​LV72JUNO

With many individuals taking an interest in their families genealogy and local history, many have shared what they have found on Facebook groups, one such group is the Memories of Neath old and new.(MONOAN)

 

Several photos were shared on the subject of local landmarks, Light vessel no.72 was one such landmark, as when you drive down the M4 motorway and look across to Neath she has been visible on the River Neath for four generations. Individuals started researching about her past, a new Facebook group was started specifically to share and discuss what was being found about her. Formed in 2014 the same year as the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the Invasion of Normandy, the friends of LV72JUNO are raising awareness to the plight of this historic light vessel, andhave produced this website to preserve a written record of this historic lightvessel built in 1903 and currently on a mud berth on the River Neath in South Wales, UK.

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As Trinity House modernized their operating systems with unmanned Bouys, their lightvessels were sold, many ended up on the scrap heap, some being converted for new uses, and only a handful remain in working order. When sold out of service in 1973, along with her sister vessel, Steel Supply Co Ltd purchased them from the Corporation of Trinity House for scrap, on learning of LV72's history during WW2 she was saved from the cutters torch, various plans for her re-use have been unsuccessful and has now sat along side their premises for  50  years. Exposed to the elements she has taken on water and is slowly deteriorating.

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As the group grew, and more ideas were discussed, some felt that due to her deteriorating condition that she had gone past the point of saving and that only some sort of memorial to her past was viable, others felt that with enough support and publicity that her future maybe a little brighter. Since 2015  the Friends of LV72JUNO contacted several organisations with regard to the light vessels history, its current condition and its possible future.

 

Imperial War Museum

D-Day Museum(Portsmouth)

National Museum Wales

Swansea Maritime Museum

Museums in Normandy

Welsh Senydd

Swansea Bay Partnership

Neath Port Talbot Council

Medway Council

various MPs and entrepreneurs

Maritime salvage companies

Welsh environment agency

Canadian Billionaire Sir Terry Mathews

Military Collector Kevin Wheatcroft

David Austin

Admiral Lord Alan West Royal Navy

and also the Heritage Lottery Funding to enquire to see if an application could be made to save her.

 

We were fortunate that several online news groups featured an article that was written by one of our member’s titled "to brightly shine again" which helped spread the word about the lightvessel.

 

Winter 2015 saw several press articles on LV no.72 after an amateur military enthusiast  contacted the South Wales Evening post about his interest in trying to save her,

 with so much press interest it was felt that a specific online web presence was needed so that in the near future not only her history could be saved but possibly the vessel itself, but this could only happen  if the facebook group had the right individuals on-board to take the next step in registering as a charity, and begin to formulate a plan to save her. Although there is interest in saving her as of yet no individuals have come together to develop things further.

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 At the end of January 2016, a new group from Sunderland announced their plan to try and take LV no.72 back home to be restored,

 

Thier project was named

"save our ship of light" and at the time we wished them every success in restoring LV no.72 back to her former glory, and a fitting memorial to all those men who bravely served not only on her, but all Trinity House light vessels, their Tenders and light houses in both Peace and War times.

We happily shared the history we had found on LV72 and actively shared news on their project on the facebook group.

UNFORTUANTELY THERE HAS BEEN NO NEWS ON THIE SOSOL PROJECT SINCE NOVEMBER 2016, AND ALL MONIES COLLECTED HAVE SUBSEQUENTLY BEEN GIVEN TO OTHER CHARITIES

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During 2017 we contacted KDC London and introduced them to the owners. KDC had been involved in managing the preservation of the SS Robin and we hoped their expertise would further the efforts of purchasing LV72 from the owners and progress with plans to restore her, unfortunately discussions ended, and since that time there has been no active discussions or plans to try save her .

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At the end of 2020 at article was published in Britain at War, where David Austin spoke about his hopes to try and save LV72 by  exploring various avenues,  the previous year he and a retired Chief Engineer from Trinity House at looked at LV72 and had thought that she could be salvageable and refloated, then moved to a dry dock for repairs, and ongoing preservation. i contacted him to see how things were progressing, at that time he felt that the owners were possibly willing to donate the lightship, further to his article As of January 2021  he now understands the the owners SSCO are willing to negotiate on any potential sale but  they do want to recover monies they have spent to date including their original purchase price, In February 2021  inquiries were made to see if the lightship could be temporarily  weather proofed, the owners were happy for this to be done, but on the understanding that detailed health and safety plans for the work were produced and any environmental permits or licences or any other statutory authorisations were obtained. with no cost or involvement from themselves,  as at that time there was no official organization in place to make the necessary plans no further progress was made.

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With thoughts of any possible preservation of LV72 a suitable berth would need to be found on a temporary and long term basis,   i spoke with Military collector Kevin Wheatcroft, who had just purchased the drydocks at Appledore, although he himself did not want to get involved with any possible project he was more than happy to offer a berth for LV72 at no charge (obviously any connections to services would have to be met by those involved in the project), with no progress obviously Kevins generous offer couldnt be taken up.

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Currently there are no active plans to save LV72, if any potential organizations or individuals want to progress things i can put you in contact with the owners and ofcourse share all the research i have collated so far

Visit our Facebook group or contact us via the website.

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LV 72 is listed on the National Historic Ships UK Register.