The Cornish partners of an EU maritime project dedicated to preserving traditional boat building skills will speak at a major international conference in Belgium next month.
British, Dutch and Belgian enthusiasts will gather for the Traditional Maritime Skills (TMS) Conference in Ename, near Gent, on October 5.
Representatives from Cornwall Marine Network (CMN), the lead UK partner in the project, will launch the project’s Virtual Learning Environment, a comprehensive online tool complete with teaching packages, videos, images, CAD drawings and interviews that capture specific traditional skills unique to the industry.
The aim of the £1 million project has been to record wooden boat building skills that are in danger of becoming extinct due to an aging workforce.
CMN’s Tim Bowerbank said: “This project is an important step towards preserving the industry’s heritage. It has produced a range of quality educational resources that will support the teaching of traditional boat building to current and future generations.”
The three other organisations working together on the project are project-leader Maritiem en Logistiek College De Ruyter (Netherlands), Zeeland Province (Netherlands), and Province Oost-Vlaanderen (Belgium).
For more details about the TMS project, click here.
