PUPILS from Hythe Primary School were given a tour of Southampton port aboard the workboat they helped to name.

Kennedy Anthony won a competition set by the Harbour Master for the children of Hythe to name the new maintenance vessel, the first of its kind to be commissioned in 30 years,

Out of over 100 entries from pupils from Hythe and Waterside primary schools, Kennedy’s suggestion of ‘Spartina’ was chosen.

Kennedy explained she came up with the name because the Meercat boatyard where the workboat was built sits next to the Spartina marshes.

Asked how she will feel seeing the boat she named out on the water in years to come, Kennedy said: “It will be really nice to know I named a boat when I was younger – it will be something to look back on.”

Harbour Master Captain Martin Phipps who judged the competition said: “We liked Kennedy’s choice because it continues the link with the place where the workboat was built,”

Port hydrographer Becky Conway who took the children on the tour, said: “It was great to be able to take Kennedy and her classmates out on our workboat Spartina to show them what goes on in the port. They saw the variety of vessels and I was able to explain how our double high water enable us to welcome some of the largest ships in the world.”