Olympics boat crafted from ‘collage of memories’

A BOAT built out of more than 1,000 pieces of wood, including sections of the Mary Rose and Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, will be launched today as part of an art project to mark the 2012 Olympics.

The artists who came up with the idea, Gary Winters and Gregg Whelan, visited 20 locations seeking contributions to be used in the building of the craft.

The diverse contributions include a plank from the London 2012 velodrome, several hockey sticks, a Victorian policeman’s truncheon, large crates used to transport gold as British securities to Canada during the Second World War and a hairbrush used by a make-up artist at Pinewood Studios in the 1960s.

Created as a “floating collage of memories”, The Boat Project used 1,200 fragments of wood.

The only criteria was that the items were made from wood and had a story behind them.

A spokeswoman for the project said: “People from all walks of life responded by giving treasured items from all parts of the world and, more humbly, their garages.

“Each and every fascinating back-story was digitally recorded and photographed with its donor.”