The new appeal, called Mary Rose 500, is seeking 500 individuals, schools, businesses and organisations to come on board and symbolically become the ‘new crew’ of the Tudor warship
.
It has also been launched to coincide with the 500th anniversary year of King Henry VIII’s accession to the throne and of his commissioning of the
Mary Rose
.
The new artefacts unveiled include a fiddle complete with its bow (Europe’s oldest example) and a beautifully preserved leather ‘manbag’, the height of Tudor fashion
.
They have been hidden away in the Mary Rose’s reserve collection due to a lack of display space but have been brought out of storage to highlight the need to hit the Trust’s funding target for the new museum project
.
Rear Admiral John Lippiett, chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust said, ‘Although significant funding has been raised, and work on the new museum has already begun, the project cannot be completed without financial support from the public
.
‘With the help of the new crew of the Mary Rose, who symbolise the 500 members onboard when it sank in the Solent in 1545, we are about to write the final chapter in an extraordinary story that began with her raising from the seabed in front of a worldwide television audience of 60 million in 1982
.
‘
The new appeal asks each new crew member to pledge to raise £500 towards the appeal’s £250,000 target, which will contribute to the final £1m public appeal total to help fund the new museum, which is scheduled to open in time for the London Olympics in 2012
.
The new museum will complete the preservation of the wreck of the Mary Rose and reunite the great ship with thousands of hidden treasures that have never before been displayed in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the Mary Rose’s home
.
It will replace the current temporary museum located 300m away, which has space to display only one twentieth of the 19,000 fascinating artefacts recovered with the Mary Rose
.
An extremely important £21m Heritage Lottery Fund award was confirmed earlier this year, with the Mary Rose Trust charged with raising an additional £14m to complete the project
.
Approaching £10 million has been raised so far towards the £35 million goal
.
Although the ship hall is temporarily closed during the construction of the new museum, the existing Mary Rose Museum, located separately, remains open throughout the construction period
.
To join the Mary Rose new crew and help secure the future of Henry VIII’s flagship, visit <a href="http://www
.
maryrose500
.
org/” target=”_blank”>www
<a href="http://www
.
maryrose500
.
org/” target=”_blank”>.
<a href="http://www
.
maryrose500
.
org/” target=”_blank”>maryrose500
.
org or call 023 9275 0521
.
