Fifty years ago in 1976, the United States of America celebrated its Bicentenary.

One of the events to commemorate the anniversary was the Tall Ships’ Race from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island.

The UK’s Sail Training Association entered its schooner, the STS Sir Winston Churchill in the race and in May 1976 the race was started from Plymouth.

The course consisted of four legs: Plymouth to Tenerife, Tenerife to Bermuda, Bermuda to New York for the July 4 1976 Parade of Sail or Op Sail 76 as it was known as it was known and then on to Boston Massachusetts.

On July 4 this year the all-girl crew who sailed from Bermuda are having a reunion in Plymouth to mark the 50 years since they met up for the Tall Ships Race.

The reunion, organised by Ann Irish from Dartmouth and Sally Warley (nee Cropper) will be based at the Plym Yacht Club and will include a cruise on the Island Sailing Trust’s Plymouth-based classic boats Joanna Lucretia and Moosk over the weekend of July 4 and 5.

This was the first time an all-girl crew of the the Sir Winston Churchill had sailed on the Atlantic ocean and at the time was seen as a world-beating first.

The other legs of the voyage were sailed by all-boys crews, one of which brought the Sir Winston Churchill back to the UK.

A group of 19 of the original crew will be gathering in Plymouth for their 50th anniversary reunion.

Several of the girls crew are from Plymouth, Dartmouth and Teignmouth, however a couple have travelled from as far as New Zealand and Hawaii

All the crews took part in a magnificent ticker-tape parade in New York, as part of the USA bicentennial celebrations.

This was followed by a second parade in Boston, marching past the Queen and Prince Philip who were on tour at the same time.