Military veterans have built a 30ft replica Viking longboat in a County Durham project aimed at boosting mental health.
More than 100 former servicemen and women have helped to build Stormbird from an oak which was felled on D-Day in 2018. They have honed traditional skills of wood-turning, metalwork, and other decorations to complete the Darlington-based project.
Bob Marshall, chief executive of The Viking Boat Company, said the time and concentration required from veterans working on the build has helped their mental health. Volunteers have spent countless hours crafting the wood to make the replica, which is based on a real, preserved Viking craft recovered in Denmark in the 1970s.
Mr Marshall, who formerly served in the Royal Signal Corps, said: “The boat is a wonderful thing and it’s a beautiful piece of woodwork. The project overall is not about making a Viking boat, it’s about helping people to cope with the stress and trauma they have been through and putting it into a perspective that they can manage.”
(Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
Once the finishing touches are put on the boat, which would have been used by Vikings to explore rivers, it will be put on the water when weather conditions improve later this year. Firstly, it will be shown off on Parliament Street at York’s Jorvik Viking Festival between February 17 and 22.
The public will be able to meet the Viking Boat Company team and find out more about the project to support veterans. For more information, visit The Viking Boat Company’s website.
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View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/veterans-replica-viking-longboat-stormbird-30920434
