Category: Uncategorised

Museum welcomes new craft to the Collection – AP1-88 ‘Falcon’

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She has been gifted to us by her former Swedish owners Hoverline Ltd and will be available for you to view as of Wednesday this week when we are next Open!
Many thanks goes to all of our volunteers and other supporting organisations during the move from Southampton including Itchen Marine Towage Ltd, Boarhunt Garage, Southern Recovery Service Transport Ltd, Griffon Hoverwork, MRB Transport, Cushman & Wakefield and Wates Group (not forgetting all of the very patient residents of Lee-on-the-Solent!)
You can find out more about ‘Falcon’ in the Collection page of the website.

HRH The Princess Royal visits her namesake at the Hovercraft Museum

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 Today we were honoured to welcome HRH The Princess Royal, amongst other distinguished guests, to The Hovercraft Museum and back to the Hovercraft she named 50 years ago.
Princess Anne was very interested in the collection and stayed longer than planned, taking time to speak to all the people presented to her from Museum and the Hovercraft Industry both past and present. After the speeches, unveiling of the plaque and presenting of a painting by founding trustee Warwick Jacobs, the 190 guests on site we able to partake of a cream tea on the car deck of the SRN4.
We would like to thank all of our volunteers who worked hard to make the event happen successfully. Our thanks also go to Cpt Robin Paine for helping to orchestrate the whole event, Griffon Hoverwork and Hovertravel Ltd for laying on a fantastic demonstration and the other representative organisations that attended.
The Trustees

Special Offer: Hovercraft Ride & Museum Entry Combo Ticket

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On the 26th and 27th of May 2019 you can visit The Hovercraft Museum and take a trip in a Hovercraft at a discounted rate!  For the price of only £20 for adults, and £10 for children you can take a 15 Minute Spin Around Lee-on-The-Solent Waters AND experience a Historic Hovercraft adventure exploring The Hovercraft Museum.

Rides will be occurring at 11:00, 11:30 & 14:00 on the 26th & 27th May.  Call Hovertravel on 01983 717700 to book these tickets in advance, or buy your tickets on the day*.

*Tickets are bought on the day on a first-come-first-serve basis so please plan ahead!

Great news!

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A BH7 Hovercraft exiting the sea onto a stone beach
In addition to being a unique museum in our own right, we are now unique for a different reason as we have just had our BH7 Hovercraft added to the national ships register alongside such famous vessels such as HMS Victory and The Mary Rose.

Did you know that we now have FOUR craft listed on the National Historic Ships’ Register – a feat we don’t believe has been achieved by any other museum in the UK!

The craft listed are:

  • SRN4 “The Princess Anne”
  • BH7
  • SRN5 “006”
  • SRN6 “Sea Hawk”

To make it even more special in 2019 both BH7 and The Princess Anne will be 50 years old. Why not celebrate by paying a visit and seeing once again these magnificent craft.

Santa is on his way!

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Santa is adding to his already busy schedule this Christmas by making a very special visit to the Hovercraft Museum on Saturday 15th December.  Santa will be giving out gifts (and coal) free of charge between 10:00 and 12:00.

Normal entry prices apply and include a Santa visit and gift at no extra cost.  Santa’s time is limited and is on a “first come, first serve” basis so don’t miss out.  We hope to see you soon!

Watch us on Flog It!

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Earlier last year Flog It! visited us at Lee on the Solent to shoot a segment for series 16 – with presenter Paul Martin even taking a ride on a hovercraft!  You can watch this episode live on BBC1 this Monday (3rd December 2018) at 16:30.  The episode will be available for 28 days after this broadcast on BBC iPlayer.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed filming it!

Support us by playing the Gosport Lottery

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We have recently joined the Gosport Lottery which supports many local causes including ourselves.  Please consider supporting us and the local community with a small weekly, or one-time play, and have the chance to win a grand prize of £25,000, among other smaller prizes, in the process!

For every ticket sold in support of the Hovercraft Museum we directly get 40% of the ticket revenue with a further 20% going to the other charitable causes supported by The Gosport Lottery.  Furthermore, the chances of winning a prize is 1 in 50 for each ticket played in a week.  The Trust will use the proceeds raised to help preserve the Princess Anne which is the last surviving cross-channel hovercraft.  The proceeds will also aid in establishing a learning zone on “The Anne” to support the local community and provide a space to provide hovercraft related education.

To play follow this link or head to the Gosport Lottery website and search for “The Hovercraft Museum Trust”.  Your ticket will benefit The Hovercraft Museum Trust, the local community, and hopefully make you a winner!

The Princess Anne is Officially Recognised as a Historic Vessel

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We are very excited to announce that “The Princess Anne” is now on the National Historic Ships Register!

Many thanks indeed go to all at National Historic Ships UK for their help in this important process of recognising the historic significance of the largest commercial hovercraft ever built and, of course, many thanks to our volunteers who work tirelessly to preserve not only this craft but also another 55 in the collection.

Follow the progress of “Anne” on our sister Facebook page, SRN4 Restoration and check out the other vessels on the registers at www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk

You can come and visit The Princess Anne and climb aboard any Saturday between 10am and 4pm.

An SR.N4 Hovercraft at sea leaving Dover

Scrapping of “Margaret”

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An official statement regarding the SRN4 Hovercraft at Lee-on-the-Solent:

“As many of you are aware by now ex-cross Channel Hovercraft, SRN4 “The Princess Margaret”, is currently being dismantled for recycling and cleared from the Daedalus Site in Lee-on-the-Solent.

The Hovercraft Museum has never owned or leased the craft despite her being on our doorstep since arriving in December 2000, nearly 18 years ago now!

In late 2016 we were able to work very closely with new owners of the craft, the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England) to secure the lease of the identical sister craft, “The Princess Anne” and formally bring her into the collection, preserving her as fully accessible static exhibit for the Nation.

It is still expected for us to take formal ownership at the end of this lease period, as agreed.

Again, working closely with Homes England and their contractors, we have been able to save many components and artefacts from the “Margaret” and fully document the dismantling process.

These components are vital in helping to secure the long term future of the “Anne” and we are very grateful for their and everyone else’s support over the past couple of years.

Although we are sad to see “The Princess Margaret” go, we now move forward and plan to accelerate our restoration work on “The Princess Anne”, the largest commercial Hovercraft ever built and holder of two Guiness World records, over the coming months.

If you would like to get involved in our project, or any other aspects of the Museum (we have over 55 other Hovercraft in the collection as well!) please get in contact with us, we would love to hear from you.

Also, standby for exciting news regarding some of the surplus components recovered that you will be interested to hear about over the coming weeks”

The Hovercraft Museum Trust