Lottery funds lerret oral history project

Gail McGarva Lerret Littlesea

Locals celebrate the launching of the newly built lerret Littlsea

Lyme-based traditional boatbuilder Gail Mc Garva and Lyme Regis Museum have won Heritage Lottery funding for a new project designed to enable people to learn and participate in the maritime heritage of the Dorset coast by exploring and sharing the story of the ancient local clinker-built lerret.

Titled Maritime Lyme and the Lerret, the project includes an oral history project that will collect, preserve and share stories connected with the traditional boats, and the material will be made accessible to the public online via a new website and in the form of a physical archive.

Also, 2011 will see a touring exhibition of the living history of the lerret with related community events. At the heart of this exhibition will be two lerrets, Vera, built in 1923 and the new boat Littlesea built by Gail in 2010 with funding from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust.

PS – I gather that Gail will be starting a project to build an impressive third rowing gig for Lyme in the autumn of next year.