Bring Back The Swansea Cork Ferry

Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do
for your country!!!

The return of the Peoples ferry is about to become a reality due to
a community, co-op
and people based campaign to bring the peoples ferry back.

A lesson in not waiting for politicians, in 1986 it worked and will help bring the tourists back in 2009,10,11,12,............and once again bring the great produce of the South West swiftly to UK and European markets.

MV Innisfallen is on its way and it will bring a smile to South Wales and Southwest Ireland!!!

Hi
You're partly right - in that it's a lesson in not waiting for Government to do anything! <g>

Everything is looking good for the return of the service linking Swansea and Cork - with a new operator, a much better ship, on-line booking, an Irish flag for the ship to sail under and every prospect of the service becoming a financial success.

The co-operative will own a significant share of the ship - and investors' money will be safeguarded so that there's no danger of the ship and the money disappearing, as happened before.

However - we're not quite there yet - and to hit our target dates (online booking running on 1st March, first commercial sailing by mid-April) we need more people, businesses and syndicates to show their support for this venture by pledging their investments.

There are two more Public Meetings today (Monday) - in Kinsale and Clonakilty, and the Roadshow team is heading to Swansea for two meetings tomorrow (24th Feb) in order to secure investment from South Wales.

To find out more about investing - please visit our website



Thanks
Adrian - Campaign co-organiser

HI Folks

We're nearly there in the campaign to BringBackTheSwanseaCorkFerry.com

All that's standing between us is a small matter of €0.5m - which need to raise within the next week by Pledge Investment.

Individual pledges can be as low as €1,000 (as part of a syndicate) or €10k for a stand-alone share.

Full details, and a new online pledge system on the

Assuming that we can raise the necessary funds - the ferry will be sailing again in April !

Please help if you can

Thanks
Adrian - Campaign co-organiser

Lets hope they do something about the area around the Swansea terminal. I remember getting the ferry home (I studied in Wales but only used the Cork-Swansea service once) on a Sunday. Arrived at the terminal a couple of hours before the sailing because that was the only train that got me to Swansea in time and the whole area was dead. The terminal was shut and nothing in the general area was open and it was raining. After that I used Fishguard and got the bus from Rosslare to Cork or else flew!

It's great to see someone trying to do things for themselves. You've done well on the fundraising. Why don't you get on the national airwaves for some publicity?

Bronte said:

It's great to see someone trying to do things for themselves. You've done well on the fundraising. Why don't you get on the national airwaves for some publicity?

Click to expand...

Believe me - we're trying....

So far we've been on all the local radio stations, most web forums, BBC / ITV in the UK, every local and national Irish newspaper, UK newspapers (local & national), and held a series of roadhows...

...all on a budget of nothing..... but lots of time & enthusiasm

The clock's ticking - we need investment pledges by Friday if we are to get the ship sailing again this year

Thanks
Adrian

What fantastic work been done by all.

The campaign deserves much more coverage at National Level, so powerful is the
movement it should be followed daily by RTE News. What wonderful people giving of
thier own time to put a badly needed service in place.

For my part we were just humble passangers on the old service and would love to see it restored. To help highlight the campgain I have mede posts here on boards and set up twitter account in the name of INNISFALLEN and Swanseacorkferry.

Why not become a follower and get twittering.

The web is humming with swansea cork ferry hits!!

travel the Innisfallen way, travel the peoples ferry!!!

HI Newbridge09

That's great - many thanks for publicising the campaign...

The most important fact is that we must have the missing cash (though pledge investments) by 5pm Friday. If we don't - then there probably won't be a ferry service... certainly not this year - and possibly not at all....

Of course we'd be delighted to find a couple of larger investors..... <g> -
but we can get there just as well with €10k syndicate investments or with individualk investments of €1k

It's all on the website....

Thanks
Adrian

If you can't afford advertising why not do a Michael O' Leary stunt. He gets loads of free publicity and sometimes the news stations are having a quiet day so will run with your promotion/stunt. I think the trick is you have to tell them in advance so they are there to film it !

Bronte said:

If you can't afford advertising why not do a Michael O' Leary stunt. He gets loads of free publicity and sometimes the news stations are having a quiet day so will run with your promotion/stunt. I think the trick is you have to tell them in advance so they are there to film it !

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HI Bronte
Well - to start with - we have our standards ! <g>
And we don't intend charging folks on the new ferry for having a pee!

