Efforts to ensure survival of ferry service continuing
EFFORTS to ensure the survival of the ferry service between Llansteffan and Ferryside are continuing.
Since the lockdown came into force in March, directors of the Carmarthen Bay Ferries have halted all services of the Glanferry across the River Towy at the mouth of its estuary, meaning its income has dried up.
A new fundraising group, Friends of Glansteffan Ferry, was established to help the service survive and there is just one day left of an ‘ auction of promises’.
Bidding ends at 9pm on Thursday, where someone can offer a service or prize that the Friends of Glanferry can auction off to raise money.
It is just one of a raft of fundraising efforts to have been unveiled with the hope the public will dig deep and step in to help keep the service operating. It follows a similar plea made last summer when a crowdfunding scheme was launched to help the service grow over coming years.
Prizes already up for grabs in the auction include a classic car ride, lunch at Parc y Bocs and a B&B stay for two with views of the Towy estuary.
A spokesman for the Friends of Glanferry said: “The auction aims to raise £2,500 to ensure the Glansteffan ferry can continue to give pleasure through 2021 and beyond.
“With little possibility of running a service this year there are still costs incurred such as insurance, maintenance and storage.
“We urge people to visit the website and take a look at some of the wonderful promises already made. It is not too late to donate a promise of their own, the more imaginative the better.”
The service is a not-forprofit company and finds itself outside the Government’s financial support packages.
Reintroduced in August 2018 for the first time in 60 years, the ferry attracted thousands of passengers over its first 12 months.
The crossing boasts a history dating back hundreds of years, when the Normans ruled.
Later, the service was extremely popular in the 1920s and 30s, particularly during “miners’ fortnight” – the traditional holiday period for Wales’s colliers.
However, within a couple of decades the historic service was no more.
Then, two years ago, it was relaunched with support from the Coastal Communities Fund.
The service uses an amphibious boat, named Glansteffan by local schoolchildren, to take passengers between the two communities – a mere five minutes apart by water but up to 45 minutes by road.
■ The auction site is at www.auctionofpromises. com/glansteffan