My source of inspiration for green issues comes from the
restoration of the sailing barge Cambria, a project, lasting over
ten years. We delivered a successful Heritage Lottery Fund
application to rebuild Cambria in 2006, a Thames barge that had no
engine during her working life; she carried cargoes for 65 years
using wind power and wave power alone.
Following a four year restoration in Faversham, we created jobs for
shipwrights, sourcing work locally, engaging with schools and
ensuring that the restoration was open to the public every Sunday.
We also started an apprenticeship scheme. We have created a
community of volunteers that came to the boat to act as guides and
to paint the barge inside and out.
Communities are an important legacy of the restoration. There is
the volunteer crew, The Cambria Trust, the shipwrights, the barging
community, the people of Faversham, Kent and the world outside who
have followed us and helped us complete our tasks.
Following restoration and a successful sailing and racing
season, we now have the task to make sure that the Cambria has a
profitable life as an educational resource for schools in North and
East Kent. We want to help disadvantaged kids who may benefit from
learning how to sail an engineless, ninety foot sailing boat. We
want to demonstrate environmentally friendly technologies on a
barge which already has a low carbon footprint.
Our barge was the last British merchant ship to carry cargoes
under sail power alone. We think it fitting that, in her new
career, she should provide a place where new green technologies can
be demonstrated, encourage a wider audience to join the green
community, learn about the new opportunities that green
technologies can provide, to save them money and provide work.
