Donald Campbell's restored Bluebird in museum home row

[Healey nut]

Here we go again , another inaccurate news article and the you know what hits the fan again .
For gods sake can we not just accept the incredible job that the BBP team have done and further accept that they want to keep this piece on incredible British engineering history alive ????
This piece of history can inspire and educate people for years to come , can we please stop the S/$#t slinging and get along and all enjoy and admire K7 in a combination of both static and living breathing running forms .
Rant over , Im on vacation but this never ending b%#@$fest just ticks me off .

[Renegadenemo]

Well, wasn't that exciting. Quite a day and a lot of media interest - my phone never stopped, though it was all for background / explanation, rather than anything to be printed in the immediate future. I managed to speak with one Coniston elder too and offered a few things, namely that we would take K7 out again this year and that they ought to shadow us to learn about hosting an event. This was met with the usual attempt to suggest that Bute and Coniston were not to be compared because the loch is privately owned, which it's not, and that Coniston wasn't ready because we wouldn't give them a 'when', which we did supply soon as we knew ourselves.

Afraid I made little headway there but what I did do was pick up the telephone and try my best.

I also explained that we'd be delighted to display the boat in their museum soon as they came to the table and negotiated terms that suited everyone and on that we're perfectly willing to compromise for the greater good. That was left with me saying, call us when you want to meet and I'll round up the troops and we'll come over. The ball is well and truly in their court.

I've promised Gina that on no account will we allow the boat into the museum until we're 100% certain of being able to get her back out again for running purposes and that is right up there with promising to rebuild the thing in the first place and to have a damn good look for her dad so that ought to place its importance in the grand scheme of things...

On another note we made a similar suggestion to members of the LDNPA last week regarding shadowing a second crew-training exercise and received a far more positive response so that's in the negotiation stage with hopefully a positive outcome.

Had a laugh at a few rampant Facebollockers too. I get the Facebollocks reports second-hand from the guys and am I glad I have no part in that! Two were removed by their group's admin and a couple from somewhere else were sent my number, which is now my standard response. Pick up the phone and we can talk about it. Our office number is 0191 2964295 if anyone wants a word.

So, tomorrow we're back in the workshop. Kev and I will finish the rubbing down on Righty so Rich and me can splash a second coat of Perfection Pro on there soon as the place is empty and the dust is settled. We ran out of diesel for our heater on Saturday so the rubbing down got ahead of schedule. That's now sorted. Lefty needs a few coats of high-build next and if we get weather we may even get Engine No.1 out to warm her bones - we'll see. Need to stop the BPC from spilling to give Ted/Stew a few more %%% and adjust the AFRC so it spills harder when working the throttle to keep the JPT in limits as Ted/Stew hold her on the plane at lower speeds for the crowds. Mike, Rich, John or whoever else is in will doubtless do some more on our little Jetstar and we'll all push on towards getting the big tin machine and her support boats ready for her next outing.

We call this, 'getting stuff done'.

[conistoncollie]

Here we go again , another inaccurate news article .

Renegadenemo wrote

As a piece of reporting there was a lot of work went into that, I know I was on the receiving end! It doesn't contain any glaring errors and it's pretty well balanced.

[Malcolm Ops]

I am not sure what reply #403 from Conistoncollie was meant to achieve, after 26 posts had been made in 28 hours. The forum 'excitement' was of course started by the BBC article "What next for Donald Campbell's record-breaker?"

Bill's quoted words were directed at three members of the crew and came near the start of "the day". The quote from Healey Nut was his summary 23 hours or so later.

Whilst people have indeed been talking on the phone, I do not know of any positive progress being made in rescheduling and planning the organisation of the Bluebird Heritage Festival in the village of Coniston or the Proving Trial of Bluebird K7 on Coniston Water.

[Richie]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... irers/amp/

[Richie]

Some interesting words said.

[Renegadenemo]

Indeed, especially the part where the two sides ought to sit down and reach a compromise. That's why I've had draft contracts drawn up and called everyone I can think of in the village to say we need to get something down but no one is returning my calls or communicating in any way. Not a lot can be achieved if one side won't even come to the table.

