Director of Greenwich museum to address heritage conference

Roy Clare, director of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, is visiting Malta today and tomorrow and will give two public talks.

Mr Clare will give a talk at the Maritime Museum entitled 2005: A Year Of The Sea, at 6 p.m. today followed by a question and answer session with members of the audience. The talk is open to the public. Anyone wishing to attend is asked to be seated in the St Angelo Hall of the Malta Maritime Museum by 5.45 p.m.

Tomorrow Mr Clare will speak at the first international annual Heritage Malta Conference entitled Investing In Cultural Heritage on the theme Towards Sustainable Heritage, at the Valletta Waterfront at 10 a.m.

Maritime links between Malta and the United Kingdom have grown down the centuries. 2005 is The Year of the Sea - coinciding with the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson, with much cultural activity in the United Kingdom.

In more than 30 years in the Royal Navy, from rating to flag officer, Mr Clare served at sea worldwide. He was First Lieutenant to the Prince of Wales in the minehunter HMS Bronington and subsequently commanded the ship himself. Later commands included the destroyers HMS Birmingham and HMS York, the Third Destroyer Squadron and the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible.

As Commodore of the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, he was responsible for the initial training and education of naval officers, both at the college and in training units in more than 40 universities. Promoted Rear Admiral, he held an appointment in a Nato headquarters in the Netherlands before electing to leave the service to become Director of the National Maritime Museum in September 2000.

A Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, Mr Clare is chairman of a working group formed in 2001 by the National Museum Directors' Conference to examine ways to develop leadership and management capacities within the cultural sector.