Praise for students as restored dinghy takes to water

Students at Featherstone Technical College have been working alongside Pc Matt Grayson, a youth and schools officer who is also a Royal Yachting Association sailing instructor.

They set to work on a "Mirror" boat built in 1964 which had to be dried out, stripped down, repainted and refitted.

"I told the students that if they helped me to renovate the boat then I would teach them to sail," said Pc Grayson. "Every Tuesday afternoon the group worked really hard at removing the old paint on the hull, sanding down the interior and the foils."

The students were taught about the basics of sailing, looking at wind and its direction and also learning about knots.

The group used a voting system to decide the colour of the hull and also the boat's name. Blue was the colour and FTC Defiant was the name.

The boat's hull was re-sprayed in the summer and had its first voyage earlier this week at Pugneys Country Park, Wakefield.

FTC Defiant was launched by Pc Grayson along with college technician Tony White who said: "It's been a fantastic project turning an ugly duckling into a swan. The 'Going Green' group should be proud of themselves."

The dinghy was doused with fizzy pop to quell Neptune's wrath.

Pc Grayson said the launch went well considering the boat's age. "I did a little investigation about the boat and found that she was identified as number 941 built in January 1964 in Rotherham, so she's an old lady. She took to the water well on the day considering her age."

Teachers at the college said they were impressed with the students, many of whom struggle to achieve in academic subjects.