26th October 2011

LYME REGIS: Celebrating Lyme's maritime history

A NEW exhibition titled “Maritime Memories” launched at the Town Mill Malthouse in Lyme Regis on Saturday.

The exhibition is being run by Lyme Regis Museum as part of the year-long Maritime Lyme celebrations.

The display features historical photos and maritime memorabilia, put together by local historian Ken Gollop, but the focus of the exhibition is the two Dorset lerret boats, “Vera” and “Littlesea”.

Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, “Vera” - the last remaining seaworthy lerret built in 1923 - and her daughter boat “Littlesea” - built by local boat builder Gail McGarva - have been put on display across the South West over summer, with the “Maritime Memories” exhibition being their last stop.

Gail now hopes to publish an illustrated book about the story of these historical fihsing boats but to do so needs 200 subscribers to donate £20 each.

At the exhibition opening, museum curator Mary Godwin thanked guests for coming and launched Gail’s appeal for subscribers.

She said: “We have all the raw material for the book but to get it off the ground we need people to subscribe.”

The “Maritime Memories” exhibition, which also includes oral recordings of those who used lerret fishing boats, will be open for free until Friday, October 30th.

For more information about the lerrets or on how to become a subscriber for the lerret book, visit www.maritimelyme.co.uk/lerret/home or contact the museum on 01297 443370 or email [email protected]

PICTURE: LYME Regis museum curator, Mary Godwin, boat builder Gail McGarver and historian Ken Gollop, who put much of the exhibition together, pictured in front of “Littlesea” at the opening of the “Martitime Memories” exhibition

LYME REGIS: Celebrating Lyme's maritime history

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