| Meeting Report April 2009 |
| At our April meeting we were once again pleased to welcome Ken Larwood from Whitstable. Ken has a large collection of slides that he has taken over the years and he has compiled a range of shows. Our chosen presentation this time was �Ferries of the 1980s�.
The show featured ferries from ports still very much in use today and those that Ken reminded us of, which have declined in trade over the years. Just in our corner of the UK these include Ipswich, Sheerness, Ramsgate, Folkestone, and Newhaven, all with now much reduced or no ferry trade at all. At that time one of the largest operators was the Sealink consortium, which ran ferry services within the UK, and between the UK to France, to Belgium and to Holland and incorporated Sealink UK, the French SNCF, the Belgian RMT/RTM, the Dutch Zeeland Steamship Company and the Isle of Man Steamship Company. Other large players were Viking Sally, Townsend Thoresen which became P&O European Feries in 1987, Brittany Ferries (including Truckline), DFDS, and Tor Line. A good representation of the ferries from these lines and others made up the show with names to jog the memory such as Senlac, Vortigern, Spirit of Free Enterprise, St Columba, Olau Holandia, Tor Britannia, Prinz Hamlet, Dana Anglia, Koningen Beatrix and Norsky. Also shown were vessels such as the Boing jetfoil, the twin hull ferries such as Lady Patricia on the IOW service from Portsmouth and the large and small Hovercraft to be seen on local and cross channel services at that time. The rail Ferries were still operational, just, and it was interesting to see Essex Ferry, Cambridge Ferry Saint Eloi and Saintt Germaine. Ken was obviously well travelled having pictures of frerries from all around the UK, and gave away his holiday destinations by having pictures of ferries at Santa Cruz in Tenerriffe, and San Sebastian in the Canaries. One rare picture showed Dover harbour lined with ferries on the one day a year they are not operational, Christmas day! Our thanks to Ken for the memories, a grand selection of photographs and a well researched commentary which showed how many ferries end up with many years of life under different colours and flags. |