton tombs at All Saints Church, Burnham Thorpe. They were among the earliest of the Club’s projects but the march of time leaves its toll and so it is vital to check the degradation. You will see a flyer with this issue, and an article, on page 16, by Club member Mike Tapper, about the need to carry out work on All Saints Church’s electrics. This is an area where the Club’s charitable objects prevent us from helping directly with funding, but given that All Saints is in many ways Nelson’s memorial in Burnham Thorpe, the Club is keen to support the church’s fundraising efforts, and hopes that individual members will make whatever donation they feel they can to ensure the completion of the works in time for the anniversary of Lord Nelson’s 250th birthday next year. All Saints will be one of the centrepieces of the major weekend (26-28 September 2008) event the Club is organising in partnership with residents of the village of Burnham Thorpe and the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk to celebrate the birthday. Highlights include a concert and a special service at All Saints and a civic Dinner in the magnificent Town Hall in King’s Lynn. This will be the second major event in Norfolk organised by the Club. On page 6, you will find the report on the very successful Homage to all Heroes at Great Yarmouth between 31 March and 1 April 2007. The redevelopment of the website is now being carried forward by a professional firm, to both improve its architecture and presentation while at the same time providing members with a password only Forum area. This is prior to the construction of an exciting and important educational resource that will enhance the approachability and relevance of the Club through ‘living history’, especially with younger people and local communities. The improved website will also play a crucial role in both sustaining and increasing the membership of the Club. This will be particularly important as we get closer to January next year, when for the first time in the Club’s history, membership fees for individual members rise; from £25.00 to £35.00. The increase has been driven by the need for more money to carry out projects and the inevitable erosion of value by inflation. In fact, if subscriptions had kept pace with the increase in inflation since the foundation of the Club in 1990, today they would be nearly £36.00! Nevertheless, members have seen considerable improvements to this newsletter and other Club publications, notably The Trafalgar Chronicle. Our continuous aim is to enhance the overall benefits for members, who we hope also enjoy their membership because they believe in our conservation work and so wish to further the Club’s influence and reputation. For those of you who already pay by Standing Order, may I ask you to cancel your existing arrangement and open a new Order at the new rate. Linda Ebrey will be contacting each of you directly about this in due course. And so to Tom Pocock. His reputation as a naval historian and Nelson biographer is assured and there was a tremendous turnout for his funeral on 21 May at Chelsea Old Church. But with his death the Club has lost a very good friend, a Vice President, and strong supporter of what we do and stand for. One of Tom’s last contributions was to endorse the Club’s use of his phrase, ‘Stopping Napoleon’, as the theme for its activities during the anniversary years leading up to 2015. This will be one small legacy, but the Council will be considering other ways to pay him tribute. We are grateful to Peter Hore for the obituary, appearing on the front page and following on pages four to five, written especially for this issue of the Kedge Anchor. As ever my thanks to Randy and Dana Mafit, and Paul and Penny Dalton for producing yet another superb issue, and to our ‘contributing editor’, Alison Henderson. Their reputations have been undiminished by their actions! With best wishes, Peter Warwick
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