Trustees
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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.
Wendy Pritchard, a founder Trustee, has loved and sought out wooden boats and boatyards since her childhood. She sails Welcome Messenger, a crab boat built by Billy May in 1963 for Bennett Middleton, Sheringham fisherman, and until recently also sailed Honey, a 15 ft clinker Firecrest class built in 1953. Both of these boats were restored by David Hewitt. She cares greatly about conserving the stories, skills and boats which make up our local and national maritime heritage, and has a background of charity, business, project and change management and advisory experience.
George Parry, BSc, MSc, PGCE began working life as an engineer in industry and, in particular, worked on the design of aircraft cabin air conditioning (Concorde/Trident 3) and, latterly, aero engine control software in the USA. He has spent time in education, teaching engineering subjects in both University and Technical Colleges. He started sailing inland in 1987 and has owned boats from Topper to Mirror, Enterprise, Laser and Comet. Currently he sails an Orkney Longliner at Brancaster and a Twinkle Twelve at Burnham Overy Staithe, and appreciates the traditional design and craftsmanship of this wonderful little dinghy. He moved permanently to Norfolk on retiring in 2004 and has worked as a volunteer in many local organisations, such as booking agent for Brancaster Staithe Village Hall, Hon Sec of both Scolt Head & District Common Rightholders' Association until 2018 and, currently, Brancaster Commons Committee. He is also involved with Deepdale Church, helps to deliver the Brancaster Group Parish Newsletter and represents commoners on the Norfolk Coastal Partnership Forum
Will Darby grew up in Norfolk and enjoyed being at sea from an early age. He now runs Saltmarsh Marine in Stiffkey which includes servicing the Cockle sailing boats designed and built by George Hewitt. Will also looks after Harvester, the 1951 Emery built Whelker donated to Rescue Wooden Boats by Graeme Peart.
Christopher Pratt MA ACIS is the son of a naval officer and sails at Brancaster Staithe. Educated at Uppingham and St Catharine’s College Cambridge he graduated in English and took a post-graduate Certificate in Education in 1965, then became an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators in1968. He spent his career in property and construction, becoming a director of two public companies, before becoming Bursar successively at three Cambridge Colleges, where he was Chairman of the Bursars’ Committee of the Cambridge Colleges 2005-08 and again in 2015. He was a founder member (1980) of the Council of the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry, was its second Chairman in 1983 and later chaired the CFCI Charitable Trust. He was also a Trustee of the Built Environment Education Trust (Shape-East) from formation in 1989 until merger with CFCI in 2015, serving as Secretary or Treasurer or both for all of that time. He was President of the Cambridge Association of the Building Employers Confederation in 1979, a member of its National Contractors Group Executive 1979-89 and National Treasurer 1986-89 and a member of the Joint Contracts Tribunal 985-91. He has been a Trustee of several charities, mainly connected with education, the built environment, music or with sport and has been a Governor of both state and private schools as well as Church treasurer for parishes in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
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Kurt Janson OBE After working in New Zealand for the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Tourist Board, moving to Britain in 1997 to work for the National Tourist Board – VisitBritain - as Head of Strategic Planning with responsibility for Policy, Strategy, Business Planning and Marketing Evaluation. He left VisitBritain in 2004 to become the Executive Director of the Tourism Alliance, an umbrella trade association for the tourism and hospitality sector that comprises over 65 industry associations that together represent almost 200,000 UK businesses. As well as lobbying Government on issues that support the development of the UK tourism industry, he was a member of several Government advisory groups including the Tourism Council. In 2022 he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee honours for services to the UK tourism industry and left the Tourism Alliance to pursue other interests. He is a Fellow of the Tourism Management Institute, The Tourism Society and the Association of Tourism in Higher Education and is currently a Board Member of the Tourism Society.
John Keyte John worked a senior business manager in the regenerative farming business where he was a key member of the UK management team and European development team. He has a strong interest in the Norfolk coast and boating. His skills include strong leadership and communication skills, a hands on approach, leading by examples, a high level of commercial awareness, a motivational presenter, and excellent track record, a highly respected team manager with excellent interpersonal skills.
Robin West I have been employed in materials science since leaving University in 1972 and authored over 100 published works. I was founder Director of a scientific analysis company (Winnats Enterprises Ltd) and ran it, with my wife Linda, for 20 years until the sale of its laboratories, afterwards concentrating on data interpretation and consultancy for a laboratory in Blackburn. I have experience in liaising with directors and employees of companies, and acting as an expert witness in civil litigation. I am a member of the “Joyful” West family of Sheringham, whose history as inshore fishermen in the town dates back to the 1700‟s. My father, Henry West BEM, was an inshore fisherman and coxswain of the Sheringham all- weather lifeboat “The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows”. I have created an online blog, giving a biography of his life. (https://henryjoyful.blogspot.com/). I have also co-authored two station history books about the Sheringham lifeboats, and have contributed to the text of a third, produced by Sheringham lifeboat station. Also text and pictures have been supplied for pamphlets on the Sheringham lifeboats now in the Mo museum, where I gave a talk on their collection. We are proud owners of one of the last remaining, seaworthy, former traditional Sheringham wooden crab boats "Our Boys‟, which for many decades was a working part of the „Joyful‟ West family.