I guess we'll just have to reply on word-of-mouth, forums, and our usual Press contacts to keep the message out there...

...tis a little vexing that, in RTE's eyes, our campaign to reinstate this vital ferry link is less newsworthy that 'Door falls off Minister's helicopter'....

Ah well !
Adrian

I am really suprised at how very little coverage this great
campaign is getting on RTE (Radio or TV)

As a public service broadcaster they should be reporting daily
on progress. an amazing story of community solidarity and hard work
accross the South West.

Other public intrest will be the revival of two names B&I Line and MV Innisfallen.

Can they do it, YES THEY CAN!!

BRING BACK THE SWANSEA CORK FERRY

I am really suprised at how very little coverage this great
campaign is getting on RTE (Radio or TV)

Click to expand...

Why don't you approach them and tell them that you'll probably advertise the new service using TV or radio? If the campaign fails through lack of publicity, then they'll never get advertising revenue. You rarely get something for nothing, so don't expect free publicity.

You probably do (as mentioned above) need some kind of gimmick though maybe along the lines of job creation or something.

leghorn said:

Why don't you approach them and tell them that you'll probably advertise the new service using TV or radio? If the campaign fails through lack of publicity, then they'll never get advertising revenue. You rarely get something for nothing, so don't expect free publicity.

You probably do (as mentioned above) need some kind of gimmick though maybe along the lines of job creation or something.

Click to expand...

HI Folks

I guess 'everybody' thinks that their particular 'obsession' is worthy of more air-time <g> - to be honest we've had great support from the local press and independent radio - and Tom MacSweeney has mentioned us a fair bit on his Seascapes radio program.

I guess we'll (finally) make it to prime-time RTE when we announce that the ship will be back in service, about the same time all the politicos jump on-board to grab their 5 minutes of (largely undeserved) fame!

It's not within our power as campaigners to spend the new operator's ad budget for them <g> - and our own work has been entirely self-funded - so we've been grateful to get publicity when & where we can. The Swansea roadshows got us some great exposure - including about 5 minutes on BBC Wales's main news program - so that was good...

By far the biggest source of publicity, however, has been 'word-of-mouth' - we're lucky in that many people have a huge emotional and financial investment in the resumption of the service - and they've been spreading the word very effectively for us. The website's also been a great means of promotion - hits over the last three weeks have been 14,000+ - with 55,000+ page views - which all helps!

There's still time to pledge an investment, if any more folks would like to get onboard... <g>

Thanks
Adrian - Campaign co-ordinator

I note from the campgain Website that there may be some positive news by the weekend.

Once again the silence from our national broadcaster is stunning. I also note that it appears that the operator and the co-op have secured a great proce for the "Julia" or new Innisfallen.

An amazing story of people power and a great news story in these times.

We look forward to travelling on the new service.

newbridge09 said:

I note from the campgain Website that there may be some positive news by the weekend.

Once again the silence from our national broadcaster is stunning. I also note that it appears that the operator and the co-op have secured a great proce for the "Julia" or new Innisfallen.

An amazing story of people power and a great news story in these times.

We look forward to travelling on the new service.

Click to expand...

Hi

We certainly hope to be able to make an announcement very soon.

The support we've had over the last year, and particularly in terms of the pledge investment has been truly amazing - all of those people _deserve_ to have the ferry sailing again.

We're still accepting pledges - both on the phone and through the website...

Watch the website for the latest news!

Thanks
Adrian

To all involved in this great campgain ,

Irish : Go Raibh Mile Maith Agat = 1000 Thank yous

Welsh: Diolch yn fawr iawn = Thank you

Many ways to say thank you on both sides of the Irish Sea.

We followed the trip online from Finland (via Swansea) and travelled to Cork on last Friday to see the arrival, and what a sight to see MV Julia (Innisfallen) pass Roches Point and pass Cobh, we were standing with a group of about 20 people at St. Colemans Cathedral in Cobh and there wasnt a dry eye in the house. History was being made once again in Cork Harbour, a place where so many dreams have begun and so many tears have been shed in the past. Made happen by an amazing bunch of guys who have given so much of thier time and energy to bring the INNIS home.


I know how we will be travelling to Cardiff and Bristol next year, arriving refreshed "The Innisfallen Way" with Fastnet Line.


Thank you !!!