Titanic disaster’s last survivor meets enthusiasts (From Daily Echo)

Titanic disaster’s last survivor meets enthusiasts

10:53am Monday 6th April 2009

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By Will Carson »

ALL eyes were on Millvina Dean when hundreds of enthusiasts from all over the world descended on Southamp-ton for the annual British Titanic Society convention.

The last remaining survivor of the disaster made a guest appearance for visitors who had travelled from as far afield as the US to the Holiday Inn to mark how the “unsinkable ship” struck an iceberg and sank in the north Atlantic, taking 1,523 people with her, in April 1912.

Millvina, 97, who lives in Ashurst in the New Forest, chatted to visitors and exhibitors alike as she made her way round the displays. Three function rooms housed dozens of stalls displaying hundreds of artefacts salvaged from Titanic.

British Titanic Society founder Bob Pryor said: “Interest in the Titanic has never been so great. When I set up the society in 1987 we had just six members. Now we have members in 24 different countries, and at one point our numbers topped 5,000.

“It is fantastic that we have so many people, young and old, from all over the world, interested in the amazing artefacts on show. It is also great that Millvina comes along to support us. She is amazing.”

The centrepiece of the main room was Bob’s 15-year labour of love – a 1:77 scale model of Titanic, made entirely from cardboard.

Southampton now has plans to permanently commemorate Titanic.

The £28m Titanic museum, which has a working title of Sea City Museum, has been described as the single most important development in the city for a generation.

It will include a climb-aboard replica of the doomed liner and visitors will experience life from the perspective of the crew, many of whom were from Southampton.

They will relive the day the liner left Southampton’s docks, to life on board and the subsequent inquiry and discovery of the wreckage.

When it opens on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, in April 2012, it is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of tourists to the city.