Rescue Wooden Boats charity hosts maritime heritage festival in Wells

The harbour at Wells-next-the-Sea was filled with 21 historic boats, each with their own story to tell, for a maritime heritage festival and flotilla at the weekend. 

Rescue Wooden Boats and Curlew Coastal Charters organised the event.

Another view of the wooden boats at Wells quay (Image: Mark Frary)Wendy Pritchard, from the Stiffkey-based boat charity, said the boats went on display at the tugboat quay before they formed up for a short voyage.  

She said: “The flotilla set off to the harbour mouth and back with crowds cheering and waving along the quay creating quite a spectacle. 

Entertainment at the historic boats festival in Wells (Image: Supplied)

“Robert Smith, Wells’ harbourmaster, gave a running commentary as the boats left giving a brief resume of each.”

There was also plenty of fun on shore, with Randy's Seafood and Diane Pink serving treats including cooked samphire and samphire scones. There were children’s games, stalls, and knot-tying demonstrations by Andy Macbride.

There was also live music by bands including Fried Pirates, Anto Morra and the Blakeney Old Wild Rovers, as well as step dancing. 

The historic boats took a 'voyage' to Wells' harbour mouth and back (Image: Reg Holl)

Among the boats taking part was the Lucy Lavers, whose first shout as a lifeboat was to Dunkirk for the famous troop evacuation in 1940. 

There was also the mussel boat Ethel Maud, which was built in 1953 and had a premature ‘launching’ during the devastating floods of that year. She has also competed in an annual Great River Race for traditional rowing on the Thames. 

READ MORE: Legal notice served to poultry farm as council defines flies as 'nuisance'

Whelk pots and knots were on the display over the heritage weekend (Image: Supplied)

READ MORE: Two men appear in court after being found with metal detectors on private land

The oldest boat there was Buddy, a Sheringham crab boat built in 1934.

Ms Pritchard added: “This event is the essence of what charity Rescue Wooden Boats aims to do which is to conserve and tell the stories of these local wooden working boats, their histories, families and communities  and to keep this heritage alive in today’s communities.”

READ MORE: See two supermoons and three meteor showers in this month's night sky

Another view of the boats by Wells' quay (Image: Mark Frary)

The wooden boats in Wells (Image: Mark Frary)