Water Design Challenge with Southern Water & The Design Council

We are delighted to be working with the Design Council and Southern Water for the next few months on the Water Design Challenge, a pioneering new programme to inspire young people to cut their water and carbon footprint. We’ll be working with the Thomas Aveling School in Rochester and the Isle of Sheppey Academy. Read more

New gangway installed

LV21 had her new gangway installed this weekend with the help of a number of ShipMates who turned up to lend a hand. Thanks to some heroic efforts of brute force we managed to attach the platform and gangway with little more than a chain block and tackle, though most of the lifting was done by hand. Thanks very much to all our helpers over the weekend. Read more

1st Artist Commission – Andrew Baldwin

We’re pleased to announce that Andrew Baldwin is creating our first site specific commission for the ship. Here you can see him inside one of three midships air receivers removing redundant pipework that he will be incorporating into his sculptural piece. Read more

LV21 feature on Kent TV

Kent TV’s feature on the LV21 project is now live on their website. You can view the film here. Thanks to Laurie for filming and producing. Read more

BBC coverage of LV21 & progress

Last week we were visited by BBC Radio Kent and web team. We will be participating in a live broadcast on the BBC Radio Kent breakfast show 8.30am Monday 25th Jan when you can hear ex crew member Brian Packham recount his experiences on board and his memories of the collision at Varne in 1981. For a taster of Brian’s story go to the audio slideshow on the BBC website where you can also read the news article. Read more

Former crew get onboard

The first day of the new year and we were thrilled to meet Brian Packham, a former crew member of LV21 in the 1980′s when she was in service on the Varne station off the Kent coast nr Folkestone. Read more

Scrubbing the decks

The last few days we have been busy with some basic maintenance and cleaning. This included scrubbing and reviving the wooden deck areas and Dave managing to wind up the Lister diesel engine which thundered into action. Read more

LV21 arrives in Medway

Despite the recent weather LV21 has made good progress with the tugboat Napia. Tug and tow will arrive in Medway today (20th Dec) at 12 noon. LV21 will be then be put on a buoy down river until Monday’s high tide at 1500 when she will be moored at Gillingham Pier. Come along and welcome her in.
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Light Vessel 21 Under Tow

LV21 is on her way to Medway courtesy of GPS Marine’s tugboat Napia. If you want to track the progress of LV21′s journey go to http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/ and use the drop down list top left ‘go to vessel’ and select Napia which is the name of the towing tug. Weather permitting eta expected Monday at Gillingham pier.

Wayne Hemingway On LV21

Design guru Wayne Hemingway has recently added his support to the LV21 project.

Wayne commented that “The Lightship Project seems to hit all the right spots. It sustainably brings back to life an iconic piece of local heritage and in doing so provides a home and venue for the local creative industries, Read more