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Clive Gray
Leader of an ambitious maritime heritage project working to revive a once proud shipbuilding town, with skills training for young people and an adventurous expedition.
Clive Gray is a founder and the CEO of Blyth Tall Ship, an organisation that uses maritime heritage skills training and volunteering to improve employability, life chances and well-being in the North East.
The town of Blyth in Northumberland was once a proud shipbuilding and coal mining community but today is measured in the worst 10 percent of deprived areas in the UK, with high levels of unemployment.
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The project began in 2009 to revive fortunes of local people while also marking the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica by a ship and sailor from the town, a proud moment in Blyth’s history that had seemingly been forgotten. The target of the scheme, which has received a number of grants from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, is people not in employment, education or training - or as Clive calls them, “diamonds in the rough”.
He says: “They want things to be different, but don’t know where to start. That’s what this project does – it presents them with the opportunity to have hope and take a crack at it.” Over the last 12 years, apprentices have learned traditional shipbuilding skills and gained qualifications in maritime engineering, leading to better opportunities for jobs, training and study.
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Blyth Tall Ship isn’t restricted to providing training opportunities however. A key part of its mission, of which Clive was expedition chairman, was to restore a 100-year-old tall ship and train volunteers in seafaring skills, to recreate and pay tribute to the historic voyage in 1819.
He puts the success of the scheme down to a high ratio of trainers to learners, providing valuable one-to-one support, adding: “The apprentices are building relationships with older men who have a lifetime of engineering experience. It helps them to mature. Just as much happens over coffee as in the workshop. There’s a lot of caring that goes on here.”
Wedi’ch ysbrydoli? Ymgeisiwch am arian
Wedi’i ysbrydoli gan Clive Gray? Ymgeisiwch am arian i gefnogi’ch cymuned eich hunan. Chwilio am nawdd
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