The National Lottery Heritage Fund have awarded a grant of £58,000 made possible by National Lottery Players to restore Severn which was built in Arnside by Crossfields in 1912
Severn was one of 10 boats built by Crossfields in Arnside in 1910s for the Royal Mersey Yacht Club. She was acquired by the Sailing Club in 2018 to have an example of a Crossfield’s boat in the village. Crossfields were leading builders of Morecambe Bay Prawners and Yachts from the 1840s to 1940s. Amongst the boats they built was Arthur Ransome’s Swallow which was then kept on the estuary by a local teenager in the 1930s.
As well as the restoration the grant includes funding for volunteers, children and young people to learn wooden boat building skills and how to sail traditional boats such as Severn and the purchase of a Gaffling 4.1 dinghy an entry level boat to sailing gaff rigged boats such as Severn.
The restoration will be carried out by David Moss Boatbuilders at Skippool Creek near Blackpool. We hope to have Severn back on the water in 2023 or 2024.
We have also received £2500 grant from the Arnside Silverdale Grant Fund and £650 from the Barnes Trust (Arnside) towards the cost of the restoration.
However we will need all the money we can get and we still welcome donations to towards Severn’s restoration and future maintenance. You can donate online via https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/donation/severn-restoration