Linda West When I left University I worked at the Culham Fusion laboratory for a year before taking a postgraduate Certificate of Education and moving into teaching. I was a teacher for 20 years, and have taught all age groups from reception to GCSE level. Subsequently I worked with pre-school children for a number of years before joining my husband Robin as a founder member of Winnats Enterprises Ltd. During the 20 years that Winnats was in operation I acted as Director and Company Secretary, and was responsible for written and telephone discussions with customers, as well as maintaining Company records with HMRC and Companies House. During that time, I prepared two winning grant applications to the DTI. I am not a trained computer programmer, but frequently use email, word processing and spreadsheets and have maintained both our Company website and the blog about Robin‟s father (https://henryjoyful.blogspot.com/). I have helped to compile two Sheringham lifeboat history booklets with Robin, and have undertaken archival research into West family history and the Sheringham lifeboats. This has involved personal visits to The National Archives, the British Library and other local record offices in London, Norwich and Lincoln. I have entered exhibits at The British International Postcard Exhibition (BIPEX) in the early 1980‟s recounting the story of Sheringham fishermen and their boats on old postcards. As a teacher I am used to interacting with children and parents, and have presented information on a wide range of topics, both scientific, and on local history.
Jonathan Bevan Following a successful international corporate career in IT, I decided to retrain as a boat builder, combining my love of sailing and the sea with the acquisition of the skills and knowledge to learn how to build boats to industry standards. I was a senior IT business consultant and project manager, my career focused on he cruise and maritime sector, working for clients including Cunard, Princess Cruises and P&O, as well as SubSea7 and The Royal Fleet Auxiliary in the Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth.Over four decades, my job took me around the world, including to the USA, Middle East and Australia while working for the Royal Australian Navy. I also spent time living and working in Brunei & Hong Kong. Of yacht master standard, I have sailed for over 40 years around the British Isles, chartering yachts in the UK and Channel Islands; the Caribbean; including sailing around the Stockholm Archipelago in a 1950s Folkboat.
Martin Billing Martin grew up in a fishing family on the Norfolk Coast. He is an Innovative director and project coordinator with over 18 years of experience in concept store management, event planning, and publication development. Known for creating impactful visitor experiences and driving local engagement through targeted marketing and branding efforts across Norfolk. His key skills include: Event and Project Coordination, Strategic Buying and Merchandise Selection, Targeted Marketing and Branding, Visual Merchandising and Concept Development, Hospitality Management and Customer Engagement
Founder Trustees
George Hewitt was born and brought up in Blakeney. He and brother David (see above) 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. Now Lucy Lavers is complete, George has stood down as an active Trustee but remains a Founder Trustee and Adviser.
Graeme Peart is the fourth founder Trustee who helped to get the charity started. He spent a lot of time and the Boatyard in Stiffkey and together with David Hewitt, tracked down Lucy Lavers. His job then took him to London and he generously donated his whelker Harvester to Rescue Wooden Boats. He continues to sail his wooden crab boat and takes an interest in Rescue Wooden Boats.
Patron 2014 - 2021
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Robin Combe
We are very saddened to learn of the death of our Patron Robin in August 2021. He was a great supporter of Rescue Wooden Boats. We will miss him greatly. Robin's long association with things "watery" began with entry into the Royal Navy aged 13. An undistinguished naval career, albeit a very enjoyable one, was followed by 10 years in Watney's Brewery - at least we lived in a house directly opposite the boat race finish -, then a 10 year stint breeding trout with varying degrees of success. A passion for fly-fishing and several sea expeditions followed; the most memorable voyage being a 68 year old deckhand on a trans-Atlantic crossing, on the HM Barque Endeavour, a replica of Captain Cook's vessel. Over the last few years my association with the Hewitt brothers, through my purchase of a cockle dinghy (the perfect answer for a geriatric sailor), has led to my enthusiastic support of Rescue Wooden Boats... It is a wonderful fusion of the display of traditional boatbuilding skills with its equally important end-use, the long-term fishing tradition of Norfolk. I am very confident that the hard work already displayed by all those involved is going to reach its fruition as one of the jewels in Norfolk's tourist crown, and I am anxious to do what I can to promote their sterling efforts.
