OVER a hundred members were present at the February meeting of Sully U3A to hear Phil Cox talk about the Medieval Newport Ship. Phil is a project volunteer and chair of the Friends of Newport Medieval Ship Project.

He told members how the timbers were unearthed in 2002 during excavations for the Riverfront Theatre on the banks of the River Usk in Newport.

It is the most complete surviving example of a vessel from the 15th century.

Its name is unknown but it almost certainly carried trade goods between the Iberian Peninsula and Britain. It is thought that it docked at Newport for repairs to a cracked mast but for some reason the ship fell on to one side and there it lay until it was discovered seven metres down in the thick river mud.

The ship could not be lifted intact and it was removed timber by timber for preservation. This will take a further three years before reconstruction can take place. It is hoped that the ship can be rebuilt and displayed in a permanent museum.

Phil showed slides of the recovered timbers and a reconstruction of how the 36 metre long ship would have looked.

They have found the remains of food, shoes, pottery and coins including a French Petit Blanc which was minted between May and July 1447. This would have been sealed into the timbers by the Master Shipwright for luck.

Chairman, Jean Bispham thanked him for sharing the story of the ship and its preservation and asked Phil to stay for tea to answer members' questions.

Sully U3A meets on the second Thursday of the month in The Old School, Sully at 2pm. The speaker at the meeting on March 12 will be Mr David Tovey who will be giving a talk entitled For all the Tea in China, an insight into tea.

Sully U3A has many interest groups and the Knitters and Stitchers Group has recently made over 40 hats for newborn babies.

The hats are to be donated to a local neo-natal unit as a gesture of thanks for all the intensive nursing they give to babies in distress.

New members are welcome to come along to the monthly meeting and find out what U3A and its many interest groups have to offer.