Greetings, My name is Rik Hammond - I am an artist and website designer and have recently moved to Orkney, from Hartlepool, with my partner Clare, who is the new Arts Development Officer at Orkney Islands Council. We are loving our new life in Orkney. I hope to post to the list on other subjects soon (I have been 'lurking' on the list for a while and am very interested in heritage, maritime history, archaeology and art), but after chatting to Sigurd recently, we thought it was a good time to post some more information about the Hall of Clestrain in Orphir, Orkney and its appearance on BBC television tomorrow. I have recently built a campaign website for the project to restore the Hall and its development into the Orkney Boat Museum. Built around 1769, the Hall of Clestrain was the family home of Arctic explorer John Rae, the man who discovered the fate of the Franklin expedition, and the last navigable link in the Northwest Passage. It has stood derelict since the 1950s. Sir John Franklin's wife, Lady Jane Franklin, led a campaign to discredit Rae and his discoveries. Franklin, not Rae, was credited with the discovery of the Northwest Passage and although Rae was credited for the discovery of the fate of the Franklin expedition, he received no knighthood for his important Arctic explorations. Orkney Boat Museum Ltd. are leading an exciting project to restore the Hall of Clestrain and convert it into the Orkney Boat Museum. The project has three main aims. 1) To save the Hall of Clestrain - a lovely Georgian mansion which is A-listed, and desperately close to total dereliction. 2) To tell the story of John Rae and 3) To save and allow interpretation of historic boats and the stories associated with them. The Hall of Clestrain is one of three Scottish properties included in this years BBC Restoration programme. Viewers are given the chance to vote for the building they would most like to see restored. If the Hall of Clestrain gets enough votes it will go through to the final with a chance of winning millions of pounds raised during the programme - giving the Hall a much needed lease of life. The programme featuring the Hall of Clestrain is on BBC2 at 9pm - Tuesday 13th July. The telephone number for voting is 09011 332 222. Voters will be asked to press 1, 2, or 3 to vote for the restoration project of their choice. The lines are open for voting from 2am on July 13th to midnight on July 14th. Viewers can vote as often as they like. As well as voting, one of the ways you can also support the project is to join the Friends of Orkney Boat Museum. Individual Membership costs £10 per annum (£15 for a family) and gives free entry to the museum when it is completed. An application form is available to download from http://www.hallofclestrain.org.uk, or, if you wish a membership form to be posted to you, email friends@orkneyboatmuseum.org.uk. (Lifetime and International memberships are also available via the Friends). For more information visit the Hall of Clestrain and Orkney Boat Museum website at http://www.hallofclestrain.org.uk The BBC Restoration website is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/restoration (As yet it is not fully known how, or if, international voting may work - please check the BBC Restoration website for details). Regards to all Rik Hammond Hall of Clestrain / Orkney Boat Museum webmaster Orphir, Orkney avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 0428-0, 07/07/2004 Tested on: 12/07/2004 13:46:35 avast! is copyright (c) 2000-2003 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com