Children sought to help sail Leila home for Greenwich for Tall Ships Festival

CHILDREN are being given the chance to sail in a Victorian yacht built in Greenwich and take part in the tall ships event. The crew of the Leila are looking for a group of four children with a leader from Greenwich to join its sail to the borough for the Tall Ships Festival from Ipswich next month. The yacht was built on Greenwich Peninsula in 1892 by F Wilkinson of Charlton for a barrister who sailed with the Royal Temple Yacht Club at Ramsgate and won the 1904 Round Britain Race. Leila is one of the oldest sailing yachts still sailing in the UK, and is included on the National Register of Historic Vessels. The yacht has been invited to the Royal Greenwich Tall Ships Festival which is to run over the Easter weekend from Thursday April 13 until Sunday April 16 because she is entered for the Baltic leg of the race. When Leila came to Greenwich in 2014 for the Tall Ship Festival Greenwich Market traders Chris McAlees and David Millie, of the Old Print Works collaborated with Elaine Marshall from Greenwich Printworks to create a ships stamp for Leila. People were keen for the Greenwich built ship to return to its home port with a stamp marking its participation in the festival. Skipper John Beavan from the yacht which is a training enterprise vessel is keen to carry on the connection with Greenwich residents and the opportunity for the children, who must be aged 12 and above is completely free and requires no previous sailing experience. He said: ‘ It would be really great to have Greenwich kids on board as we sail Leila back up the Thames 125 years after she was built on the peninsular.’ Those taking part would join Leila at Ipswich on Monday April 10th For more information email davidbeavan@live.com