Woman's Hour - 08/04/2009

With Sheila McClennon. Carole King started writing songs over 50 years ago, and created some memorable pop hits for the stars of the '60s and '70s. But it was not until she released her solo album, Tapestry, that Carole King received international acclaim as a singer in her own right. Tracks such as You've Got A Friend, I Feel The Earth Move, and It's Too Late made Tapestry one of the greatest selling albums of all time and earning Carole four Grammys. Gail McGarva is one of the few remaining wooden boat builders able to build 'by eye'. Gail had worked as a qualified sign language interpreter but after living on a houseboat in Bristol and repairing it, she sailed to the source of the Thames, discovering her passion for boats. Four years ago, aged 39, Gail changed career and trained at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis, building a replica of the oldest remaining Shetland boat of 1882 and being awarded the British Marine Federation Trainee of the Year. Gail was awarded membership of The British Wooden Boat Trade Association in 2008 and recently received a 13,500 pound award from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust to enable her to build 'by eye' a boat of historical resonance to Dorset. She joins Sheila to discuss her specialist craft. According to the World Health Organisation almost 900 million people do not have access to a safe water supply, the majority of them women and children. As part of Millenium Development goals, world leaders have committed to halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015. But experts predict that goal will not be met in Africa until 2076 - some sixty years later. The aid agency Tear Fund has launched a campaign to mobilise governments into taking greater action. Kati Whitaker returned recently from Liberia, a resource rich country in West Africa now struggling to recover from a civil war which left around 250,000 dead and destroyed the country's infrastructure. A 16-year-old Oxfordshire girl is the youngest person ever to compete in the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championships at Brands Hatch. Alice Powell, who does not have even a provisional driving licence, is racing for Lewis Hamilton's former team in the Formula Renault Championship. Plus drama: Restless.