MINEHEAD Mayor Cllr Les Smith will be given the honour of unveiling new plaques (pictured) depicting the town's seafaring past. Seven resin cast plaques are being dotted along the quay at Minehead Harbour, each with its own unique design. The project is part of a wider Minehead Vision Plan and has been jointly funded by the Heritage Lottery and Seaside Strategy Funds through West Somerset Council. Cllr Smith will unveil the plaques at 1.45pm next Friday, July 11, as part of a ceremony which will include a mass public performance of sea songs and shanties by Minehead Middle School and local singers. Sea shanty specialists Tom and Barbara Brown and storyteller Alex Simson, under the lead of Halsway Manor, ran a series of workshops with Minehead schools and community groups to research and rediscover the history and folk law of Minehead's maritime heritage. The work from these projects was recorded, written and separated into seven eras, each linked to types of vessels in use at the time. These community design briefs were passed on to artist Sue Webber who collaborated with maritime author John Gilman to produce the designs. Sue then transformed these into three dimensional clay panels which were cast in resin and bronze powder by Minehead moulding company S & S Exmoor. Rachel Hill of Halsway Manor National Centre for Folk Arts said: "Working with local school children and residents to create the artistic brief for the designs has been such a refreshing process. "The finished plaques look fantastic and are pieces of public art in the truest sense. "Sue has done a beautiful job of bringing everyone's hard work to life." A book about the project containing the design sketches has been published and will be for sale at both the harbour and at the town's visitor centre. There will also be an exhibition of Sue's work from July 7-13 at the Old Visitor Centre on Minehead Seafront. The exhibition will be open from 11am to 4pm and admission is free.