The Bread and Roses Barge, a female-led English Community Interest Company (CIC), is dedicated to restoring S.B. May, the oldest surviving Essex Thames sailing barge. Its goal is not only to breathe new life into May but to transform her into a resource hub and eventually a floating bakery that uplifts vulnerable women across East Anglia.
The three women behind the project couldn’t be more suited for the job. Helen Swift, Jane Harman, and Connie Gadd are no strangers to boat restorations. Swift and Harman have restored numerous English sailing barges and have been deeply involved in the maritime community for several decades. Harman, in addition to leading May’s restoration, also serves as the first and only female chairperson of England’s Sailing Barge Association. She co-owns and manages the St. Osyth Boatyard with her husband. And, having spent her formative years in Maldon, England, surrounded by fishing smacks, barges, and traditional boats, she has long been aware of the absence of women on the water.
Connie Gadd, a Bread and Roses co-founder and former owner of S.B. May, was onboard the vessel whenever possible. Her husband, Gerald, worked as a skipper for the Tate & Lyle company, which used May to transport goods under sail. Gerald’s work frequently took him and Connie on journeys along the River Thames and the coastlines of the UK and Europe. Eventually, when Tate & Lyle had no further use for May, the barge came into the couple’s hands. When Gerald passed away in 2020, the question of what to do with the rapidly aging barge became paramount. Gadd, Harman, and Swift recognized that they would need a sizable amount of cash to restore May to her former glory.
“The idea came from Helen. Her experience with the rebuild of Sailing Barge Dawn gave her the insight to understand that in order to secure significant funding, May needed a clear purpose,” Harman says.
And that purpose—to support vulnerable women onboard May—quickly gained traction. With backing from a variety of donations, The Bread and Roses Barge has already begun fulfilling its mission. The organization now hosts intimate workshops and teach-ins below deck, all tailored to the needs of local women.
Accomplishing the larger vision for their organization and the future of the May also includes creating an onboard bakery. Here again, May’s history plays a role. Launched in 1891 by J&H Cann, S.B. May carried grain between Ipswich and London for the next 75 years. The watertight necessity of her cargo—dry grain—helped keep the boat in tip-top shape, enabling her to still be usable some 132 years later.
For The Bread and Roses Barge, the value of a bakery is twofold: first, as a community-building resource for women who want to come on board and bake, and second, as a means to financially support the project. The act of making bread, Harman notes, is therapeutic and community-oriented.
“It’s an unusual but very basic means of communities coming together,” Harman says. “Breadmaking, especially sourdough baking, requires care, love, and nurturing to be at its best.”
As a CIC, The Bread and Roses Barge can accept donations and grants while also offering services to further its mission, in this case baked goods. The bakery renovation is one plank in the larger scaffold of The Bread and Roses Barge’s plan. As Harman points out, “The goal is to save her; to get her rebuilt so she can sail again.”
The final objective is to revive S.B. May’s historical trading route along the Thames. While the barge is still delivering grain—albeit in a different, baked form—it is also delivering perhaps a more important message: that the future of sailing barges not only includes women but actively seeks to support them.
By establishing an onboard space for women, Harman, Gadd, and Swift are leading a new chapter in maritime history—one that is more inclusive and caring, one that, much like the bread they bake, demands careful attention, respect, and a touch of creativity.
No comments:
Post a Comment