Star Coltrane launches steamship campaign
SCOTS actor Robbie Coltrane has launched a £200,000 campaign to return one of the Clyde’s most famous steamships to Glasgow.
Charity group, The Friends of TS Queen Mary, hope to see the vessel given a permanent berth on the river. Coltrane, patron of the charity, said: “I used to admire her greatly when she was in London.
“I always wondered what had happened to her and I had this awful feeling she might have been scrapped. Somebody said to me, ‘you know there’s a charity trying to bring her home’?
“I was as excited as a schoolboy in a sweetie shop. I thought – I better get involved.
“They asked me to be patron and it was a 10-second conversation.”
Built i n 1933, The Queen Mary was one of the last steamships to come from Glasgow’s famous Clyde dockyards. Once the ‘pride of the Clyde’, she sailed passengers ‘Doon the Watter’ to destinations such as Rothesay and Dunoon. After being retired in 1977 she spent several years as a floating restaurant.
Charity founder and trustee Iain Sim said: “The generosity of our supporters has been phenomenal.
“We have successfully fundraised the cost of repairs need to tow her home and we will soon announce which contractor will carry out that work. In fact, so far the charity has invested over £200,000 in Queen Mary, from corporate inkind assistance, cash and professional time.
“We now need to raise £200,000 to tow her home, where she belongs. If we reach our target, she could be home as early as this summer.
“The funds will also cover an essential dry-docking, Queen Mary’s first since 1997, and all of the necessary lower hull repairs.”