Hi Pat, I agree with you. It is expensive to run a nautical charity. Before someone trolls this important matter, I attach the credentials of the previous charity I registered. The first £5,000 we raised when I was the charity treasurer was the most difficult. Then a miracle £20,000 came in. Hard work and a good set of nautical trustees got us to £1,000,000. After the £3,000,000 milestone was reached, our charity patron annnounced a special £1,000,000 donation to get the ship back to sea in fully operational condition. All those numbers can be looked up at the Office of The Scottish Charity Regulator in Dundee. I would respectfully suggest that if a group of friends can do that for an old Clyde steamer (TS Queen Mary)… a ship that has the function of taking folk up and down the river on pleasure and nautical + educational (shipbuilding history) cruises, then surely a group of former Arbroath RNLI crew and supporters could and would be capable of raising sufficient funds for a local, independent charity to save lives off of the Arbroath coastline? As proof-of-concept a replacement lifeboat of the very same class as the one just taken away by Poole is just £75,000. https://www.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/rnli-mersey-class-for-sale/701406 . We would need a mechanic + crew + infrastructure. But Arbroath has tons of skills to help make a local charity work and save lives at Arbroath. Watching David Spinks photos and videos of the crew lined up on the deck of the lifeboat for one last photo had me struggling to keep my composure. Pat, people really do care. The old adage holds true: “When things are at their worst, people are at their best.” If any crew and/or local folk would like to establish an independent local charity in Arbroath, this wee soul for one, would be keen to help. I reckon there are others too. Kindest wishes, Russ McLean
Today 19th March 2024 is very close to the 40th anniversary for the birth of Unique Property Bulletin. So we have a special feature article. Also, because this relates to real-life projects we are bringing to life as well as past adventures, we will be keeping this article as the top one until the end of this month so none of our readers are missed out.
For even more adventures of Unique Property Bulletin: https://uniquepropertybulletin.co.uk/who/
Amd a short video of our very first renovation of a unique property in 1984: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmOIlb58Y-U
IMPORTANT: If you would like a more detailed feature in the next few weeks, please add the two words: ”Island Curious” to the comments section below.
All the very best, Russ 🙂👍🏻
youtube.com/watch?v=AmOIlb58Y-U
Who?
.
.
.
.
.
.
Unique Island Home For £5 A Year ~ Would You Be Curious?
Today 19th March 2024, this feature is about the place where we started Unique Property Bulletin, and how you might be able to have a bite from that tasty flavour of adventure. Soon.
40 years ago in 1984, we agreed to lease a derelict coastguard station on a small island at a nominal £5 per year. If a similar sort of thing happened again (this year) and you could be the person (or couple) to secure a £5 lease for a unique island home in which to live, would you choose to say “yes” or “no”? This is a serious question…
=> If sufficient numbers of our readers write “Island Curious” in the comment section below, we shall spend a couple of weeks collating the required detail for a fulsome article on the new and real island life project. Albeit, a subtly different style of unique home to the Old Lookout.
It could be life-changing. So we are headlining this article from today… to 31st March 2024. Why so many days? Because we would like the majority of Unique Property Bulletin readers to have a chance and see what might be a life-changing event for someone (or a couple).
We are keeping this summary simple. Just a few words + a video + a link to more information now if this is your sort of thing. Also a series of photos to give you the visuals of island life.
Please Note: We do NOT hold the lease on the Davaar Island Lookout coastguard station any longer. This was vacated in the mid 1990s following a job offer in London. Though before decanting to the Capital, we were able to spend two extra glorious summers on Davaar Island. Having been given a very favourable lease on the former lighthouse keeper’s home next door to the Old Lookout.
That wonderful time leasing the lighthouse property gave us a lifelong affection for lighthouse living. After the first lighthouse station on Davaar Island, we have been incredibly fortunate to have five lighthouse stations that we bid on to buy between 1988 and 2024. These are pictured in the attached photos (we only purchased four lighthouse stations as one had significant issues), and the legal advice was to politely decline and walk away. No regrets. It has been a blissful privilege to have (renovated) and lived in five lighthouse stations if you include Davaar Island lighthouses.
=> Just for fun, you might have a guess at what the name is, of each lighthouse station in the attached photos?
Four decades living in lighthouses is Nirvana for us. Even if it is not your cup of tea, the boost in funds and knowledge + unique property skillset has helped the crew of volunteers here to live in some awesome homes. Plus be able to do that without the need for a mortgage. If you favour barns or windmills, perhaps old railway stations or converted water towers, the experience gained by a fiver well spent (to quote a friend), means you may well end up with a unique home of your dreams and in a way where you own your home outright, with no mortgage.
On the 31st March 2024, if there is a healthy number of “Island Curious” folk interested from amongst our readers’ then we shall arrange a fuller island feature to follow.
Even though we no longer lease the Old Lookout coastguard station on Davaar Island, it is now possible to spend a holiday in the building. Below is a link to a video of our very first Unique Property: the Old Lookout as well as the current owner’s contact details.
Plus a link to some extra information about our own: Who? What? Where? When? How? Just in case this short island article has whetted your appetite.