HMS Whimbrel-What Ever Happened To The Campaign To Save Her.

Here is a picture of Louise Ellman and John Livingstone lobbying Gordon Brown, the man who gave all our gold reserves away at two quid an ounce before the price lept to ten.
Then went on to sea lord over the biggest financial disaster of the century.
The Whimbrel was an important Black Swan Sloop,  playing a huge part in the Battle of the Atlantic.
 "Is there a secret war time headquarters in Martins Bank Buildings" someone recently asked me.
"Yes its that secret its shut down and no-one knows about it" I replied. Thats what we do with our heritage.

We support the campaign to bring the Whimbrel back to Liverpool and spend a fortune on it, even though the Canning Dock is now a World Heritage Blight with the three black coffins on Mann Island and it will loook out of place.
How come those in Liverpool Vision such as Joe Anderson got £12,000,000 to put a cut through the Pier Head and let in.....Canal Barges when we have no way to put a proper boat there. 
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/12/barge-watch-liverpool-canal-link.html
We could have had the U-534 only some tosser cut it up watched by the local maritime press who swallowed the excuse that they had no room for it, hook line and........stinker.
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/u-534-cut-up-into-five-pieces-by-neil.html

HMS Whimbrel (U29) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Whimbrel_(U29) here is the wikipedia link.

Here is the last we heard from Oldham Hall Street blaming the Egyptian Government, for the ineptitude of the crusty old sea dogs trying to save her, watching as scrap, no I said scrap metal values quadrupled. Then complaining when the Egyptians up the price, and they asked them to remove the asbestos.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/02/22/hms-whimbrel-campaign-countess-mounbatten-plea-to-egyptian-president-to-save-warship-100252-25884781/  The last I heard.
COUNTESS Mountbatten of Burma has now written to President Mubarak of Egypt, asking if he can intervene in the deadlock over returning the last of Capt Johnnie Walker’s warships, HMS Whimbrel, to Liverpool, to become the only official British Battle of the Atlantic memorial.

The problem is caused by the Egyptian Defence Ministry having quadrupled the agreed price of HMS Whimbrel from £250,000 to £1m.

The negotiators for this rusting hulk full of asbestos used the Nigel Mansell approach to buying car insurance.
Err.... how much do you want, OK we will pay it, until they realised that the Arab nations negotiate as a way of life and don't just accept the first insurance quote like most of the British.
The Duke of Westminister had made a substantial donation, but his £250,000 was returned as it cant be left forever in a dormant bank account.
 Peter Elson who put a lot of his own time into this Daily Post Campaign, and is alright, wrote a Oldham Echo-ing piece in 2009, helping to evoke the spirit of the age.
AS THE merchant ship’s very soul groaned in its death throes, wallowing amid the pounding Atlantic swell on October 19, 1940, courageous men still combed her lower decks looking for life.
As they shone their torches around the bowels of the SS Assyrian, which was torpedoed while sailing from Halifax to Liverpool as part of Convoy SC7, they heard a cry.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/liverpool-columnists/peter-elson/2009/03/30/peter-elson-could-hms-whimbrel-really-be-set-to-come-home-92534-23261140/
I had to ban John Livingstone from my shop, as I kept getting earache, he was just too heavy, but he means well, and wants a memorial to all those heroic sailors who saved the fate of Europe from the Nazis in the Battle of the Atlantic. Not just a closed room in Martins Bank basement.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/columnist/2010/03/11/hms-whimbrel-manxman-royal-iris-and-landfall-are-all-in-various-stages-of-rusting-or-sinking-100252-26006915/ Even big mouth Joe Riley joins in. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/columnist/2010/03/11/hms-whimbrel-manxman-royal-iris-and-landfall-are-all-in-various-stages-of-rusting-or-sinking-100252-26006915/
There is a bad monument to Johnnie Walker at the Pier Head by Tom Murphy. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/tom-murphy-dumping-bad-sculpture-on.html

So will we ever, in these economic times, caused by the very person who was asked to help the campaign, Gordon Brown, see another ship in the Liverpool Docks that we can call our own.
 Or is it just wading into deep water a sinking idea.

What happened to the Manxman. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/ss-manxman-its-over-its-scrap-and-its.html

But don't worry folks everything is alright we have saved the Cruise Liner Jetty and the embarrasment of planning a disaster.
It says so in the Daily Post and Echo today. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/12/10/chancellor-george-osborne-gives-new-hope-to-liverpool-cruise-terminal-plan-92534-27801487/  The headline reads.
Chancellor George Osborne gives new hope to Liverpool Cruise terminal plan
Quizzed by the Daily Post, the Chancellor hinted strongly that the decision – imposed by the previous Labour administration – would be overturned when the current government completes its review.
He described the block on cruises starting and finishing at the Pier Head as “rather odd”, giving a significant boost to the Daily Post’s campaign to lift the ban.
Talk about making a crisis out of a drama this is a front page.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/cruising-from-liverpools-langton-dock.html
Talk about Wading into deep water.
David Wade-Smith claims he saved the Cruise Liner jetty from the scrapheap at a Liverpool Vision board meeting. Thanks for that.
This is, in my opinion as the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, the moron, who promoted Mann Island development as beneficial to Liverpool, making it now look out of place to have boats there. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/david-wade-smith-not-right-choice-as.html


Joe Anderson is the longest serving board member of Liverpool Blind Vision. Mates with Wade-Smith for a long time eh Joe.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/12/09/liverpool-vision-to-be-taken-under-city-council-control-92534-27794467/ 
The same old people responsible for the cruise liner cock up are now getting on board.


Louise Ellman, the Riverside MP, who chairs the Commons transport committee, and part of the government who would not let cruises start at the Pier Head, in the article said:
 “I thought it was a very encouraging answer, on what is a vitally important issue.”
So we now have Louise Ellman trying to save the Cruise Liner Jetty, she cant even save her own son who was recently arrested. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/10/14/son-of-liverpool-mp-louise-ellman-held-by-police-in-meow-meow-drug-raids-92534-27467654/ 
She is now asking a Tory cuts reaper to help the get on board the Get On Board Campaign, and now its all fine because George Osborne describes the situation as "odd" and its all going to be saved.

Its all very odd to me, how the same old people are making the same old mistakes they always have, and are still getting away with it.