IMAGINE finding yourself alone, thousands of miles away from home on the other side of the world in a strange land, not being able to speak the language and surrounded by a way of life that is totally foreign.

This is what happens everyday in Southampton to scores of overseas seamen when their ships dock in port, sometimes only for just a few hours, as the vessels criss-cross the oceans fuelling the constant demands of today's global trade.

However in Southampton, at least, these crew members can always rely on a warm welcome and a friendly face on the quayside together with the offer of help and assistance from the members of the Southampton Seafarers' Centre, a unique inter-denominational group that cares for those who spend their working lives at sea.

Crew, many from the Far East, Africa and the Caribbean, are usually away from their own country for anything up to ten months at a time continually voyaging from one continent to another and so the brief time they manage to get ashore, in places like Southampton, is precious to the seamen.

Often they are anxious to get in touch with their home, maybe it's the one chance they have to sort a problem that is in a far away land and in a different time zone or perhaps there is an urgent message that has to be relayed to their families.

Container ships, vehicle carriers and oil tankers can be berthed far away from the city centre and access to telephones and e-mails as well as everyday things, such as the opportunity to visit shops, that we all take for granted, become almost impossible for crew members.

There is still poverty and hardship among many of those who go to sea as they face low salaries and long working hours. Facts that are fully appreciated by the centre's group of chaplains and volunteers.

The Southampton Seafarers' Centre, with its slogan "A Safe Haven and a Good Anchorage,'' in Queen's Terrace, just a short distance from the city's Eastern Docks, is a new body formed by bringing together, quite literally under one roof, three long-standing organisations which have over the decades provided practical help and spiritual support for visiting seamen in the port.

The Mission to Seafarers, a part of the Anglican church, the Roman Catholic Apostleship of the Sea and the British and International Sailors' Society (BISS) from the Free Churches, have joined forces in an equal partnership to establish the centre which could become the blueprint for similar organisations in other UK docks and worldwide ports.

Making up the centre's team is Rev Michael Williams from the Mission to Seafarers, the Apostleship's Father Patsy Foley and Rev Bill McCrea of BISS.

It was back in 1999 that a study was set up by the International Transport Workers Federation and the Merchant Navy Welfare Board to look into how best to serve the needs of visiting seamen.

The conclusion was that the three separate bodies should come together in one building, central to the port and the economics of the plan pointed to using the existing premises which had housed the Mission to Seafarers for many decades.

The building would have to be totally gutted, redeveloped and fitted out with the latest telephone and Internet communications that would be used by up to 70 foreign crew every day.

Each of the organisations chaplains would have their own offices, there would be a meeting room, a small shop, a bar and kitchen as well as an area were the seamen could simply sit and relax away from their ship.

John Hughes, chairman of the centre's trustees and who had spent many years at sea on oil tankers before retiring as vice-president of Esso's international fleet of vessels, said: "All this work represented an investment of half a million pounds.

"Back in the 1950s the Southampton Sailors Home in Oxford Street had been sold to the Salvation Army and the proceeds invested in a trust and given for safe-keeping to the King George's Fund for Sailors.

"The funds could only be used for the welfare of all seafarers in Southampton and as this new centre totally met that requirement we had access to the money for the refurbishment of the premises.''

Now the finishing touches are being put to the building, special telephone booths to ensure the seamen's privacy while they speak with their families have been installed as have a bank of computers with e-mail connections.

"We want this to be a home from home for the seamen,'' said Rev Williams, who together with his colleagues spends every day visiting ships and administrating to the welfare of the crews.

"Essentially we work as a team, we cover for each other and I think we have great trust in each other which has been forged out of our long-standing relationships.''

The centre, which will be open seven days a week, only closing on Christmas Day, and managed by Diane Carter, is independent of the shipping companies and their agents and will welcome not only Christians but members of all faiths.

"Here crew members will be able to talk through any problems they may have and we will do our best to solve these for them,'' said Rev McCrea.

"There will always be a warm reception at the centre and the seamen will find true friendship here.''

The Southampton Seafarers' Centre is aiming to open its doors sometime before Easter and is due to be officially inaugurated by Mrs Mary Fagan, the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, on Friday, April 15.