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