Teacake tycoon Sir Boyd Tunnock has taken on a new role as patron of the charity which owns a historic Loch Lomond paddle steamer to mark their 25th anniversary.
The charity which owns Maid of the Loch is celebrating the milestone this weekend and is delighted to have a new patron at the helm.
On October 9, 1995 the Loch Lomond Steamship Company was established, and to help mark the silver jubilee, the charity is thrilled to reveal Sir Boyd's appointment and such an important time in their history.
Read more: Time Out ranks Dennistoun among its top cool places
Chairman John Beveridge said: “We are absolutely delighted that Sir Boyd has agreed to be Patron. He is one of Scotland’s outstanding business people and to have his support for the Maid is a huge boost to the project.”
Despite some of the challenges which the coronavirus has brought, the charity hopes to keep the paddle steamer afloat. In June they launched a £25,000 crowdfunder to recover some of the lost income during lockdown. It came just weeks after the Maid’s engines were fired up for the first time in almost four decades following an extensive £1.2 million restoration project.
Speaking of his appointment as patron Sir Boyd, CBE, said: “Last year I was invited to the charity’s first steaming of the Maid’s engines in 38 years, and I appreciate the real potential of this beautiful ship as a boost to the local economy and to Scotland. I admire the amount of effort and commitment that the charity has given to restoring this unique ship wish them well for the future”.
Read more: Donald Trump would be impossible to play, says Succession actor Brian Cox
Maid of the Loch was given free of charge to the charity in 1995, and in that time it has raised over £3.5 million, but it has also had to rebuild Balloch Pier, the slipway, and build a car park. The most recent success has been the £1.2 million refit of the Maid which has seen internal refurbishment of two main rooms, the installation of a lift, and the restoration of her steam engines to full operation.
Mr Beveridge added: "What an achievement. In 1995, the Maid was in a sorry state and had almost sunk at the pier. Now we have a brilliant visitor experience with a range of activities for children with engines and paddles turning to thrill adults.”
The Maid of the Loch first launched in 1953 with a licence to carry 1,000 passengers. Advertised as having “commodious saloons” and serving “lunches and teas of the highest quality at popular prices”, she was the last – and largest – in a long line of paddle steamers to sail on Loch Lomond.
The vessel hosted royal guests, celebrities and three million day-trippers during her 28 years in operation. But with the rise of overseas travel, passenger numbers fell and the steamer was decommissioned.
However, the charity remains hopeful for the future.
Mr Beveridge added: “The charity’s aim has always been to restore the Maid to operational condition. Before we can proceed, we need to rebuild the slipway which suffered a structural failure when we tried to bring the Maid out of the water last January. Because of the Covid crisis we are struggling to raise the necessary funds, but that is our number one priority. With Sir Boyd now at the helm we face the future with confidence”.
The anniversary event is on Saturday when the engines will be “In Steam”, and special activities are planned. The Maid remains open from 11am to 5pm on Wednesdays to Sundays until November 1.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel