Welcome
Welcome to the Morecambe Bay Prawner Trust - a charity dedicated to preserving and sailing Spay a Morecambe Bay Prawner built in 1896. Promoting the maritime and cultural history of Morecambe Bay Prawners as part of the heritage of Great Britain. It was planned to keep Spray at Morecambe during the summer months,
Charity number: 1205349
Spray
Spray is one of the oldest surviving Morecambe Bay Prawners. She was built in 1896 for John Gardner of Morecambe by Crossfields of Arnside. In the 1900s there were around 100 prawners based at Morecambe. In the 1920s she was owned by James Baxter of Morecambe whose firm still make potted shrimps. Prawners were fast, sail-powered fishing boats designed to get a perishable catch back to market as quickly as possible. Her survival is to due in a large part to Tom Middlebrook who owned Spray from 1987 to 2021 keeping her at Liverpool. We are grateful to the Middlebrook family for the continued support for the project,
Spray is currently at Glasson. We hope to bring her to Morecambe in 2026,
A closer look at Spray's long history can be found on the Spray page of this website.
Morecambe's Coat of Arms features a Morecambe Bay Prawner, showing their importance in the development of the resort. Spray has received grant funding from Morecambe Town Council. We would like to thank the Town Council for their support.
Morecambe's motto is "Beauty Surrounds, Health Abounds,"
Membership
You can join the Trust as a member or a supporter. Your membership will help us maintain Spray for the future.
Members - full membership entitles you to go out on the boat subject to additional sailing contributions for each voyage.
Supporters - are people who support the aims of the Trust, but do not want to take an active role in sailing or maintaining Spray. You receive regular updates on Spray and are entitled to attend our social events.
Please see our Membermojo page to become a member of the trust - https://membermojo.co.uk/sailwithspray
Donate
Spray is a much-loved and admired part of our sailing history, and was brought entirely through donations. We will need further donations to help us maintain and sail Spray in the future.
If you would like to donate to Spray https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/donation/morecambe-bay-prawner-trust
