The group behind the scheme, the Eyemouth Coastal Rowing Project, have been working hard for the past month from premises on Eyemouth harbour and are close to completing work on the first boat for the town.

A second boat is also under construction for the community of St Abbs.

The man at the forefront of the project is retired Eyemouth Harbourmaster Johnny Johnston, and thanks to the hard work of him and 20 plus volunteers, things are headed in the right direction.

Johnny said he hoped having their own boat would be something that would bring the community together, adding that he felt it was something that Eyemouth needed.

He began: "There seems to be a buzz about the project around the town and there's been no shortage of people wanting to lend a hand building the boat.

"It's given both male and female volunteers some valuable experience and even though one of them, Jim Martin, has been a joiner for 40 years, he has never built a boat and is learning new things every day.

"The whole project is something that I want people to enjoy so I'm only asking for volunteers to do a couple of hours a day. I don't want people to sicken themselves."

The project has set up shop in a warehouse in Dixon's Yard after being given the building rent free for three months from Scottish Borders Council.

And Johnny said he was extremely grateful to the local authority because as well as giving volunteers a place to crack on with construction, it gave the project a base in the town, increasing its profile in the community.

"Getting this building from the council was a massive thing for us," Johnny continued.

"It's a great space that had been standing empty for two years and I'm really pleased with the progress we've made so far. We're just about ready to sand the Eyemouth boat down and people walking along the harbour are beginning to notice us and are asking what's going on."

Johnny described building the boat as like 'putting a jigsaw together', as all the parts came from a template, saving the project a great deal of money.

"The boats for both Eyemouth and St Abbs are built from high quality marine ply and are binded together using a very strong glue," he explained.

"But even though we are using modern materials and they are cut using a computer guided router they are very Scandinavian in look and we are using traditional skills to put them together.

"If we'd hired some one professionally to put the boats together it would have cost in the region of £6000 whereas doing it this way, by the time we've got a trailer the cost should be £4000 tops."

The rowing project has been a big community effort so far and Johnny is keen for this to continue as the boats edge closer to completion.

He wants as many generations as possible to get on board with the project and with that in mind is keen to recruit local high school pupils to the task.

"The paint on the boat will be like a jockey on a horse- it has to represent the town well.

"I'm really keen to get the high school involved and let pupils decide what colours the boat should be. I'm going up to a big fishing exhibition in Glasgow and I'm hoping we might get a donation in kind from Teamac, a firm who supply paint for boats.

"I also want to have the town crest on the stem of the boat."

As well travelling to Glasgow, Johnny is attending an inagural regatta in Anstruther next month and with high hopes for the Coastal Rowing Project he is keen to link up with other communities and sort out fixture lists for the future.

"North Berwick and Port Seton have their own boats and I'm really keen to compete against them and others in the future.

"If we could get amongst things over the Border and on the Tweed that would be great too.

"The boat will be suitable for teams of all ages, both men and women. And rowing is a great form of exercise that uses every bone in your body- you can get fit without having to pump iron!

"I'd like to see at least the Eyemouth boat finished by July so we can be involved in the Herring Queen in some way. I think the event and the town is missing something like this. Hopefully St Abbs will follow soon after and we can get the ball rolling."

The majority of the funding for the project so far has been generated locally and Johnny said further donations are always wecome.

There will be Cream Tea fundraiser for the Coastal Rowing Project this Sunday, May 30, between 2pm and 4pm at the St Abbs Community Centre.
For further details visit www.berwickshirecoast.org.uk.