Members of the community in Barmouth have come together to show how much a wooden pirate ship in the town still means to them.

The ship on Wern Mynach was fenced off after it was vandalised last month. This led to some concern over its future.

Pavlos Kyriacou is the chair of the Friends of Wern Mynach group. He explained how the group has contacted Gwynedd Council and have been told that the ship is not at risk in the short term.

Pavlos said: “The much-loved Wern ship was sadly vandalised three weeks ago and has been fenced off by Gwynedd Council.

“Some members of the community decided to put forward some friendly ‘save our ship’ messages to represent the overwhelming public love of the ship.

“The Munster group have done a grand job painting stones and friendly banners which have received lots of admiration. It’s local artists saving local art.

“In addition the group have now contacted Gwynedd County Council who currently maintain the Wern and have been assured nothing will happen to the ship in the short term.

“The group has the ship’s deck restoration within their mandate as part of a wider proposal which received public support and a recent grant from the police - poetically using funds from profits of crime.

“We hope all this positive support from the local community will help keep the ship on the Wern for people to enjoy for many, many years to come.

“This is the local community showing support for the ship in order to help enable a positive outcome.”

A Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: “The ship, which is located at the Wern Mynach nature reserve, was created over 10 years ago as part of a collaboration with local groups in the Barmouth area.

“Unfortunately, the condition of the ship has deteriorated over the years due to the effects of the weather and more recently suffered from vandalism.

“We aim to work with the local community to return the ship to her former glory so that it can once again be used safely.”