Henry Birch retires as HM : Tresco

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RIBW

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For those that hadn't heard (I did a search and found no previous announcement):-

I have just received my copy of Tresco Times (Spring 2015), which announces the retirement of Henry. Great for him, sad for the rest of us!
Cheers
Bob
 
I never had the pleasure of meeting him but I know how good a good Harbourmaster of his generation can be, and wish him a long and happy retirement.

Now the thing to watch out for is you don't get some smart-arse corporate approach come in, next minute you'll be ' The Tresco Experience ' with quadrupled fees ! :rolleyes:
 
RIBW said:
For those that hadn't heard (I did a search and found no previous announcement):-

I have just received my copy of Tresco Times (Spring 2015), which announces the retirement of Henry. Great for him, sad for the rest of us!
Cheers
Bob
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Agreed, really nice guy, always helpful. Hopefully he'll still be around when we're there this summer.
 
Grumpybear said:
He told me last time we were there he would have to live on the mainland when he retired as he was in a tied cottage and he couldn't afford to buy or rent on the islands.
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I suspected as much although I was hoping the landlord of Tresco might have made an exception for him, a long standing employee.
 
Definitely one of the nicest and most helpful men. I also remember him talking of probably having to leave Tresco for the mainland on retirement. He also resented being used as a personal boat boy to the island's owner which often conflicted with his job looking after New Grimsby Sound; it will be intersting to know how they intend to replace him!
 
Captn D said:
Definitely one of the nicest and most helpful men. I also remember him talking of probably having to leave Tresco for the mainland on retirement. He also resented being used as a personal boat boy to the island's owner which often conflicted with his job looking after New Grimsby Sound; it will be intersting to know how they intend to replace him!
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Seems he will be around for a while yet, he's going to be working 3 days a week servicing moorings and seemingly running the estate boat.
 
AndrewfromFal said:
On Tresco, I believe the only people who live on the island in a dwelling not tied to their continued employment there are owner's family.
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The "owner" is, of course, Prince Jugears of Cornwall. You know, the one who keeps banging on about the value of local communities.

Sadly the island is leased to a complete bell-end who runs it as his personal timeshare.
 
chanelyacht said:
The "owner" is, of course, Prince Jugears of Cornwall. You know, the one who keeps banging on about the value of local communities.

Sadly the island is leased to a complete bell-end who runs it as his personal timeshare.
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Whilst Prince Charles' hypocrisy regarding his pronouncements of localism irritate me massively (evicting an award winning tenant farmer so Truro could have it's much-needed fourth major supermarket), I have less of a problem with Mr Dorrien-Smith. His father ran Tresco very much as a hobby, and subsidized it massively with the money he made as a financier.

The problem was that when he died, death duties left his son with the lease on the Island which was (and is) effectively worth nothing, and enough money to keep it going as it was for a couple of years. As a result things have been sharpened up somewhat; but also it's a rather more comfortable place to stay than it was back in my youth and at the same time retains the magic it always had. Like many people, I suspect, I wish the island was able to exist in a way where the community living on the island was more than a collective of work bees, but without massive external subsidies, I accept it's not really practical. As Dorrien-Smith has never made any public pronouncements about how we should live our lives, and isn't likely to take up an antiquated and outdated position 'over us', I really don't have an opinion on how he runs his business.
 
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chanelyacht said:
The "owner" is, of course, Prince Jugears of Cornwall. You know, the one who keeps banging on about the value of local communities.

Sadly the island is leased to a complete bell-end who runs it as his personal timeshare.
Click to expand...

We love Tresco and have always found Mr Dorien - Smith to be very friendly, in a passing and waving sort of way. Not a cheap place to stay but well kept and managed. We would not agree that he's a bell end. As they say, One mans meat is another mans poison.
 
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