THREE women with more than 70 years of experience of being involved with Thames sailing barges have taken up the gauntlet to restore a 130-year-old vessel.

The Bread and Roses Barge Group was created by Helen Swift, 54, of Maldon, Connie Gadd, 64, of Suffolk, and Jane Harman, 60, from St Osyth boatyard.

Between them they have nine children, six grandchildren... and a wealth of experience.

May is the oldest surviving Essex Thames barge.

She was built in Harwich in 1891 to carry grain and flour for owners Cranfield millers.

Now the group hopes to restore the barge and turn it into a floating bakery as well as a platform to empower women.

The barge was owned by Connie’s late husband Gerald Gadd, and when he died from cancer last year, Connie decided she wanted to continue its cultural heritage.

But the barge needed some major tender loving care to get it back into condition.

The team of three came on board with the idea to restore the boat and help women who have gone through trauma and need a safe space to move forward with their lives.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

  • The Thames sailing barge May

They plan to have a full crew on the barge and visit communities along May’s historic trading routes along the Essex coast, including Maldon, Burnham, Harwich, Brightlingsea, Colchester, Mersea and Southend, as well as regular visits to London.

Helen said: “The barge May was built to carry wheat to the mills at Cranfield’s in Ipswich and flour to London.

“It’s built into that trade so we are having a bakery on board to carry on her heritage.

“That will be using ancient Essex grains which have been milled in Essex.

“We’re trying to keep it very much an Essex barge. “

The Brightlingsea-based Bread and Roses group reached its first goal of getting £4,000 and their second fundraising benchmark is £500,000 to get the three-year project off the ground.

An application to the Heritage Lottery Fund is being worked on at the moment which, if successful, would lead to a three-year programme of restoration and launch events.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

  • The barge in action on the water

Helen added: “Because she is called May we decided that we would have this deadline of launching the whole campaign on May Day.

“We did and we set ourselves a target of trying to raise £4,000.

“We reached that within four days, so we were just astounded by the support.

“Now people have kindly carried on donating and we have enough to employ a consultant for the three-year project.”

The group is hoping to give women a platform to come together in the barge community, which Helen says is a male-dominated world.

She added: “There have been so many women behind the scenes, and they’ve quietly gone on with supporting their husbands in different ways. There’s some incredible stories and we are really looking forward to being able to share them.”

To donate, go to thebreadandrosesbarge.com.