Gloucestershire Tall Ships Festival
BBC Gloucestershire ~ 26th October 2007
Gloucester could be the last port of call for a historic vessel featured at the city's first ever Tall Ships Festival.
The Kathleen and May could be making her last public appearance in the UK before being sold abroad when she joins four other vessels to sail up the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the four-day festival, which starts on Friday October 26.
Alongside the tall ships in the Docks, a range of quayside events and attractions will give visitors, families and city residents a glimpse of how Gloucester might have looked and sounded over 100 years ago.
Tall ships will be sailing up the Gloucester and Sharpness canal on Friday 26 October, sailing into Gloucester Docks between 11.30am and 12.30 through Llanthony Bridge, which will be raised for over an hour as the ships pass through.
The Kathleen and May is Britain's last remaining wooden triple-mast trading schooner. Having spent more than £2 million restoring the derelict ship to her former glory, owner Steve Clarke is putting her up for sale after his bid for Heritage Lottery funding to protect her future was rejected. The Kathleen and May is now on the market for nearly £3.5 million and it is thought that the eventual buyer is most likely to come from overseas, possibly America, although recent enquiries to purchase her have also been received from Ireland.