By Sarah Curran
DONAGHADEE Heritage Preservation Society has been praised at the Assembly for its work on the Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat project.
North Down MLA Peter Martin recently brought to the floor of the NI Assembly the ‘incredible work’ of the Donaghadee society in ‘securing, restoring and protecting for future generations the Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat’.
During a member’s statement, Mr Martin told of the history and legacy of the lifeboat and how Donaghadee Heritage Preservation Company worked tirelessly to secure funding for it, in hopes of finding it a permanent home.
In 1953 the Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat performed a historic rescue when, under extreme weather conditions, it saved 33 of the 44 survivors from the wreck of the Stranraer ferry, MV Princess Victoria.
On its retirement in 1980, the lifeboat was acquired by the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, but because the museum lacked the resources to care for the boat, volunteers transported it back to its home in Donaghadee where it is cared for by the Donaghadee Heritage Preservation Company.
The new company had the objective, of not just of conserving the boat, but building a Heritage and Visitor Centre in Donaghadee of which the Sir Samuel Kelly would be the focal point.
A shelter over the lifeboat was put in place in 2019, paid for entirely by local subscriptions. The boat has since been repainted and it remains in a safe temporary shelter.
Last year, the company received a grant of £90,000 over two years from the National Lottery to build an exhibition room outside the boat shelter and to employ an outreach worker to bring the project to the attention of local schools and community groups.
Mr Martin continued that the company is now focused on finding a permanent home for the lifeboat, adding that Ards and North Down Council had a plan for a visitor centre in its Town Masterplan.
“The company is now pressing the council (which owns the boat) to come to a decision about where that centre should be,” he said.
“Increasing numbers of visitors, including schoolchildren and older people, means it is imperative that the Kelly site should be provided with proper infrastructure. The company has only four years of a lease on the present site so there is a time imperative.”
Mr Martin added: “I believe this is a project that has enormous potential: social, cultural and economic.
“It has a strong management board, which has demonstrated it is able to mobilise significant financial support, and a team of amazing volunteers who staff the centre, act as tour guides and work on the boat.
“I commend this project to colleagues, and hope that the relevant Departments – Communities, from the heritage perspective, and Economy, from the point of view of tourism and economic development – will lend it their active support and I would welcome discussions with both ministers.”
Mr Martin concluded that he would continue to work with the organisation doing as much as he could to ‘secure the requisite funding and a permanent centre for the Sir Samuel Kelly.
