On Thursday 30th May 1963 Medway Queen was on charter at Herne Bay Pier to take part in filming a sequence for the movie “French Dressing” starring James Booth, Roy Kinnear and Merisa Mell. Directed by Ken Russell, who had started his career making documentaries for the BBC, “French Dressing” was his debut as a (sometimes controversial) big screen director. The plot of this film is set in a down at heel seaside resort called Gormleigh-on-Sea where local attempts are made to revive it by starting an international film festival.
Medway Queen started her main season of sailings two days later on Saturday 1st June with two round trips between Strood and Southend. The following day she was on the Strood, Southend, Herne Bay run but it became a breezy weekend with the wind in the NE, the worst possible direction for the Thames Estuary blowing straight in from the North Sea. As a result, on Whit Monday 3rd June Medway Queen got only as far as Southend on her way from Strood to Clacton where Capt Horsham decided to abort the trip and cancel the rest of the day.
Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2023 after the first part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years running on the River Dart. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for the second phase of the rebuild. You can read more about the rebuilds and how you can help if you can here.
John Megoran
This article was first published on 30th May 2021.
