• Gail McGarva
  • Builder of Boats
  • Teller of Stories
  • Keeper of Memories
  • About
  • News and Links
  • Contact
  GAIL MCGARVA

NEWS and links

BUILDER OF BOATS | TELLER OF STORIES | 
​KEEPER OF MEMORIES

LATEST NEWS
Gail has been awarded an Endangered Crafts Fund grant in support of her new project The Traditional Boatbuilding Beacon in a barn in Galloway, Scotland. The Beacon will shine a light on traditional wooden boats conserved in the barn and through hands-on workshops pass on the endangered skills of traditional wooden boatbuilding. 
​
If you would like to support the Beacon please be in touch with Gail through the contact page.


​The Making Waves article below was produced by Royal Museums Greenwich. Click on image for link to the article.
  • Standing on the shore of Haroldswick in Unst, Britain’s most northerly inhabited island, Gail McGarva watched as a wooden boat plied the waters of the North Sea. 
  • It was a landmark moment: the first vessel she had built, gliding through the water after months of intensive work. “It was the most incredible feeling,” Gail says.
Picture

In 2009, Gail was awarded a scholarship by Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) to build the lerret daughterboat Littlesea. The National Historic Ships on the National Replica List awarded her official replica status.

Gail has been interviewed by BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour and her work has been featured in the BBC 2 Heritage Heroes series and BBC 4 Beach Live. You can hear Gail's Woman's Hour​ interview here
Photographers
Becky Collis - www.rebeccacollisphotography.com
Martin Haswell - www.martinhaswell.net
Nick Matthews - www.nickmatthewsphotography.co.uk
Simon Tutty - www.simontutty.co.uk

Publications
A Celebration of British Craftsmanship by Karen Bennett, Julian Calder

Conserving Historic Vessels by National Historic Ships
Country Living magazine, July 2017
BBC Countryfile Magazine, June 2022
Great Faces of Dorset by Millie Pilkington, Elizabeth Pope
The Guardian 8th Oct 2022, Catherine Lerner: 'We are outsiders': the female boatbuilders of Instagram

The Journal of Modern Craft
Landscape magazine
Seining Along Chesil: Voices from a Dorset fishing community by Sarah Acton

Water Craft magazine


Main image by Martin Haswell
  • Gail McGarva
  • Builder of Boats
  • Teller of Stories
  • Keeper of Memories
  • About
  • News and Links
  • Contact