A Tribute to Martyn Heighton

Published: 14th Nov

After the very sad news that our much loved and respected Trustee, supporter and friend Martyn Heighton had sadly and suddenly passed away we were all very moved and wanted to post a tribute to him with thanks for all the time, energy,  knowledge, respect and support he has given to us over the years.

A Tribute from Dan Cross - Our Chairman

I was very lucky to be able to call Martyn a true friend over the last eleven years or so as well as a huge supporter of the restoration of the Daniel Adamson, reflected in his agreement to become a Trustee of ours last year. His unstinting support and acceptance of nothing short of full success for the Daniel Adamson was of huge value to all of us but especially to me as Chair. I know many, many other maritime heritage projects also received massive support from Martyn through his work as Director of National Historic Ship’s.

During the 2010 strategic government review, Martyn fought tooth and nail to preserve National Historic Ships from the so called bonfire of the Quangos and maintained NHS’s independence while maintaining Government funding via DCMS. There was lots Martyn wanted to achieve and the preservation of many, many historic ships and smaller vessels in the UK is down to him, his small team and the overall determination that Martyn, as a great leader from the front managed to instil in people.

I met Martyn a couple of times in the last eight weeks, firstly while I was working on my tug away from Milford Haven, we had to go and work in Avonmouth for a few days to cover a busy period and I invited Martyn over for a look around, a chat and a cuppa. We spend a very enjoyable couple of hours discussing everything from the recent death of his pet cat for which Martyn was deeply upset through to the progress with the Daniel Adamson, other projects that were at various stages of success or failure and Martyn’s ambition to one day to be able to convince Government that listed status protection or something similar should be brought in for ships and boats.

I then spent a very enjoyable afternoon aboard HQS Wellington on the Thames with Martyn at the National Historic Ships Annual awards where DAPS engineering department had been shortlisted and indeed successful in being awarded the Marsh group volunteer award. Martyn was in fine form that day and full of life as ever and we chatted about his plans to come up to our AGM at the end of November as he wanted to use that weekend to also catch up with some friends in and around Merseyside.

I can’t describe the shock and sadness felt by me and many others at Martyn’s untimely death.

His legacies are all around us to see, from his early days at Oxford Museum services, as a bright young thing with Merseyside Museum’s and his drive to establish the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the subsequent inaugural Mersey River Festival in 1984 and the building of the ail training vessel “Spirit of Merseyside” with the proceeds. Then his time at Bristol, the redevelopment of the city docks, the festival of the sea and the building of the replica emigrant ship Mathew. He then went on to the National Trust and his crowning glory there was the saving for the nation, purchase and associated fundraising at very short notice to purchase of the Gothic Tyntesfield House and gardens. Later Martyn moved on to his first passion in life and got his dream job running National Historic Ships from 2005.

Going forwards I and others are very keen to ensure Martyn’s legacy lives on and is never forgotten.

A few words from our Trustee Rachel Mulhearn, former Director of Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool.

So many of us working in the field of maritime history and heritage are feeling the void left by Martyn’s death. Our shared stories of him will be shaped by memories of kindness, warm humour and unfaltering enthusiasm. I was fortunate to have benefitted in my career from the ground-breaking work he led in Liverpool at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. He remained connected to us all through his role at National Historic Ships, patiently filling the gaps in our experience and knowledge, his advice always generous and pragmatic. It was such a  privilege to sit alongside him on the board of the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society.  Martyn’s unparalled efforts will have an enduring impact, as will, sadly, this loss.