Trustees

Trustees

David Hewitt , a founder Trustee, was born and brought up in Blakeney.  He and brother George (see below) were both interested in boats and boatbuilding from an early age, in particular wooden working boats and lifeboats. They built their first pleasure boats in 1976, and their first commercial crab boat Good Courage in 1978.  Since then they have built, restored and maintained a great many craft.  They are both passionate and skilful craftsmen, and their knowledge of the histories, construction and crafts involved in wooden working boats and lifeboats is second to none.

Simon Garnier spent much of his working life with the National Trust and for 25 years worked in the East of England, with responsibilities across the region including the North Norfolk Coast properties.  He was involved in some of the Trust's larger acquisitions of Orford Ness and Sutton Hoo, as well as helping to consolidate the Trust's holdings at Blakeney and Brancaster.  Having also sailed from Morston for the last thirty years, he has a good understanding of the importance of this coastline, the traditional activities that it continues to support, and the delicate balance that is required to maintain the special quality of the place.  The role of traditional wooden fishing boats is an essential factor in helping to preserve the uniqueness of this coast.

Henry Faire has been messing around in boats since childhood, initially in the West Country in a Salcombe Yawl and various dinghies, moving on to ocean racing, yacht delivery crewing, and cruising in Brittany and Southern Ireland, to owning and restoring a very rotten 1934 Tumlare on the south coast.  Then, having met a Norfolk girl, he moved his boating activities to Morston, ending up owning the Whelker Knot which was originally built for his father-in-law, and crab boat Auk, built in 2013/14 by David Hewitt and Tom Gathercole.  Boating - when not in Norfolk - is racing on the 60 foot 1904 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Mascotte. Working life was 30 years spent in various financial jobs in the City of London.  Wooden boats and their preservation have been a constant obsession throughout.