More women on boat building course for first time

Sophia Harding and Hannah Lovett (right) are students on the academy's flagship course

More women than men are taking a flagship course at Dorset's Boat Building Academy (BBA) for the first time in its history.

The Lyme Regis academy was founded in 1997 by naval commander Tim Gedge and has trained more than 2,500 people in boat building and furniture making.

There are currently eight women and seven men on its flagship 40-week course, with the most women enrolling on it previously being four.

BBA director Will Reed said the academy had actively tried to encourage more women to take part and launched a bursary scheme for them.

He said: "There's no reason why men make better boat builders than women – they don't. We've had some superb women over the years.

"There are some cultural barriers perhaps in the industry which we are trying to change."

The BBA and Belinda Joslin, the founder of Women in Boatbuilding (WIBB), launched a Diversity and Inclusivity mission just over a year ago.

The cohort's boats will be launched from Lyme Regis' harbour in June

Hannah Lovett came to Dorset from Calderdale in West Yorkshire to take the course after leaving her career as a restauranteur.

"I knew that working with my hands was the only way I wanted to work, and I was initially thinking joinery," she said.

"But one day a friend who works with boats sent me a link to WIBB, which I found completely inspiring. A couple of weeks later, I woke up at 03:00, sat bolt upright in bed and knew that's what I should do.

"I'm so happy to be on the first course to be predominantly women. I love that the academy is making a conscious effort to balance gender diversity."

Traditional wooden boat building remains on the Red List of Endangered Crafts after it was placed on it in 2023.

That signifies there is thought to be insufficient growth in the number of people practising it to make it viable following the present generation.

Ariana Cottam previously worked as an outdoor guide and a seaweed farmer before she decided to enrol on the course.

She said she was already keen to take it but that it was made more attractive by the new bursary scheme.

"I was looking for a change of job and I looked at the BBA years ago but financially I couldn't afford it and it just didn't feel like the right time," she said.

"Recently I relooked at the website and therefore came across [the bursary] and there was that sort of shift: 'I think I know myself more now and am still keen to do [the course]. Now's the right time."

The boats the current students are working on will be launched into Lyme Regis harbour in June.