Man, 90, builds working model of PS Waverley ahead of historic Eastbourne visit

Brian Butchers’ lifelong passion was realised yesterday when he boarded the last seagoing paddle steamer – Waverley – on its first visit to Eastbourne in two decades.

Mr Butchers has been building working model boats since he was a child, and first started working on his model of Waverley over 20 years ago, when it was making regular visits to the sunshine coast.

He said: “I’ve always had a feeling towards paddle steamers, I can’t quite say why other than the fact that they are unusual and very attractive to me.

"I took an early retirement [and] of course at that stage my life changed, I had quite a lot of spare time on my hands. I had an opportunity to develop my hobby - ship building, and around about that time Waverley was making regular visits to Eastbourne.

“I had no previous information about it, other than what it looked like. So I collected as many pamphlets, books, magazines to help me.

“I started work on it roughly 20 years ago. It didn’t take me 20 years, I hasten to add! It’s taken me about four years in total.

"I tried to make it as realistic and to scale as possible.

"The result was very pleasing.”

After hearing about Waverley’s return to Eastbourne, Mr Butchers’ daughter decided to buy him tickets to a cruise onboard the historic paddle steamer for his 90th birthday.

He said: “I’ve seen it at the pier before but never had the good luck to get on.

“I’m looking forward to it very much. It’s a long-felt ambition."

Waverley’s visit has given Mr Butchers newfound inspiration to continue working on his model.

He took it on its ‘maiden voyage’ to Princes Park, but decided it was underpowered. After ‘going back to the drawing board’, he decided to replace the model’s steam unit with an electric motor and is ‘looking forward to the point at which it will drive’.

Mr Butchers said the project has ‘helped keep me young’.

He added: “It is authentic and when I look at it now, I think ‘how the heck did I manage to do this?’”