SAILORS visiting Great Yarmouth port could soon lose vital welfare support from the port chaplain unless funding can be found to maintain the role.Peter Paine, the present port chaplain, has launched a funding drive to that aim.

SAILORS visiting Great Yarmouth port could soon lose vital welfare support from the port chaplain unless funding can be found to maintain the role.

Peter Paine, the present port chaplain, has launched a funding drive to that aim.

He is appealing to local businesses to offer cash gifts to make up a �10,000 funding shortfall for the chaplaincy from December.

One of Mr Paine's chief backers, Good Work Norfolk and Waveney Industrial Mission, is cutting its annual �10,000 funding for the port chaplaincy, which has been running in Yarmouth for 152 years.

So, the Baptist minister is asking donors to come forward and help him continue the work he has been doing for the past 10 years.

This has included supporting the colleagues of 11 Shell gas rig workers who died when their helicopter crashed off the Norfolk coast

in 2002.

The aircraft, owned by Bristow, was ferrying the workers to a Shell gas field when it crashed 28 miles off the coast, killing all on board.

A report into the tragedy found evidence of fatigue in one of the helicopter's rotor blades.

Mr Paine said that port chaplains - who are present in most ports across the country - were responsible for overseeing the welfare of all sailors visiting their ports.

They inspected every ship visiting their port to ensure the crew members had good living conditions, clean water and good food

available.

Often, ships' crews came from different countries and spoke different languages, Mr Paine said, so loneliness could be a problem on the high seas.

He would help by arranging for lonely crew members to phone or email home.

Also, he could provide religious support for different denominations as he had good contacts within other faiths.

Mr Paine provides internet services for sailors, including Skype, so they can chat to family or friends.

Also, he cares for sailors receiving medical treatment after being injured at sea.

Christian agency The Mission to Seafarers provides much of the funding for the port chaplains, who are generally of the Anglican faith.

Mr Paine receives �17,000 through this source.

He said: “The reason we should keep funding it and keep it going is because we are a seafaring town.

“We know what the sea can and can't do and we know the work that seafarers do and feel the benefits of that.

“We need to show people far away from home the love and concern of the people of Yarmouth for those at home and at sea.”

Anyone wishing to give to the

cause can contact Mr Paine at his office at the Cobholm and Lichfield Resource Centre.