Ambitious bid to save 100-year-old warship HMS President from scrapheap

An ambitious plan to save one of Britain’s last remaining First World War ships could see the vessel turned into a floating school or event space in east London.

These are two of the options campaigners want considered for HMS President, the 100-year-old “Q ship” built to hunt enemy submarines.

She was used by small businesses and charities at her Blackfriars mooring until 2016 when she was moved to make way for the Thames “super-sewer”. Since then, she has languished in docks at Chatham, racking up mooring fees while saltwater corrodes her hull.

The ship's current owner, the HMS President Preservation Trust, wanted her returned to the Capital in time for events commemorating the centenary of the end of the Great War.

However a permanent place for her has not yet been found -and neither has the thousands-of-pounds needed to move her.

Now Professor Ed Berman, whose social enterprise trust Inter-Action owned the ship from 1988 until the late 90s, is petitioning to take over the relic again and have her moved to docks in Tower Hamlets

He said: "This is the HMS President's centenary year and it would be a travesty if she were scrapped or left to rot.

"I have been approached about setting up a school on board. There is a possibility that the lower decks could host East-end youngsters who are not doing very well in state schools.

"This would, as far as I know, make it the first floating school in the UK. Events and business start-up hubs were hosted on the ship for years and we could do this again. It is imperative she is not scrapped."

Mr Berman, 77, admits there is a lot of work to be done - and money to be raised - if his plans are to be realised.

He estimates at least £100,000 will be needed just to refurbish the ship and he has been searching for a mooring space on the Isle of Dogs.

He added: “We will need a lot of support. Everyone I have spoken to has been very sympathetic, no one wants to see this piece of history thrown away.”

Richard Horwood, Chair of Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Planning Forum, said: "There is very little publicly owned land left on the island so it is difficult to build the schools and nurseries we need.

"The more pressure there is on the schools here, the more play space or arts space they take to make way for classrooms.

"We don't want to bus children to schools off the island so using the ship is an interesting idea."

HMS President was one of several hundred heavily armed vessels commissioned to look like civilian supply ships.

She is now one of just three vessels from the Royal Navy’s First World War fleet remaining, and the only surviving Q-ship.

Paul Williams, director of the HMS President Preservation Trust, said: “We want to see her go to good use and Inter-action’s idea is a very interesting one.

“No one wants to see the ship scrapped but it’s a case of someone putting their hand in their pocket to save her.”