Students from a Maldon school are documenting a conservation project on a century-old sailing barge.

The Thames Sailing Barge Trust received a grant for £328,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete works on ‘Pudge’.

While the work is carried out, the students from Wentworth Primary School will draw how they see the conservation works process.

Headteacher Dawn Dack said: “Wentworth have been given the fantastic opportunity to be a part of this.

“A small group of pupils will visit the barge so they can draw and photograph what the ‘Pudge’ looks like before and after the renovation work.

“The Thames Sailing Barge Trust will use the work produced to showcase the progress of their work.”

Pudge is moored at the quay near the Hythe.

The barge was first built in Rochester, Kent, in 1922.

It was one of the last wooden Thames sailing barges built, and was a Dunkirk ‘little ship’, which was sent across the Channel to help evacuate stranded British troops in 1940.

The project, which starts in August, will see the restoration of the wooden decks, hatches and improve passenger accommodation.

The project should be finished by summer 2020.

Mrs Dack is thrilled with the opportunities the project will offer the community.

She said: “This project will enable the barge trust to continue to operate ‘Pudge’ for the use of local groups and members of the general public, giving those that sail some experience of the way these iconic early 20th-century cargo vessels were worked in the east coast’s rivers and estuaries.

“It will also allow some trainee shipbuilders to extend their skills and work on larger wooden vessels.

“The project will also provide opportunities for volunteers, youth organisations and schools to research the early history of ‘Pudge’ and to use modern media and displays to share their output with the wider public.”