New home for historic Hastings lifeboats

The Cyril and Lilian Bishop is on display outside All Saints Church with a special memorial telling people of her role in rescuing stranded troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940.

The Priscilla MacBean is on display close by near the foot of Old London Road. A special celebration was held in 2021 to mark her 100th birthday.

Dee Day White and Tush Hamilton were responsible for bringing the two boats back to Hastings and leading local campaigns to restore them.

But now the two old boats are deteriorating due to being exposed to the weather.

Dee Day and Tush had hoped to construct a lifeboat museum in Rock-a-Nore Road, to display the two boats under cover but the planning application was turned down by Hastings Borough Council.

Now the Shipwreck Museum, also on Rock-a-Nore Road, has agreed to take the two boats. They will be displayed as a special exhibit in the courtyard at the back of the museum under a specially constructed cover.

Dee Day explained: "We restored the boats a number of times and did our best to maintain them but the weather was defeating us and they were rotting.

"The problem is that the Cyril and Lilian Bishop was exposed to the sun for much of the day and the Priscilla MacBean was in a damp location. It was causing the timbers to come apart. When they were working boats the salt from the sea prevented this from happening.

"When we took the winter covers off the Cyril and Lilian Bishop, earlier this year. we found that the deck had rotted. A carpenter who went on board had his foot go straight through the deck."

The boats will be lifted by crane and transported to the Shipwreck Museum on July 1 at around 5.30am.

They will then go on display, beside a third boat - The Primrose - the last surviving Rye built barge. The museum is free to visit with donations invited.

Tim McDonald, who runs the museum, said: "We were delighted to be able to take these two historic boats. This will enable more people to see the boats in a position closer to the sea and we have full disabled access.

"We had 6,000 visitors in the last May half term and 8,000 in two days during the February half term. This is in despite of us being in something of a blind-spot down here.

The Shipwreck Museum is very much focused on school visits. I don’t think teachers realise just how much we have that really appeals to youngsters – everything from fossilised shark poo and dinosaur bones which kids can handle, to the ropes and pulleys and, before too long, the big lifeboats.

“We don't get a lot of help with publicising where we are. What we would really like to see is for Hastings to become part of the 1066 Country marketing again and for the town to have a dedicated tourist information centre, which it doesn't at present."

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