[Healey nut]

Hopefully Gina will quickly step in and resolve this so rather than seeing a protracted court battle those who want to see K7 in all her glory can and those who choose to see a static exhibit are also free to do so .
Guess Iwill put my 2019 flight bookings on hold

[Renegadenemo]

Hopefully Gina will quickly step in and resolve this so rather than seeing a protracted court battle those who want to see K7 in all her glory can and those who choose to see a static exhibit are also free to do so .

Gina stepped in in today's Telegraph to nail her colours to the mast - the boat should be displayed as far and wide as possible and we can achieve that with the 9/3 month agreement if only the museum would crawl back out of the long grass and engage with us. There's no court battle to be had. They own the wreckage and we own the rest - I've been through that in minute detail with our lawyers. It may need a mediation but that is just for people who won't agree and what's there not to agree with? Is nine months not enough time to display that which another team will then take away to rejuvenate worldwide interest, properly maintain then return in first-class condition?

I was also asked today to explain my 'spiritual home' reservations. Well, here goes. I think that Campbell's first ever outings on Ullswater were an amazing achievement with an untried machine and a man having to learn to drive it from scratch to a world record. I thought the Lake Mead endeavour was outstanding too in that they relocated halfway around the world, sank the thing, mended it then got another record and Australia in 64 was their finest hour. But Coniston? lobbing up for a week a year to bump up the record a few mph to collect a 5K prize wasn't in the same league. Then when the boat sank it was just left to rot. I heard now and again that its location was known to a few locals but fiercely protected - it wasn't, you know. We took one of them who would have known if anyone did out on the boat to direct the ROV on the wreck site only to be told that it couldn't possibly be where we went. I heard much bitching, even half a century later, that Campbell never had anyone settle his bills from 66/67 too. But the past 15 years of inactivity by Bluebird's supposed spiritual homeowners resulting in the current debacle is really the icing on the cake.

Sorry - but if that machine has a spiritual home I'm going to go for Dumbelyung, the location of her last, and greatest achievement.

I want also to make it very clear that these are my personal views only and not necessarily those of anyone else involved in the project
and I have always been meticulous in making this clear in interviews with the media.

Any more questions?

[Ernie Lazenby]

A reality check; For over 35 years I have given talks to various groups about Campbell, Seagrave, Cobb, Sayers and others. Regarding Campbell, out of interest I always ask the audience what significance Dumbelyung and lake Mead have, blank expressions. Mention Coniston and there was a reaction. Anoraks, and I include myself, of course know all about the history but the truth is that the vast amount of the population know very little. The Campbell dynasty is forever linked to Coniston. The expression 'spiritual home' means very little to me it has no relevance but I firmly believe K7 belongs at Coniston because of the history of water speed record breaking going back to Sir M's days there.

I find it sad that Misss Campbell has changed her mind but she cannot turn the clock back before she signed K7 over to the Ruskin.
I disagree with Bill, I think this will end up in court because the organisation with a document signed by all parties is not in my opinion going to roll over and be railroaded into a course of action they dont agree with. As I understand it Bill agreed to rebuild K7 using volunteers with no mention of it being trailed around the world.

All the publicity arising from the recovery etc has been usefull in making new generations or two aware of what took place however as time passses interest will diminish when those who have jumped onto the bandwagon find another vehicle/cause to get into the glare of publicity.


I have said it before but to repeat, assuming the rights of an owner does not make it so. BTW After I retired as a top cop I worked for a solicitor and while not claiming to be a lawyer I do have a reasonably good knowledge of the law. Hopefully good sense will prevail without formal litigation but I fear that is what is going to happen.


Its all very distressing, why cannot the initial agreement be followed through, restore it run it on Coniston, put it in the museum and maybe once every 2 years take it out and run it on Coniston for the public to see. I absolutely agree the boat needs maintaining now that it has been restored to full working order. It ought to have been left where it was however that argument has gone, confined to history.
Just the opinions of a life long enthusiast and grumpy old sod.