Friends of the Ferries across the Mersey
CHAIRMAN’S AGM REPORT 2015

Welcome everybody.  Thank you for attending our 38th AGM!  Our Membership is maintained at about 500 paid-up members.  We need this strength to argue our case with Merseytravel and Mersey Ferries!

Dear Member

Once again our Autumn weather has provided temperatures better than some endured in mid-summer, so I hope everyone has managed at least one recent trip on the Ferries before we have to don our winter woollies. Already, however, we’ve had some typical November fogs which Health and Safety has decreed are too thick for our modern navigation systems to cope with!  There have also been one or two engineering hiccups, according to the Echo, for which there was no substitute vessel.  Meanwhile, we learn that  upgrades of the hydraulics for the rescue craft on the two service ferries improve launch capabilities.

Dear Member,

Despite some cancellations for fog, our short-lived Easter Week “summer” did bring crowds to Snowdrop, now resplendent in its dazzle colours!  Traditionalists may wince, and I think Mersey Ferries were a little concerned initially, but the national publicity (including live broadcasts on BBC Breakfast) outweighs any disadvantages.  Other publicists must be green with envy about the level of   media coverage.  And the Liverpool Biennial will pay for two repaints!  The ferry has an interesting exhibition aboard about WWI dazzle techniques, including a photo of the Mona’s Queen as a troopship. At the official “opening” ceremony, the  Chief Executive of Merseytravel made the point that Mersey Ferries is the most popular paid-for tourist attraction on Merseyside.