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Displaying items by tag: Union Support

In the UK, the union for shipbuilders GMB has welcomed reports of hopes for the reopening of Appledore Shipyard, writes North Devon Gazette.

The news follows a high level meeting convened by Torridge MP and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox at 10 Downing Street last Friday (Sept 27) with the Government's taskforce dedicated to reopening the shipyard.

Afterwards Mr Cox said he was 'cautiously optimistic' about its future and was hopeful the yard could reopen.

Earlier this month, shipyard workers learned the 'bittersweet' news that former owners Babcock had been selected as the preferred bidder to provide the Government with five Type 31 frigates.

The GMB said it had campaigned to save the yard since the closure was announced last year, handing in a 10,000 strong petition to Parliament, and suggesting several plans to keep the shipyard viable.

More here on the north Devon shipyard whose final ship was the Irish Naval Service OPV LÉ George Bernard Shaw. The P60 class made a delivery voyage almost a year ago to Cork Harbour.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.