The ships that sailed
A towns fight to preserve it's historic dockyard
“I always wonder if it would have been different if the yard had not closed, would we be happily retired in the big house up by the golf course, who knows?”
Nick Drury had planned to learn a trade and start a family in Medway, when the Docks closed he lost everything.
Nick left school at 16 in June 1975 starting an apprenticeship the next day in the dockyard as a shipwright, after taking the entrance exam a few months earlier.
Nick says that: “back in them days people expected to learn a trade and had a job for life, at 20 years old I got given a job in the drawing office as I had shown good skills at drawing during my apprenticeship, the rest of the lads in my year were either posted away to different MoD establishments or they left altogether because they did not want to leave the area.”
At the same time, Nick’s girlfriend fell pregnant with twins and they got married. Nick received an increase in his wage, enabling him to get a mortgage to buy a small house in Gillingham.
“I could roughly see how the rest of my life was going to be, probably spend 10 years in my grade and then start moving up the ladder at the same time as doing the house up and progressing to a nice house up near the golf course like so many of the other managers had done in years gone by.”
“All was going well then boom! A few months later in 1981 John Nott, Thatcher's Defence Secretary announced the planned closure of the dockyard, even though there was rumours everybody was devastated, especially me. The only good thing at the time was it showed the solidarity amongst all the workers as we went on strikes and marches up London to show our feelings but to no avail.”
Nick searched the inhouse MoD job vacancy papers and applied for a job at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire. I passed the interview and was offered the job which I took after loads of arguments with my wife as it meant us moving to Bedfordshire.
“I left the yard and transferred to the job in Jan 1981, it was cold that winter, the drive on a Monday morning was hard, I stayed up there during the week and came home on a Friday to Gillingham, it was not easy.”
After six months Nick sold his house in Gillingham and found a house for his family to move into in Bedfordshire. But they never settled.
“After a week of living in the new house my wife rang me at work and announced everything was no good and her father had come to pick her up and take her and the kids back to Kent for good. I rushed home but it was no use, they had put what they needed in the car and waved me goodbye, I was left in a town that I did not want to be in with a new house and a big mortgage that I didn't want, I was devastated.”
“Obviously, I supported my kids but never really got to see them grow up. I get on with my sons well, but they had to grow up with an 'absent father', they lived in council housing after staying with their grandad for a while, I still got on with their mum, but she ended up having her own difficulties. I always wonder if everything would have been different if the yard had not closed, would we be happily retired in the big house up by the golf course, who knows?”
Credit: Richard Smith Workers at Pembroke Gate c.1976
Credit: Richard Smith Workers at Pembroke Gate c.1976
Credit: Kent Online Workers protest Dockyard closure c.1981
Credit: Kent Online Workers protest Dockyard closure c.1981
Credit: Pete Willer Chatham Dockyard c.1964
Credit: Pete Willer Chatham Dockyard c.1964
Credit: Nick Drury Dockyard supply permission letter
Credit: Nick Drury Dockyard supply permission letter
"If the river was the lifeblood of the Medway Towns, then Chatham Dockyard was the beating heart."
An ever present of Medway this description from Chris Hunter encapsulates the significance of the docks to the surrounding towns.
Britain's island geography means that ports have always played a central role in the nation's economic and military history, and Chatham is no exception.
Medway is renowned for its maritime heritage spanning over 400 years, but landowners Peel L&P intend to close Chatham Docks in 2025, planning a £650 million housing complex known as "Chatham Waters'.
When the docks first closed in 1984, 7,000 workers lost their jobs.
Companies at the docks have come together, fighting to preserve the docks as the last hallmark of Medway's identity, and to ensure others don't suffer the same hardship as former workers like Nick Drury.
Chatham Waters
Chatham Waters is situated on the old site of the naval dockyard. An outline planning application has been approved for Chatham Waters by Medway Council which would see an end to production at Chatham's docks.
Chatham Waters provides a view of Medway Estuary located a 40-minute commute from central London.
Currently the site contains: University Technical College (UTC), a large ASDA superstore, a Marston’s family restaurant and pub and 199 new homes with a further 193 new homes for rent completed in July 2021.
Peel L&P project Chatham Waters will create a minimum of 2000 jobs, and almost 4000 new homes.
Yet many in the Medway towns remain against any plans to close the docks.
Blueprint for Chatham Waters Credit: Peel L&P
Blueprint for Chatham Waters Credit: Peel L&P
Vision for Chatham Docks. Credit: Peel L&P Green – public open space; Green arrows – connectivity; Red and Orange – residential; Blue – employment space
Vision for Chatham Docks. Credit: Peel L&P Green – public open space; Green arrows – connectivity; Red and Orange – residential; Blue – employment space
Map depicting Chatham Waters and future redevelopment at Chatham Docks Industrial Estate Credit: Peel L&P
Map depicting Chatham Waters and future redevelopment at Chatham Docks Industrial Estate Credit: Peel L&P
"Chatham Docks has been falsely portrayed as a dying facility, financially unviable, underutilised and unsustainable in its current format. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Save Chatham Docks
A union of companies operating from the docks, joint in their determination to protecting the future of Medway’s port, they say that Chatham Docks is the beating heart of the River Medway which cannot be replicated elsewhere.
The group have seen support from key political figures with the likes of Boris Johnson, Kelly Tolhurst MP and local councillors all in favour of preserving Chatham Docks.
In a report into the economic impact of the docks planned closure Prof. Tim Strangleman found the decision would cost Medway's economy £258 million of buisness every year. This report also suggested closure of the docks would lead to:
A loss of 1,440 jobs both at the docks and through local supply chains
A loss of £150 million of annual investment into the Medway economy.
Increase in CO2 emissions of 12,610t/CO2 per year, the equivalent of 200,000 trees each year.
CEO of ArcellorMittal Kent Wire and member of Save Chatham Docks, Phil Taylor says support for their campaign is strong:
More than 65% of workers at the docks live in the Medway Towns.
Many are specialists in the jobs provided at the Docks.
If there is no resolution to the planned closure in 2025, many could find themselves in the same position as former workers like Nick Drury, and would see a town falling victim to the same troubles almost 40 years on.
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