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Workers at Harland & Wolff have seen a deluge of support - from donations of suncream and food to performances by local celebrities.

As the Belfast Telegraph reports, the workforce continue their occupation of the historic shipyard even as the firm is placed into administration, there has been a steady stream of supporters arriving with donations and words of encouragement.

Newry singer Tommy Sands donned a Harland & Wolff cap as he performed a number of songs at the gates of the shipyard yesterday, including one he had written for the workers.

Unite shop steward and Harland & Wolff steel worker Joe Passmore thanked Mr Sands, saying his performance had made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Fantastic, I'm sure every shipyard worker here had the same feeling, I know you did actually," he said.

More can be read here on the story of the shipyard which as previously reported drew calls for it to be nationalised. 

Published in Belfast Lough

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago