Nice Looking (Essex) Girls Afloat

This evocative book of 40 pages and over 60 illustrations tells a story about Essex vessels with girls’ names and shows the significant part that women played in the life of Essex’s hugely important waterfront (the longest of any English county). It covers over 100 boats of one kind or another - not just the smacks, bawleys and barges; but Trinity House Vessels, lifeboats, the boats which went to Dunkirk, the dinghies which became film stars, the King’s Britannia and other great yachts, Gunilda sitting on the bottom of Lake Superior, Boadicea still sailing 203 years after her launch and many more.

The title, Nice Looking Girls Afloat, is taken from the words of the old Wivenhoe shipwright in The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould’s marvellous novel of 1880, Mehalah….

….a regular Essex marshland name. I hope I shall remember it. But I have to carry so many names of nice-looking girls in my head, and of ships I have built, that they run one another down, and I cannot be sure to recall them.

The author has sailed the East Coast for sixty years (his first boat was a Lapwing at Aldeburgh - No. 8 Curlew) and has written this book especially for The Essex Women’s Advisory Group (EWAG).

EWAG supports the well-being of Essex women and girls by promoting self-esteem, instilling pride in their county and by giving help where needed to young (14 to 30) Essex females. It supports teaching and training in commerce, the arts and sports and promotes Essex as a place to live, visit or work.

In addition, EWAG has established the Essex Girls’ Fund, an endowed fund, managed by the Essex Community Foundation to support charities working with and supporting women and girls in Essex.

All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to these charities.

When you submit this form please send a cheque with your full name written on the back to: EWAG, c/o Porters Farm, Kelvedon, Essex, CO5 9DD

Please make sure the quantity submitted online matches the amount written on the price chart (Including P&P)