A project to return a 1920s barge to carrying people and cargo under sail has received vital funding from the National Lottery.

Raybel Charters Community Interest Company hopes to restore the vessel to its former glory and has received £39,300.

Launched in 1920 in Milton Creek, Raybel was named after Raymond and Isabel, the twin children of sailing barge owner G.F Sully.

Over the next three decades, she transported thousands of tons of cargo, before diesel-powered ships took over the waters.

After its cargo shipping days were over, the vessel was used for day trips and the main hold, about the length of a London bus, was used for educational activities, theatre, dining and hospitality.

Now the detrimental impact of diesel is well-known the company wants to restore the barge so it can join a fleet of ships able to use wind power to deliver products including wine, olive oil, rum, chocolate and coffee from Europe and the Caribbean.

The development money came from the National Lottery’s Heritage Lottery Fund and means the group can move to a second round application for more funding.

If this is successful the project will start in June 2019 with the boat returning to the water in her centenary year, 2020.

The restoration will take place at Lloyd Wharf on Milton Creek, and will add a new dimension to a new heritage and leisure site being developed there by Swale council.

The project will also provide apprenticeships and volunteering opportunities.

Matt Houston, whose family has ensured the survival of the Raybel since purchasing the barge in the early 1970s, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to carry out a careful restoration, preserving the details of the unique construction of one of the last Sittingbourne-built sailing barges.

"Raybel will then be able to move on to an exciting future in her second century carrying people and cargo and playing an active role in community life - among the ancestors of the very people that built and sailed her.”