Get on board for ferry link event
ASPECIAL event will be held in Plymouth to mark 50 years since the first Brittany Ferries voyage between the city and France.
The cross-channel operator is preparing a 50th anniversary celebration for January 2, 2023, with Plymouth at its heart.
Twinning committees representing towns, villages and communes from across Brittany have been invited to travel to Plymouth on the company’s flagship Pont-Aven, which has been specially re-routed for the celebratory voyage. They will be met in Millbay by their twin-town counterparts from towns in the South West of England and Wales, as well as the great and good of Britain’s Ocean City. An afternoon reception and gala dinner on board the vessel will follow.
The first crossing saw the converted Israeli tank-carrier Kerisnel leave Roscoff, in Brittany, carrying a cargo of cauliflowers and cognac, and arrive in Millbay on January 2, 1973, the day after Britain had joined the common market, the forerunner to the EU. Within a few years the company had opened more routes with better ships and introduced sailand-stay holidays for its biggest export market, British tourists.
Today, Brits comprise about 90% of all passengers on board.
“Since our first sailing, Brittany Ferries aim has been to enrich regions by connecting people and boosting trade,” said Christophe Mathieu, chief executive of Brittany Ferries. “This special anniversary event will help reinforce those links – and reconnect those who have been separated for too long by Covid and Brexit. We want to strengthen the entente cordiale between people who are closer to each other, culturally and geographically, than they are to centres of power in Paris and London.”
Entertainment at the celebratory event will come from Breton folk band Dremmwel. Their music has been the soundtrack to the start of a holiday for an estimated 24.6million passengers as music from the fourpiece has been used as wake-up tunes in cabins on board most ships since 2009.
“Dremmwel’s songs must be among some of the best-known in Britain,” added Mr Mathieu. “Few may know the men behind the music, but everyone who travels with us know what their songs signify: they say wake-up holiday maker, you have arrived at your destination.”
Members of twinning committees in the south west should have received an invitation to the event. However, not all have easily accessible contact details. So Brittany Ferries is calling on those who have not received an invitation to get in contact with event organisers by emailing 50@brittanyferries.com