The Daniel Adamson Preservation Society has received a £98,978 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to set up a project connecting young people with the maritime heritage of Liverpool.
Made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the heritage project, Maritime Heritage – Maritime Futures in the Liverpool City Region will focus on connecting young people with the remaining historic vessels in the area, with the huge importance of the maritime heritage of Liverpool, and with the potential future careers in the sector, as both the heritage and maritime sectors work towards a greener future.
The project will at the same time focus on embedding our historic vessel in the identity of the region’s maritime sector industries, thus increasing support for our youth development work as well as private hires from the sector, which will all work towards securing the future of this unique vessel.
Supported through The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project will enable sixth form engineering, foundation and marketing students from across the city region to build an understanding of the development of the port and ships across time, and the current urgency to respond to the climate emergency.
At the end of the first year, the project will culminate in a big Float Your Boat event at Salthouse Dock, with the engineering students sailing the net zero model vessels they have designed and constructed over the course of the year.
Foundation students will also showcase their creative work using natural and recyclable materials to respond to the natural and heritage environment and marketing students will have created a very exciting campaign to raise awareness of the event.
The project has received further support from partners who share aims to engage young people with the history and future of the Port of Liverpool:
- The Canal and River Trust, who look after the waterways, will introduce the young people to the ecology of the docks and how to look after the living waterways
- The researcher that Liverpool John Moores University have funded for the Daniel Adamson (‘the Danny’) Mersey-built steam tug boat’s Clean Steam research project will introduce the challenge of reducing its carbon footprint, and the facilities and training available at the university
- Peel Ports, Svitzer Marine and other stakeholder industries in the Port of Liverpool will give young people access to learning about career opportunities as well as the industry’s response to net zero 2040
- The Merseyside Maritime Museum will support the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society in grounding the future developments in an understanding of the past
Cathriona Bourke, the Daniel Adamson Learning, participation and partnerships manager sees the project changing how young people see the relevance of their local history to their future:
“It is hard to overstate the historic importance of the Port of Liverpool, but we have been surprised at the hunger of the sixth form students to know more about its history, to experience the working historic vessels and to feel that they are part of a long tradition.
“The Danny provides a unique opportunity for them to explore the historic and working docks from a vessel that is herself part of that history.”
Commenting on the award, DAPS director, Andrea Ward said: “We are thrilled to have received this support thanks to National Lottery players and are confident the project will support young people to develop new skills and an appreciation of their heritage and that they will take the lessons of its importance into their future professional lives.”
