Pam Taylor grabs her chance to give Norfolk's beautiful wherries a helping hand.

One of my interests now that I'm no longer teaching is wherries, so earlier this month I seized the opportunity to take part in the first Base Day of the season. This saw me at the Wherry Yacht Charter sailing base by 10am to help get one of the wherries ready for sailing.

The wherries have been undercover for winter and one, Olive, has been hauled out for her four-yearly maintenance and repair work. Thankfully Olive is in pretty good shape, so repairs have been minimal and the main tasks have been repainting and revarnishing to make her look splendid once again.

On the Base Day though, Hathor, the wherry with the Egyptian-themed interior decoration, was the subject of our efforts. It was fascinating to see the internal structure dismantled so that woodwork below decks could air over the winter months. The beds are cleverly constructed so that drawers drop into their base, then specially-shaped planks are laid into place to form a platform to hold the mattress. Some floorboards are also lifted over the winter, so the bottom of the hull is visible and I could see the way the wherry had been constructed more than one hundred years ago.

As we set about cleaning and replacing the internal pieces in their correct positions we had to be careful to get the order of everything correct. One error and several moves later you'd be unable to complete the task until you'd backtracked and found your mistake.

My main job, with another volunteer Katy, was to clean the windows inside and out. This took me into the skipper's cuddy (cabin) at the back, as well as the saloon, galley and cabins.

If you would like to help preserve these wonderful historic vessels yourself, why not join the Friends and come along next Base Day. Details can be found on the Wherry Yacht Charter website. Alternatively, if jazz and picnics take your fancy, you can support these vessels by attending an evening jazz concert at Wroxham Broad when at least five wherries will be present. The concert is being hosted by Norfolk Broads Yacht Club on May 28 and details of how to book are on their website under social events.