We raised £84,068* from our crowdfunder!
*This campaign total includes the amount given on crowdfunder.co.uk and funds donated directly to the charity.
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR GENEROUS DONORS!
Our 6 weeks crowdfunding campaign is now complete. It has given us a huge boost, but we are still fundraising to get the Maid sailing. You can learn more and donate on our website at www.maidoftheloch.org
You can keep up to date with the Maid by:
- Following us on Twitter at twitter.com/maidtosail and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MaidtoSail
- Joining our Supporters Club. For an annual subscription of only £15 you will be an invaluable supporter of the Maid and will receive our three newsletters a year. Sign up at www.maidoftheloch.org/supporters-club.php
Our crowdfunding aim is to raise £125,000 to restore the "Heart" of Maid of the Loch - the UK’s last built paddle Steamship. This will cover the cost of buying (£90,000) and installing (£35,000) a specialised steam boiler that will power the ship's engine and thus restore the “Heart” of Maid of the Loch!
As our patron Bill Paterson says - in the wonderful short film he has made about the Maid with Celtic Music Legends Phil & Aly - the Maid needs your help to sail once again on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
Restoring the Maid is not just a heritage project, it is a superb opportunity to bring back a valuable asset to Loch Lomond for visitors, residents, businesses and the local community to enjoy. A fully restored Maid sailing on the loch will provide a truly unique tourist attraction, create 25 jobs and wonderful memories for generations to come. Will you help us make new memories and days that children dream of?
Why is the Maid so special?
The Maid is one of a kind in UK and Scottish maritime heritage. She is a surviving member of an increasingly rare breed and is the very last paddle steamship built anywhere in the British Isles. This very special paddle steamer which from 1953, for decades, sailed millions of people from near and afar across the Bonnie Banks. She will be restored to her 1950s former glory and return to full working order sailing on Loch Lomond, as a vintage experience with contemporary comfort and safety. From events and fine dining, to live music and cocktails in the upper lounge, or a tasty cuppa and scone with jam in our tearoom, Maid of the Loch promises a spectacular cruise.
The Maid is known, quite wonderfully, as the ship that was built twice. She is the UK’s only remaining example of an ‘up and doon’ vessel, first constructed in Glasgow at A&J Inglis shipyards and then taken apart and then
put on a train to her new home in Balloch. Crowds regularly came to watch as she was put back together and finished on the loch shore, before finally being launched in March 1953.
The Maid was the heart of Loch Lomond and was then licensed to carry 1,000 passengers. She was the largest paddle steamer to sail Loch Lomond and played host to royal guests and celebrities, school children and families, as well as three million day-trippers during her 28 years on the water.
Sadly, she was decommissioned in 1981, and has not sailed since. Since 1996 the volunteers of the charity the Loch Lomond Steamship Company have been lovingly maintaining the ship and working towards their ambitious mission to restore this mighty historic vessel to her former glory and get her sailing again.
Why a boiler? Why now?
Heritage Lottery Fund have generously pledged to donate £3.8 million to us if we can raise match funding by June 2018. We now have only £1 million to raise to reach our target of £5.5 million to fully restore the ship and get her sailing again. We are very close to raising this money, but some of the pledges that have been made depend on us installing the steam boiler now. Buying and installing this specialised boiler is pivotal to the project in levering further funding to reach our overall target.
The Maid has a genuine, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right now to sail again - if we can raise the funds for the boiler. We really need your help to get through these final hurdles!
Our plans for restoration and for future sailing of the Maid
The Maid is a magnificent example of Clyde-built ship engineering with a stunning art deco inspired interior. Our vision is to bring this cherished, UK asset back into productive public and operational use and return paddle steamer cruising to Loch Lomond, bringing pleasure and joy to millions more visitors for generations to come.
By safeguarding this vessel we wish to open up further the country’s industrial engineering heritage, to educate and increase interest and awareness of the Maid’s place within this central area of conservation in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park and to create employment and training opportunities for the local economy.
A successful fundraising campaign can return this beautiful steamer to the waters of Loch Lomond and to her former glory, renovating and reinstating her 1950s fittings and creating a wonderful asset for public pleasure and international interest.
How do we know the Maid can be fully restored?
We have taken a rigorous approach in researching both the evidence that there is a market for a fully restored Maid and that the ship is structurally fit for restoration.
For the past two years seven independent consultancies from marine architects to business planners, to conservation heritage experts were contracted to fully assess the Maid’s technical viability and commercial sustainability. The results were unanimous that the Maid has a robust future as a quality, long-lasting tourist attraction in Scotland that will bring sustainable economic benefits, boost the local economy and provide a valuable new community transport link and educational resource.
The restoration of Maid of the Loch has the backing of partners VisitScotland, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, Scottish Enterprise and West Dunbartonshire Council.
Who are the Loch Lomond Steamship Company?
Loch Lomond Steamship Company is a not-for profit company, founded in 1995 with the mission to see the Maid restored and to sail again. Since then our charity, staffed entirely by volunteers, has raised over £2m and invested this in the first stages of the Maid’s conservation. The charity is governed by a Board of eight Trustees supported by three expert advisors with a pool of up to 40 volunteers who have dedicated nearly 90,000 hours to the vessel's conservation and a Supporters Club of over 400 members from the UK and across the globe.
THE DONATION REWARDS
Thank you for supporting our campaign. Below you can see images of the merchandise that we are offering for rewards, to help you choose. The cost of postage is included in the reward donation amount, so for a £20 donation for a tea towel, the donation amount is £21.
All of our merchandise rewards will be sent out in time to arrive for Christmas and give some great options for gifts and stocking stuffers.
MAID 'WISH YOU WERE HERE' POSTCARD 6 PACK
MAID OF THE LOCH 2018 CALENDAR
MAID TEA TOWELS
Choose your cotton Maid Tea Towel in Cowal Ventilator Blue, Boot Topper Green, or Charcoal Grey.
MAID CANVAS BAG
Our Maid of the Loch bag is a Cranbrook canvas bag made of 10oz cotton canvas.
MAID MUGS
These designs are printed as wrap around images on high quality white porcelains mugs and come in the colours Cowal Ventilator Blue, Boot Topper Green, Charcoal Grey and Classic Maid image.
MAID T-SHIRTS
These high quality Fruit of the Loom cotton t-shirts are available in black and white with Maid of the Loch image on the front. They come in the following sizes: Men's L, XL and XXL, Women's S and M, and Children's age 7-8, 9-11 or 12-13.
MAID BADGES - Popular with Children!
Choose from one of three popular designs of pin badge including a picture of the Maid, or a white or grey badge with our logo (50p shows the size):
MAID MAGNET
The fridge magnet is approximately 7.5 x 5cm.