Plain Kate’s journey to Tollesbury: David Hillyer recounts the day in November 1977

At the crack of dawn Brian Medlar and I set out around the wall to the Leaving’s path, where we found our pulling dinghy which got us aboard Ada, our trusty 27’ ex naval whaler, the centre’s safety boat. We chugged out of Tollesbury and into the misty Blackwater Estuary, carefully steering out past the Nass and on to Brightlingsea. Our destination was St Osyth where Plain Kate was to be towed into her new Tollesbury home – it was November 1977.

I’d been to Brightlingsea many times with the fleet, so it was a familiar journey, but only to St Osyth once when Iain Arthur and I sailed back into the Blackwater in their family’s 17’ cruiser Thurra after an epic sail through the Thames Estuary into the Medway River.

It was an early afternoon spring tide, so with the flood under us we started a winding journey along St Osyth Creek. It was a curious experience, with little to see except the banks either side, and then the water opened out revealing St Osyth Boatyard, with Plain Kate tethered to the bank on the port hand. Our hearts started to pound.

We came alongside, and climbed onboard. The huge key that David Alexander had proudly given to me a few weeks before was turned in the lock of the cabin door which swung open – the smell of polish and sight of gleaming brass struck us both. Brian hadn’t seen the boat, so he quickly leapt inside and explored – his face was a picture.

Our excitement then gave way to the reality of the journey back to Tollesbury. The creek was becoming flooded with the high spring tide, and we needed to be on our way. We began to cast off the less important lines preparing to swing round into the creek. The last line was cast off, and with Brian at Plain Kate’s helm I pulled her out into the creek. We sped along the creek with the ebbing tide beginning to take us, the tow felt very manoeuvrable all pivoting from Ada’s central towing post. Then turning into Brightlingsea Creek – we were on the way to Tollesbury!

Once we’d got out into the estuary we eased off and Brian joined me onboard – she appeared to be very happy to follow with no one at the helm. It was a steady tow back into Tollesbury, taking four hours, and then into the Leavings where we picked up a mooring. We secured everything, and then clambered onboard and into the saloon, where we sat for a short while feeling so pleased with ourselves. We’d done it!

I said to Brian that Margaret would be wondering how we were getting on, she’d be back from school by now. So we gathered our kit and rowed back to the path. We walked quickly back along the wall, enjoying the quiet and the evening sunset. Bursting though the door of the flat, Margaret was waiting to hear the story of Plain Kate’s journey to Tollesbury.

How we got Plain Kate

Here's an excerpt from Margaret Hillyer's book Salt in the Air, explaining how FACT came to acquire Plain Kate.

"[Following up our need for more accommodation] we had been to see Plain Kate, a fine, old wooden 'between the wars' motor cruiser, now without her engine and moored in the creek at the little village of St Osyth. We had heard about her more than a year before, but the asking price, though cheap, was much more than we could afford, and we had forgotten about her. In any case, we were at that stage planning to augment our accommodation with a steel barge which had found lying in Plymouth and had bought for £1,100. After an eighteen-month wait for a tow that we could afford, we were again offered Plain Kate. So we decided to try to sell the barge at Plymouth. This brought in £1,600, which enabled us to consider Plain Kate.

"When we saw her, we fell in love with her. It was quite obvious that she was exactly what we needed for extra accommodation for the increasing number of volunteers who were coming down each weekend to help. We had been sleeping people in the sail-loft. And her lovely old upholstered saloon would provide a cosy – and necessary – escape from it all.

"Once more, as we looked back, we could see God's hand in it all. The extra money raised by buying and then selling the Plymouth barge had made the ideal purchase possible. How very practically God provides, and how perfectly he times things."

Salt in the Air has been out of print for many years, but you can still get a copy! A number of second-hand ones are listed for sale at Amazon UK's Marketplace

Pat Alexander remembers pre-FACT days

It's great to see ‘Plain Kate’ getting so much tlc. She needs a lot of that. David (my late husband) and I did our stint of painting, varnishing, polishing brass, when we kept her at the top of the creek at St Osyth’s. Kate was our accom. as we explored the Colne in ‘Little Kate’ our sailing boat (a 19ft Hunter). LK had small stub keels, and there was often much angst about getting back up the creek before the tide left us short of our destination, stranded on the mud.






One particularly hot summer, the big seam on PK’s stern opened up. Water came in with a succession of tides and one morning we got a phonecall from the boatyard. PK had sunk. Oil from the engine had gone all through the accommodation. Sea water had turned the ground-up seashell packing in the Aga cooker to sludge.

Just when we’d spent a season or two getting her ship-shape and ready for others to enjoy, we had all to do again – driving across at weekends from our home in the village of Swanbourne (near Milton Keynes). In the end we realised that the task of keeping PK in good order, compared with the small amount of time we were able to spend on board, did not stack up.

In the goodness of God we discovered Fellowship Afloat, and our need to find a good home for PK matched their need for accommodation. Bingo.

God bless PK and all who do not sail in her!

Pat Alexander