BARROW Town Quay will welcome the tall ship Pelican of London with six young people from the area on board.

The ship will arrive on Friday with other tall ships from around the world. 

The ship will open to the public for deck visits throughout the day before welcoming a new group of youngsters to sail across the Irish Sea to Dublin. 

The ship is owned by the youth development charity Seas Your Future. Pelican of London sails for 46-48 weeks with a rotating crew of up to 35 young trainees and 12 professional crew and volunteers. 

Until mid-September up to 40 young people from the Barrow and South Lakeland area will join the ship for voyages of one to two weeks. 

Over the weekend the ship will participate in community activities with local organisers, who are planning the revival of the Barrow Sea Festival next year.

Yasmin Deter, the marketing and communications coordinator for Seas Your Future said: "The organisation helps youths from disadvantaged backgrounds by taking them on voyages providing sailing experience and an alternative form of learning. 

"This encourages equality, inclusiveness, and passion, through adventure and challenge. Our programmes promote personal growth through Sail Training, and Maritime Career options and offer hands-on Ocean Science and environmental conservation activities. 

"On Saturday 6 August the Pelican of London crew will be doing deck tours of the ship which will give the public the opportunity to climb aboard and see the ship, as well as learn more about the charity and our objectives."

Seas Your Future chief executive officer Adrian Ragbourne said: "We are delighted to be sailing into Barrow for the first time and looking forward to annual visits in Cumbria in the future offering sail training to youngsters from the area." 

The Port of Barrow is seeing a lot of use at the moment, with a cruise ship visiting the port. 

The Corinthian arrived from Douglas in the Isle of Man. Passengers enjoyed a full day of sightseeing and travelling around Cumbria.