2 THE KEDGE ANCHOR Issue 47—Spring 2017 Success to The 1805 Club! “First Gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.” Horatio Nelson 1798 I wrote in my last Dispatch, This is an exciting time for The 1805 Club because after 25 years of activity, which has consolidated its credibility and reputation, the Club, like the country [post Brexit], is at a threshold. Your Council has been working to respond to the challenges and opportunities this presents and in addition to the changes to the Trafalgar Chronicle it is investing in a revamp of the website, led by Jo Birtwhistle, which will allow for the long-awaited Memorials Log to be published on line. We have also commissioned a feasibility study from Commander Garry Spalton RN rtd on a future strategy for The Trafalgar Way. The 1805 Club is now the official custodian of the Trafalgar Way and we are thrilled that Ride the Trafalgar Way is taking place in October. We shall be presenting The New Trafalgar Dispatch to the winning cyclist of each leg. We are also looking at ways to help support this splendid event in future years together with many other organisations along the Way who we are approaching to help us raise its profile. Bill White is masterminding this. Hitherto we have fulfilled our charitable objectives in a variety of ad hoc ways but there is now a call for a sustained approach that will build on these achievements and integrate the various co-related elements. The underpinning themes remain conservation and recording, education and the promotion of naval heritage. These aspirational words are worth repeating in full because Council also recognized that integrating these elements would release synergy and elevate the Club’s performance, productivity and profile. However, it could only meet this challenge with a significant boost to its resources, otherwise it would always be struggling to realise its true potential. I am now exceedingly pleased to announce that an application for funds to the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been extraordinarily successful! The 1805 Club has been awarded the incredible sum of £455,000. The Libor Fund was created from the criminal fines imposed on banks for a series of fraudulent actions connected to their manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, the average interest rate calculated through submissions of interest rates by major banks across the world. The fines amounted to hundreds of millions of pounds and in 2012 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the proceeds from Libor fines should be used to support those that represent the best of values, in particular military and emergency services charities and other related good causes. At approximately this time last year the Club made its initial overtures, was deemed to qualify, and at the request of the Chancellor prepared its business case. There was no guarantee that the application would be successful. I hope you can imagine the surprise and elation felt by Council when it received the news on 27 November 2016 that the submission had been approved! This grant of funds represents a huge step forward for your Club and how it now pursues its aims and activities. It is the most significant development since we became a charity and it is a fantastic way to open the chapter on the Club’s next twenty-five years. It is also a genuine recognition of our status as a member of the naval heritage family and significantly raises our game and profile in this community and beyond. We could not announce anything until we had received and agreed the Terms and Conditions and ratified acceptance, which Council did at its last meeting on 18 February. However, we wanted our members to be the first to hear of the good news and that is why it appears in The Kedge Anchor before anywhere else. We are indebted to Vice Chairman Bill White, who receives a huge vote of thanks from us all for masterminding the application and we congratulate him on its successful outcome. I have worked with Bill in the past on applications similar to this and I know how much work is involved, often to be unrequited – but not this time! It has been a fantastic effort by him and the successful outcome could not be sweeter. Now, for the first time he has written a Vice Chairman’s Dispatch for the KA, which reveals his motivations for his pursuit of Libor and his dedication to the Club generally. I shall use Nelson’s words, “Could anything from my pen add to the character of the Captains [in this case Bill], I would write it with pleasure, but that is impossible.” The application relates primarily to The Trafalgar Way, our educational ambitions, a memorials log and associated naval historical data sets, and a number of international conservation projects. More specifically the grant will be used: To facilitate the provision of naval history lectures by leading naval historians for Royal Navy personnel. To secure from their compiler two unique and at risk naval historical databases relating to naval personnel who served in the British fleet in the Napoleonic Wars and to host them on the Club website. Also, to expand and enhance the Club database relating to naval monuments and artefacts to be hosted on the Club website To conserve the rapidly deteriorating Marriage Register on the island of Nevis that contains Lord Nelson's marriage certificate; also to provide a humidity controlled display case for the conserved Register and a digital copy of the Register for wider use. To restore the partly ruined chapel and associated hall. At the Old Royal Naval Hospital on the Isla del Rey in the harbour of Mahon, Menorca. To establish an organisation under the aegis of the Club to promote and develop The Trafalgar Way with activities, including lectures, films, cycle challenges, events for horse drawn vehicles (a post chaise was used in 1805 to bring the original Trafalgar Dispatch to London), events involving schools, notably Wooden World Workshops, and possibly to provide a
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