OUR STEAM COME TRUE
Star Robbie on joy over ship revamp
Harry Potter star Robbie Coltrane has revealed how excited he is about the refurbishment of the beloved steamship he went on as a child.
As Hagrid, his favourite mode of transport was a motorcycle and sidecar but Robbie’s real love is 90-year-old pleasure steamer the TS Queen Mary, which was once the pride of the Clyde.
Robbie, 72, is helping to raise funds for the £ 6mi l l ion revamp of the ship he’d go “doon the watter” on with his late dad.
He said: “I know TS Queen Mary will be as relevant in the 21st century as she was almost 90 years ago. It will be a long, tough journey but I am so excited by the prospect of her sai l ing again, not only carrying passengers but also serving as the country’s first skills and training cadet ship.”
The actor is the patron of the charity Friends Of TS Queen
Mary – a charity inspired by the memory of trips on the boat in the 60s with his late dad, Glasgow police surgeon Dr Ian Baxter McMillan. Bui lt in 1933, the five-deck TS Queen Mary ferried thousands of holidaymakers to resorts such as Rothesay and Dunoon. The charity has already raised more than £ 3.8million and the vessel, brought back from Tilbury Docks in Essex, is now berthed at a dock in Pacific Quay.
Michael McLaughlin, a trustee of Friends Of TS Queen Mary, said: “In her time, the ship was a huge hit. There was a lot of prestige attached to the TS Queen Mary due to its link with the reigning monarch and its reputation for luxury, speed and comfort. We want to give people that experience again.”
A campaign for repairs – spearheaded by Coltrane – was launched in December 2015 and, with support from the Sunday Mail, saw the retired steamer returned to Glasgow. It is hoped the ship will be in service by 2024.