SS Robin wins funding

In amongst the plastic mega yachts of the London Boat Show show there was a silhouette across the other side of the docks that caught my eye in the late afternoon light.

It was the SS Robin, a relic was from another age, built by the grand sounding Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company way back in 1890 on the banks of the River Lea.

She is a coastal steamer and is considered so important she is in the core collection of the National Historic Ships Register, up there with the Cutty Sark and HMS Belfast.

And today it was announced that she has won nearly a million pounds of funding to complete her restoration together with a visitor centre.

I look forward to inspecting her more closely when they open for visitors.