Appeal to save Manxman gets off to a flying start

Aug 6 2007 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

MORE than £4,000 has been raised to save the last classic Isle of Man steamer Manxman after the appeal to Adopt-A-Rivet was launched in the Daily Post two weeks ago.

The organisers claim that saving Manxman will help restore the confidence and reputation of Merseyside after the Mathew Street Festival cancellation fiasco.

Already the scheme to adopt a rivet for £1 each in the steamer Manxman has caught Daily Post readers’ imagination who have donated generously.

It is hoped to raise £200,000 to help return Manxman to the Mersey, backed by the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo as a major project for 2008.

The Earl and Countess of Derby launched the campaign in style by adopting 1,000 rivets, as the Derbys were formerly Lords of Mann.

Cash raised in the £1-A-Rivet campaign is needed to match-fund a £100,000 donation promised by Liverpool City Council by Cllr Mike Storey, executive member special initiatives for Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture 2008.

The ship is the last traditional steam-turbine powered, passenger-only, cross-channel ferry in Europe.

Manxman is the last major Cammell Laird, Birkenhead-built passenger ship afloat, but lies derelict in Pallion Shipyard’s dry-dock, Sunderland, threatened with being scrapped by her Greek owner, Michael Kollakis.

Manxman Steamship Co charitable trust plan to restore Manxman as a floating static conference centre and Merseyside merchant navy museum.

Ken Dodd has agreed to install his comedy museum archive on board.

The Manxman project received glowing reports from two £50,000 surveys ordered by Northwest Development Agency on its tourism potential and the ship’s sound structural condition.

Cllr Mike Storey says the Manxman is the ultimate legacy project for 2008 and is Liverpool’s present to itself for European Capital of Culture.

Bill Ogle, Manxman Steamship Co chairman, says: “After the Mathew Street Festival fiasco, we believe the success of this project is more important than ever to restore the confidence and reputation of Merseyside.

“Anyone who cares for Merseyside’s heritage will want to adopt a rivet for a £1. They will help save Manxman and will create a project unmatched by anything else in Europe.”

* If you are a tax payer please complete a gift aid form as this will increase your donation by 28%; see website www.ssmanxman.co.uk (in Friends of Manxman section ).

To make a donation please make cheques payable to Manxman Steamship Co, and send to Bill Ogle, Chairman, Manxman Steamship Co, c/o 153 Mather Avenue, Liverpool, L18 6JZ.

Should this bid to save Manxman be unsuccessful, residual monies will be paid to other appropriate maritime charities.

peter.elson