• set up The Victor 1895 Community Heritage Trust Charity No: 1219359

  • Raise £100,000 to buy Victor and secure Victor's future in Ipswich

  • Raise £150,000 to Keep Victor sailing (first year of operation) 

  • Continue to operate passenger trips to offset the cost of operating her

  • Use Victor for community benefit

  • Offer educational activities for school visits to the Ipswich waterfront

  • Create a maritime heritage asset for Ipswich & Suffolk

  • Continue to fundraise and gradually restore Victor to ensure her long-term survival

our Plan

An elderly woman with white hair and glasses giving a talk to a group of young people on a boat by the water in an urban area.

The Victor 1895 Community Heritage Trust.

We have set up The Victor 1895 Community Heritage Trust | Charity No: 1219359, with four founding trustees bringing experience across the maritime and charitable sectors. Victor's future in Ipswich is very uncertain. We want to maintain passenger sailing trips from Ipswich, generating income to help cover her operating costs while giving thousands more people the chance to experience a working Thames sailing barge through a programme of community activities. 

OUR Trustees

A man with gray hair in a patterned short-sleeve shirt smiling, standing outdoors near a body of water, talking to two women and a girl with braided hair.
A group of people on a sailboat, with a woman standing and talking to others, on a body of water with a bridge in the background.

Andrew Harston MBE
Andrew Harston is a maritime and heritage leader with a long-standing connection to Ipswich and its Waterfront. He has worked across the heritage, port and maritime sectors, championing the role of historic vessels in connecting people with places and skills. Andrew is a founding trustee of The Victor 1895 Community Heritage Trust and is helping lead the campaign to keep Victor in Ipswich, where she was built and belongs.

Judy Harrison
Judy Harrison is a highly experienced maritime project manager with a lifelong connection to the water. She recently coordinated the Skippers of the Future project aboard the engineless Thames sailing barge Blue Mermaid, and the Ipswich Maritime Trust's Heritage Harbour Project. She has also sailed as staff skipper aboard the historic Sail Training Vessel Pioneer. Judy’s connection with Ipswich began as a child sailing on the Orwell. In 1983, she was the first recipient of IMT’s annual bursary for young people, which enabled her to join an Ocean Youth Club sail-training voyage from Ipswich Wet Dock, setting her on course for a life on the water.

“Ipswich is very dear to my heart. I want to help more people of all ages and backgrounds connect with the waterfront heritage of the town.”
— Judy Harrison, Trustee