Today, something a little different. After many many many years not knowing what happened to a model my later father built the the City of Plymouth and was displayed in the Civic Center from many years, I finally found it again after being told it wasn’t destroyed but saved and is the main attraction in the Mayflower Museum down on the Barbican. So today I visited and one of the staff members remembers Dad coming in to do some restoration work and then asked if he was available to do repairs. Sadly I said no he had passed away along with his friend Dave who also worked of it’s restoration along him. Anyway I told my story of how it was built with memories of playing on the ship deck with toy cars and being told off by dad. I was then told where it was and invited to go and look. Well walking into the room I immediately knew this is dads work, I sat down quietly on the bench and just burst into tears full of emotions. A family of visitors from Japan asked if I was okay, I said yes, this is the first time in around 50 years the last time I was the model and explained what it meant to me and who built it. They kindly asked if they could take a photo of me with them has a thank you. Of course I was happy, on the way out they saw on the CCTV my emotions and did wonder if I was ok. I thanked them for allowing me to visit and said if they wanted me to tell me story to give me a call. If your ever in Plymouth or visit the Barbican, stop by the Mayflower museum and have a look around the history, sadly other than a staff member meeting my dad no mention of him is told, which it a little bit sad. The model unfortunately has had some damage from little fingers or ignorant people that really requires an expert at fine rope work has the rigging hasn’t faired well or the sails, but she is over 50 years old. Here’s a selection of photos.

Posted by Ian of Alesmead at 2025-08-14 16:52:04 UTC