The tall ship Pelican of London is due to arrive in Barrow Town Quay early in the morning of the 5th August! She will be arriving to attend this year’s Barrow Sea Festival and is welcoming the public to climb aboard her during the festival.
Andy Naylor & David Cooksey, Managers of Something Leisure Community who are organising the festival, stated:
“We are both super excited again to be organising this year’s Barrow Tall Ship 23 Event. We are very much looking forward to welcoming back the Pelican of London and all the other ships and boats taking part in this year’s event”.
The ship is owned by the youth development charity Seas Your Future, offering young people sail training and ocean science voyages. The charity takes young people, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, on voyages to develop employability skills, ocean science skills, environmental awareness, character, confidence, resilience, teamwork and more. Pelican of London sails for 46-48 weeks each year with up to 35 young trainees and 12 professional crew and volunteers.
Following the two-day festival, trainees from Kendal Sea Cadets and Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service Cadets, Merseyside Adventure Sailing Trust, Love Barrow Families plus other youngsters from within the community will then embark the Pelican for a five-day sail training voyage from Barrow to Dublin.
Seas Your Future CEO Adrian Ragbourne said:
“We are delighted to be sailing into Barrow again and looking forward to annual visits to Cumbria in the future offering sail training to youngsters from the area. We are extremely grateful to several funders who have met the costs to enable these youngsters to sail with us: BAE Systems Marine, AW Ship Management, Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS), Orsted and The George Wood Memorial Benevolent Fund. We are also very grateful to ABP in Barrow for their support at the port when Pelican arrives and leaves, and to Something Leisure Community for all their support in organising the voyage”.
Peter Buchan, NTS Managing Director for Shipping, said:
“We’re thrilled to be working with Seas Your Future and bring this amazing opportunity to youngsters from the local area. This is the chance of a lifetime, and I hope it helps to inspire the next generation of seafarers who embark on a fantastic career in shipping. It’s great to be able to do this jointly with our partners AW Ship Management, it really demonstrates our joint commitment in encouraging and inspiring future generations of mariner”.
Neil Doherty, BAE Systems Social Impact Project Manager, said:
"We are delighted to support Seas Your Future for a second year. The voyage that our local young people take on TS Pelican has the potential to be really life changing. Not only is it a great opportunity to learn all the skills required for sailing a ship successfully it also teaches them about teamwork, leadership, and resilience, which can be taken forward into their future careers. I look forward to hearing about their adventures”.
Orsted said:
“This is a fantastic opportunity for youth development, we are happy to be supporting this venture and wish everyone a safe and successful trip”.