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Kathleen and May...
Visitors and friends sought...
IT is always
great to see Tall Ships in the Albert and Canning Docks. This week
there was Pelican, an adventure training ship and the Kathleen and
May. The latter is remaining here at least until September, but
hopefully more permanently. Kathleen and May have fascinating
history and a very special present! Built in 1900 at Connah’s Quay,
North Wales, she is the sole survivor of what were hundreds of
trading schooners which plied the coasts of South and Western
Britain and of Ireland. She was fitted with an engine in the 1930s
and last traded in 1961, when the advent of the early motorways
finally put paid to the coastal traffic. In 1972, she comprised part
of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Maritime Trust and is listed in the top
50 of the Core Collection of important historical vessels, alongside
the Cutty Sark and HMS Victory! A few years later, she had
been abandoned and was rotting again. She had made her way from
London to Gloucester and was about to meet her demise by being burnt
as a pirate ship as part of film making. She was rescued by Steven
Clarke, a councillor from Bideford, Devon, who took her took back
there where he funded her restoration, with the help of a band of
voluntary shipwrights and ordinary volunteers. She was lovingly
revived and is now in full sailing order. She is allegedly the
Charlotte Rhodes of BBC TV Onedin Line fame (but there was more than
one ship involved). Kathleen and May has also taken part in the
Pirate Weekend so can fly the Jolly Roger. But importantly, when
sailing she is entitled to fly the Historical Ships Royal Ensign
which gains her Royal Navy salutes!
However, due to building work in Bideford, her mooring there became
untenable. Fortunately owners, Steve and Marilyn Clarke had
enthusiastic friends, Jeff and Cindy Grice, who gallantly stepped in
to help. They had been greatly taken with Liverpool on previous
visits and decided that our City would make great home for her, so
sailed her up to her new berth in Canning Dock where she remains
adjacent to the Maritime Museum. She is now open to the public every
weekend and visitors are free to enter and explore the whole ship,
to read her history and to watch a video.
Do come to see her and bring your family and friends! Entrance is
free, but all donations will be gratefully received as this is a
totally unfunded effort to save her. It is hoped to extend visiting
to weekdays and to offer local sailing trips and over-night voyages
further afield. A lot of this depends on the results of the next
request.
Because of the move, the ship is bereft of its erstwhile supporters,
so a BIG, BIG PLEA for VOLUNTEERS, who are
urgently needed to man the ship whilst open to the public and/or to
help with maintenance. Commitment can either be on a regular or
occasional basis and the more helpers the merrier. Come on
Merseysiders, there is good drop of salt water in the veins of most
of us; Jeff and Cindy have put their faith in Liverpool. Let’s not
let them down. Kathleen and May is a great asset to our City. For
more information go to:-
kathleen-and-may.co.uk.
Click on
here
to see more photographs of this ship.
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