KOREAN seafarers showed their gratitude for the care they received from The Mission to Seafarers in Southampton with a rare gift.

The master of the Japanese-owned containership MOL Advantage, presented volunteer chaplain's assistant Paul Rodgers with a display case containing two painted dolls in traditional Japanese costume.

Six display cases are put on board Japanese ships on the maiden voyage, and one is presented at the first port of call. The others are only given in a port where the crew feel they have been made welcome. The Southampton centre is displaying the gift in the lounge.

Paul, 21, from Rowlands Avenue, Waterlooville, helped make the visit a memorable one by running a shuttle service in the mission's minibus to take 17 of the 23 crew to the centre where the seafarers could relax for an hour or two. He said, "They were in port for nearly 24 hours which is a long stay - some ships turn around in six hours and the crews just don't have time to get ashore."

Paul joined the mission in November and is enjoying his voluntary work. "It's fun, particularly chatting to people from different cultures. I really like meeting the Filipino seafarers who are so friendly."

Paul knew of the mission from his late father Gavin, a chief petty officer in the Royal Navy, and grandmother, who lived in Africa many years ago and regularly visited a mission centre. His mother, Joan, a member of the Church of England Synod, served in the Royal Navy as a steward with Women's Royal Naval Service.

Educated at Oaklands Roman Catholic Secondary School in Waterlooville, Paul studied at South Downs College and the University of Portsmouth. He is a member of the parochial church council and a youth worker at St Wilfrid's Church in Cowplain, Hampshire.