Deputy Master's Review of 2011
2011 has been a year of change for Trinity House, with the appointment of HRH The Princess Royal as Master in May and my appointment to the position of Deputy Master last month.
This year’s success stories appear as a long list. To name but a few; Out of Hours monitoring for all three General Lighthouse Authorities is now up and running in Harwich; we have gained continued government support for eloran, and we have completed an extensive review of our Buoy Yards. Both vessels have received upgrades and the new helicopter contract introduced at the beginning of this year continues to deliver cost and efficiency savings. On the Engineering and Operations front, we are half way through a two year project to modernise Casquets lighthouse which will see this station become entirely powered by renewable energy sources, enabling us to achieve considerable cost savings. The technology to allow us to do this was developed by the R&RNav team, and will be rolled out to other offshore stations in due course.
I can report that the Corporation’s spend on charitable matters topped £4.1m in 2010/11 and is set to exceed £4m again this year. Our Merchant Navy Scholarship Scheme is now in its 22nd year, and has recruited an additional 31 Deck, Engineer and Electro Technical cadets during the year.
Following the launch of the tri-GLA strategy document ‘2025 & Beyond’ at Tower Hill in May, we can all expect to continue to work closely with NLB and CIL over the coming years, to deliver a cost effective and efficient service.
Keeping our focus on the future, we have much to look forward to. In 2012 we are participating in the Thames Flotilla celebrating Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and shortly after we celebrate our own great milestone, our 500th anniversary in 2014. More information about how we plan to celebrate this will be released next year.
I am proud to be at the helm of this historic yet innovative organisation with these significant milestones ahead, but for now it just remains for me to wish you all a very happy and healthy Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.
Captain Ian McNaught
Executive Chairman
23/12/2011
