Lively Lady's legacy

For those of you that are old enough, you may remember Sir Alec Rose coming into Portsmouth Harbour in July 1968. He was one of the first people to sail around the world single handed in his small 36-foot sailing boat Lively Lady.

He was welcomed by 250,000 people coming into Portsmouth and was knighted by the Queen that week. He went on to write a book ‘My Lively Lady’ that has become legendary and has made Lively Lady a significant piece of maritime history.

The Around and Around Charity is now the custodian of Lively Lady, who have a number of objectives, these include:

• Maintain Lively Lady so that she is in good order.
• Keep the incredible story of Sir Alec Rose alive.
• Provide affordable yacht sailing on this historic vessel.

The charity has been lucky enough to have had custodianship since 2004. In 2006/8 we took her around the world one more time, with a number of underprivileged young people. This has changed their lives for the better.

Many of the people involved in the second round the world trip as young people are now involved as adults.

These photos are from more recent times, and we've had over two hundred young people and adults on board learning to sail on the Thames Estuary and Medway as well as up to Shotley for a more adventurous sail.

We've also welcomed many hundreds on board at various festivals up and down the Thames and Medway for a guided tour.  

They've had a chance to see Lively Lady in all her glory, hear about Sir Alec's round the world story, and how Lively Lady is such an important boat which has changed so many lives.

A lot of this would not be possible without the PLA’s support and assistance and we'd like to take the opportunity to thank them all for their continued support.

Lively Lady is a sailing charity and relies solely on good will and grants and donations. If you'd like to find out more about Lively Lady and how you can get involved or donate, please check us out on Facebook.

Written by Paul Betts, Chair of Around and Around – Lively Lady