The Age of Sail Sells Skills The age of sail didn't end in the last century. Right up to the early 1950s, big wooden square-rigged sailing ships were still trading in wood all over the Baltic. But in the 1980s Zebu fell on hard times. She deteriorated steadily from neglect, and looked ready to rot in the Welsh harbour of Conway. That was when Susan Hanley-Place came into Zebu's life. Susan fell in love with the ship, took her over, raised the money to find traditional shipwrights who could make her safe, and brought her to Liverpool docks to be restored to her original glory. She recruited Geoff Hanley to manage the project, but knew she would have to rely on volunteer labour for most of the work. These volunteers were to come, largely, from the army of Liverpool's unemployed. The ship could offer as much to them as they could offer to her. Take Colin Reid, a newly unemployed 50 year-old engineer. When he heard about Zebu, he knew it was a project he wanted to work on. We met him on his first day on the ship, looking fondly at everything. His engineering skills are going to be useful later, when it comes to transferring the huge old metal parts from the old yard-arm onto the new yard-arm they are building. For the moment, though, Colin is learning new skills. We left him sanding and varnishing the ship's floors and hatches. Or take Gordon Towers, one year younger than Colin at 49. Gordon's a chef, and has relied on seasonal work, but now he has been out of work for months. He thought of the ship as something useful and interesting to do while he looked for another job - and something his six children and four grandchildren may eventually benefit from, because the ship is going to be used for adventure and leadership training for Liverpool's young people. Zebu should be ready later this year. Her first big trip, next year, will be a nostalgic one. She will sail the Baltic, her old stamping ground. She will, of course, pay a courtesy visit to her friends in Gdansk, whose mayor plans a big welcome. She also look in Helingsborg in Sweden, where she was built, and meet her sister ship, which now works out of Kalmar in Sweden as a training ship. NAME: Mersey Heritage Trust BRIEF: To provide unemployed local people with a framework for learning TARGET GROUP: Long-term unemployed (over 24 years of age) FOCUS: To provide teamwork experience, develop existing skills and learn new ones GRANT: Major MANAGED BY: NIACE

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