A NEW LEASE OF LIFE?...

I woke up this morning to yet another barrage of the cacophonous mayhem surrounding Brexit and decided that it was time to seek out some good news.   And I found it with the report that the Hythe Ferry seems at last to have a brighter future.

Now, Hythe ferry has played a number of roles in my life, beginning with my boyhood in the village of Hythe when we used to take the ferry to Southampton - my mother to do some shopping and my father to take me to The Dell to watch the Saints play in those days in the Second Division (which is where they threaten to return.)

The photo above shows the ferry leaving Southampton Town Quay. from where it will chug its way between ocean going cruise liners, huge container ships and numerous pleasure craft to complete its 20 minute voyage back to Hythe Pier.   For some years now the future of the ferry has been in doubt, sustained largely by grants from Hampshire County Council but just recently the ferry was taken over by Blue Funnel Ferries, who have made improvements to the service and brought a new regime of more efficient management which bodes well for the future. It provides perhaps a more sustainable means of getting to and from Southampton than the heavily congested A326 and the approach roads to Southampton city centre.

I have a couple of memories that stand out from the countless times I have made the journey, one being the occasion when, during a winter evening following yet another Saints defeat the ferry was on its way back to Hythe when a huge cruise ship decided to reverse out of its berth, leading to the ferry shuddering to a halt.  I looked up and saw this enormous maritime block of flats looming above the ferry in th darkness.  I knew - or at least assumed - that we were safe but it was a sight to behold nonetheless.

And then, following a defeat by Manchester City, the ferry made it back to Hythe Pier only for the pier to be so severely rammed by an out of control dredger that it was put out of action for some weeks. (The inebriated dredger captain and his dredger also suffered the same fate.)  Fortunately for me, I had just managed to get back to the end of the pier before the crash happened.

(Please click on photo for better image)

But throughout my life Hythe ferry has remained a constant reminder of my growing up in that village by the sea and although times have been tough for both of us on occasions, we have both survived and now, thanks to enlightened new owners and a new registered charity to safeguard what is a historic pier with the world`s oldest pier passenger train,  the future of Hythe ferry is assured at least for now.  I hope I can say the same about myself.

Oh well, back to the Brexit mayhem.......

GOOD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS...

It`s not often that I get interested in mergers, acquisitions and takeovers but the last few days have seen two lots of good news for people, like me, with concerns about affairs in and around Southampton.

First the good news about the Hythe Ferry. I grew up in Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and the ferry from Hythe to Southampton`s Town Quay was part of the permanent fixtures of my happy childhood.  I used to be taken on the ferry by my mother when she needed to go shopping and by my father to go to The Dell to watch Southampton - the Saints - playing in the old Second Division.  

For some years the ferry operation has been under threat as a result of falling passenger numbers and increased running costs and has only been kept going with subsidies from Hampshire County Council, who see it as a vital part of the transport links between the city and the Waterside.  More recently the prospect of the ferry having to close has become more acute but the good news is that both the ferry and the unique pier from which it operates are to be taken over by Blue Funnel , a long established and vastly experienced company operating from Southampton.   As a ferry has operated between Hythe and Southampton since at least 1575, when it was shown on Saxton`s map of the area, the news that its future is now secure is good news indeed.

The second bit of good news is that the Chinese Investment Group, Lander Sports, have now confirmed to the Stock Exchange that their interest in acquiring a stake in Southampton Football Club has now been abandoned.  For over a year now, they have been in discussion with representatives of the Saints` current owner, Katharina Liebherr and have had a lengthy period of exclusivity as the discussions have taken place.  

For Saints fans like me, this is also good news, as the current ownership has proved to be both benevolent and efficient and has seen the club rise from the depths of the third tier of English football into an established place in the Premier League.   It might be a case of `better the devil you know` but, as a former shareholder, the prospect of the club changing hands and leaping once more into the unknown was not a happy one for me.

All`s well that ends well?

LITTLE AND LARGE....

Some years ago now, I was on the Hythe Ferry on the way home from watching a game at St. Mary`s Stadium and just as the ferry left Southampton Town Quay, one of the gigantic cruise liners - I can`t remember which one - inched its way out of the Ocean Terminal and was on course to slice through the ferry.   Of course, it didn`t happen because the ferry skipper knew his place and backed off to let the cruise liner go on its way.  It was pitch dark and I remember looking up from the ferry at the enormity of the cruise ship, all lights shining, and looking just like a mobile block of flats.

This photo I took from Calshot reminded me of that incident, with the yacht having a close encounter with the container ship.......

(Please click on photo for larger image)

A VIVID MEMORY...

Here`s a picture I took from the end of Hythe pier, looking back to towards the village where I spent my boyhood.   

The building with the pointy windows is my old primary school, which I attended for about six years before being shunted off to the secondary school at Hardley.   That was all of 70 years ago but I still bear the scars of what passed for my `formal education.`

I suppose my most vivid memory of Hythe Pier was from 2003. In those days I had a season ticket to watch Southampton Football Club and I always parked the car in Hythe, took the ferry across to Southampton Town Quay, met up with friends and walked to St. Mary`s Stadium.  On 1st November, 2003, we watched the Saints lose 2-0 to Manchester City. That was depressing enough but just after I had walked back along the pier on my way home, a 700-tonne dredger ploughed into the pier causing £300,000 worth of damage and putting the pier out of action for some weeks.  Mercifully, no-one had been injured as a result although the railway tracks still look a bit wonky.

The dredger captain, who was found to have been two and a half times over the drink-drive limit, was jailed for eight months, but in 2011 he was found dead having fallen into a pond near his Portsmouth home, all of which made the 2-0 home defeat pale into insignificance,

THIS WAS DIFFERENT..

Last game of the season yesterday - Saints 3 - Southend 1 - and, as I promised myself two weeks ago, I went back to Hythe and got the ferry over to Southampton before walking to St. Mary`s Stadium. I was surprised to discover that the usual ferry boats were both out of action. `Great Expectations` was being serviced and apparently the `Hotspur` had broken down.

So instead, we were treated to a ride on the Ashleigh R, pictured above, which had been `chartered` by the Hythe Ferry operators from Blue Funnel Cruises. They are based in Southampton and offer a wide range of cruises to view the boats in the docks, trips along nearby rivers and even to Portsmouth! I was quite taken by the luxury we were confronted by on the 12 minute ferry crossing to Town Quay - the Ashleigh R even had a dance floor and a bar and I quite expect that stashed away somewhere is a glitter ball.

It was certainly a different experience to the crossings I have made on a series of `Hotspurs` since I first made the journey in about 1945 but despite the bar, the dance floor and all the other trimmings, somehow it didn`t seem quite the same.