Offenders bring Shoreham Fort to Life
19/01/2012
Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust (SSPT) is helping The Friends of Shoreham Fort renovate the last remaining Napoleonic-era fort in the country.
SSPT manages offenders working in the community as part of their sentence. Community Payback enables offenders to repay the community for their crimes and organisations like the Friends get free labour to help them realise their dreams.
Gary Baines, Chairman of The Friends of Shoreham Fort said: "Shoreham Fort is now the last fort of its kind, built in 1857 to protect us from the French.
"Their leader Napoleon Third had just had an armoured battle ship built that would have been a huge threat to this country. Something had to be done to prevent the French landing on our coast. Shoreham Fort was a prototype fort that once built led to further forts being built, one of which is Fort Nelson in Portsmouth which is our Royal Armouries museum.
"Not only is the fort nationally important for this reason but it was used through both world wars and was in fact the first film studio. Run by Francis Lyndhurst (Nicholas Lyndhursts grandfather) between 1913 and 1915 this was an entirely new concept and made a great start to the film industry.
"With its varied history, Shoreham Fort is now in need of looking after. After 15 years of researching and monitoring the site I was able to set up the Friends of Shoreham Fort which now looks after and maintains the fort, trying to guarantee its future.
"It is with great pleasure that we now have the Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust helping us at the fort to further enhance the site and add to the amount of work that we can achieve."
Rosie Martin, SSPT Community Payback Operations Manager said, "We are pleased to be able to help the Friends of Shoreham Port renovate this important local amenity. Through the Community Payback scheme offenders are able to put something back into the community and this sort of project is ideal.
"It is hard physical work, offenders can learn some skills, they can see the results of their labour and local community organisations get help with their projects."
Shoreham Port Authority, Adur District Council and English Heritage are also supporting the project.
To find out more and nominate a project visit our Community Payback page
