In a ceremony in the recently refurbished passenger lounge at Heysham Port ferry terminal. a large, striking and colourful ‘Rail to Sail’ artwork, showing the new ferry ‘Manxman setting sail following the arrival of the connecting rail service has been unveiled

The Mayor of Lancaster City, Cllr Roger Dennison and Ms Alice Rice, Terminal Manager for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (IoMSPCo) performed the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday, 28th June, together with representatives of the Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership (the Bentham Line), the rail industry, Lancashire County Council and Lancaster City Council, and staff and Year 5 pupils from St Peter’s Church of England Primary School in Heysham.

The school was also involved in two further large pieces of ‘Rail to Sail’ artwork that were unveiled by the children on the station concourse, with assistance from the Mayor and other guests. Local artist, Alastair Nicholson, has worked successfully with the Bentham Line on similar projects for several years and supported the pupils in this project.

Once the unveilings had taken place, the pupils examined the artworks for the parts they had created, ranging from excited passengers, local landmarks, or other more unusual items.

Framed copies of the main artwork showing the new ferry, Manxman, were presented to the Mayor, Alice Rice, Hannah Owens, Alastair Nicholson, and Brian Haworth of the Bentham Line who had led the project. To acknowledge the children’s involvement in the project, certificates were awarded to the pupils from St Peters Church of England Primary School.

The many users of the station and terminal building and the Manxman ferry will now be greeted by the new artworks.

The Manxman was built in South Korea and arrived at Douglas on the Isle of Man last week. It will start operations on the Heysham – Douglas route towards the end of this month.

In his speech, the Mayor referred to the new ‘Manxman’ and the proposed Eden Project to be built in Morecambe and hoped they would bring many additional visitors to the area.

He added that Morecambe Bay as the larggest bay in Britain, would be a fantastic scenic backdrop to the projects. Mayor Dennison said he felt sure these developments would help to bring prosperity to the area, and the link to the Isle of Man would play an important part.

On behalf of the IoMSPCo Alice Rice offered her sincere thanks to everyone involved in creating the amazing artwork, and reflected on the important event it captured.

Gerald Townson, Chairman of the Bentham Line, noted that there had been over a hundred years of interaction between the railway and the IoMSPCo. and that the ship and train services provided a great example of integrated public transport, which led to the development of the ‘Rail to Sail’ project. Heysham Port is one of relatively few places left in Britain where it is just a short walk between train and boat.

Hannah Owens, one of the class teachers at St Peter’s said; “the project was a lovely experience, great fun and the children learnt so much. The children were very motivated in all the tasks.”