Ann volunteers for the Guildhall Greenwich Time Ball project and recently visited Cutty Sark and Greenwich as part of a study day.
Here's Ann's account of her trip.
My family went to tour the ship when I was quite young, and I remember two things very clearly. One was that my father always called it Sutty Cark, a tradition the family has continued, and his huge delight in being able to visit. The teenage me didn’t share his great enthusiasm, but I certainly didn’t mind the trip.
As an adult visiting a much changed and improved visitor destination, I enjoyed it much more. Everything was so well set out and explained.
There was loads to keep us occupied. The group as a whole greatly enjoyed trying to battle the trade winds to reach home. Tracy managed to get the ship back to UK, but others got shipwrecked!
I especially enjoyed the short film. The wonderful little facts - my favourite – the Sutty Cark travelled the equivalent of 2 ½ times to the moon and back! That’s the way I like to try and remember things.
I visited Greenwich about 25 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was nothing like our study trip. We didn’t have the huge advantage of a personalised tour with wonderfully knowledgeable Dr Emily Akkermans, Curator of Time.
Not only did she know so much, but she could unravel the threads and explain things in a way that even I could follow. Because of the closeness of Barton on Humber to Hull, we feel a personal connection to John Harrison and his attempts to make an accurate marine chronometer, so H1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and even the non-existent 6 were of huge interest to us.
But the most wonderful thing for me was seeing the rise and fall of the time ball. Some would say it was underwhelming, but I loved every second of it and can’t wait for the first time I see the Hull Guildhall Time Ball in action.
The whole day was well organised by Tracy, and we were looked after very well. She had a very stressful start to the day with a flat tire and as she had all the tickets and was in charge, this could have been a problem, but she worked out a plan B. Luckily this was not needed, she arrived in plenty of time, sorted us all out and we had a wonderful day.
Many thanks for all your work, Tracy, can’t wait till our next venture.
