Future of BMPT

The British Military Powerboat Trust Ltd.

                                                   www.bmpt.org.uk

                                          pathfinder@safemariner.co.uk

                                                    023 8089 0900.

An Extraordinary General Meeting of the BMPT was held on the 3^rd May 2009.

Our President Dr Julian Lewis MP, as well as our guest Mr Peter Goodship, Chief Executive of the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, attended the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Major the Hon Peter Baillie JP, and a total of 16 Members of the BMPT were in attendance.

The Chairman welcomed our President and Guest, who in turn made presentations to the Members.

The Members were invited to ask questions of Mr Goodship, in connection with the proposed Resolution, which questions were all answered satisfactorily.

The Chairman put the Special Resolution to the Members…:

“That the British Military Powerboat Trust Ltd will merge with the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and as a result thereof, the BMPT Ltd will be dissolved”

and asked for a show of hands in favour of the Resolution.

All Members present raised their hands and Chairman duly declared the Resolution to be adopted.

The Secretary advised that of the 123 postal voting forms sent out to the BMPT Membership, 89 in favour responses have been received. However, as a 100% response is required for the postal votes to count, we were only able to use the votes of the Members attending on the day.

As a result of this outcome, the BMPT Board has started to take the actions required for the transfer of assets from the BMPT to the PNBPT.

On the 7^th May 2009, FMB43957 ex HMS Ark Royal was delivered to the PNBPT by road.

Further asset transfers will take place over the coming months, with ST1502 being delivered to Portsmouth, by sea, on the 18^th July 2009.

The final AGM of the BMPTrust will take place at Portsmouth on the 25th July 2009.

This situation has come about as a result of a number of reasons.

1.       Despite years of searching, we have been unable to find the Trust and its boats, a permanent home here in the Southampton area.

2.       As the years pass, our local active Members are finding the physical requirements of manning and maintaining the boats, increasingly more of a challenge.

3.       Younger people are not joining the Trust, to take up the strain.

4.       The increasing financial strains on our available budget will eventually mean that we would have to start selling the Trust boats to private ownership, in order to stay viable.

The past few years have been difficult ones for the BMPTrust.

Whilst the name BMPTrust will cease to be, this is merely the end of our first chapter, and the beginning of a new and very exciting future for the BMPT 125 Membership, our boats and archives, within the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust.

All our boats, models, photographs, boat plans will be available for all to see, and with 600,000 visitors passing through the gates of the Historic Dockyard Portsmouth annually, the Trust’s assets will go from being seen by the few, to being seen by the many.

We consider therefore that we will at last be achieving the aims of the BMPTrust, albeit under the banner of the PNBPT, in a very responsible, positive, secure and long term manner.

FMB 43957 ex HMS Ark Royal on the Solent 6th May '09 Photo Courtesy Geoff Sheddick

 

 

ST 1502 on the Solent 7th May '09 Photo Richard Hellyer 

FMB 43957 ex HMS Ark Royal arrives at Portsmouth 7th May '09  Photo: Richard Hellyer

FMB 43957 handover: D. Ross (BMPT) R. Hellyer (BMPT) B. Patterson (PNBPT) 7th May '09