The team transforming a 100-year-old Dutch barge

A group of 40 volunteers have spent the past two-and-a-half years transforming a 100-year-old Dutch barge into a restaurant to support a mental health project.

Barge No. 9 is moored by Oulton Broad in Lowestoft, Suffolk, after being bought by William Gilroy, 43, in 2023 and saved from going to the scrap yard.

"People just started coming along and getting involved," Gilroy said, adding the team has rebuilt the deck and wheelhouse, restored the hull and repaired the steelwork inside.

Gilroy added once the barge was operational as a restaurant profits would go towards supporting the Anchor Point House in Lowestoft, which is being developed into a community wellbeing centre.

The 83ft (25m) barge was built in 1928 and had been used to refuel the Lowestoft fishing fleet.

Gilroy told BBC Radio Suffolk that he started the restoration project because he "always had plans and ambitions to help people".

He added: "I think it stemmed from my background raised in foster care and children's homes, troubled upbringing.

"I spent a bit of time as a result in prison, on drugs, mental health, you know, I have borderline personality disorder and attention deficit hyperactive disorder."

Gilroy said he later joined a scheme run by Goldsmiths, University of London, which supported him to move from prison into studying media and communications.

"I then went on to work for lots corporate companies and did relatively well, but I had to take a bit of break to take care of my son who has autism.

"I thought [the barge] would be a great project and get other people involved who may have struggles," he said.

Seventeen-year-old AJ joined the Barge No. 9 project with his father two years ago and said the volunteer team was "a nice mix of people, different ages".

"I was a bit nervous at first because of working with people a lot older than me and more experienced, but I took it more as an opportunity to learn from them," he said.

"I haven't had the best past, I've been in a lot of trouble and stuff.

"But now it's a bit easier and it helps you to know that you're helping other people and helping them when they're in the same position you was," he added.

The project has cost £160,000, including donations of materials, and the team said a similar amount was needed again to complete the work.

"One of the biggest problems we have is finances, but we've managed to get through so far," Gilroy said.

Gilroy owns the barge but said he founded a community interest company and brought in another private investor.

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