BRITAIN’S oldest and most successful maritime preservation society celebrates its 60th anniversary in October with news of a £1m boost in its campaign to save the historic Waverley.

This summer has been the first time in 132 years without a paddle steamer operating in the Bristol Channel and up the Severn estuary as far as Lydney.  

The Paddle Steamer Preservation Society had to cancel sailings after cracks were found in both boilers, sparking a £2.3m appeal to keep the world’s last surviving seagoing paddle ship operating.

And with £850,000 already pledged, Friday brought fantastic news that the Scottish Government would provide another £1m.

A Lydney publisher is also bringing out a special 176-page book marking the 60th anniversary, telling the story of the society, with a DVD also being produced, and all funds raised going to the appeal.

Richard Clammer, who has compiled Sixty Years of Paddle Steamer Preservation and has been a society member since 1963, said: “The announcement of the Scottish Government’s £1m grant means the appeal has now reached about £1.8m.

“This is a fantastic achievement and extremely encouraging, but we still need to to raise the final £500,000 to ensure that the ship will return to public service next year and be able to offer her much-loved trips down the Bristol Channel to Minehead, Ilfracombe, Lundy, etc, once again.

“It is time for the final push... if every reader donated the price of a ticket or bought a book, then we’d be home and dry. We urge everyone to play their part.”

The book is being published on Tuesday (October 1) by Neil Parkhouse of Black Dwarf Lightmoor Publications, Lydney, and features more than 200 rare and previously unpublished photographs of paddle steamers, including lots of the society’s ships Waverley and Kingswear Castle.

Mr Clammer, secretary of the Bristol Channel Branch of the PSPS, said: “Both the book and DVD were planned as celebrations, but things took a somewhat bitter-sweet turn when, just as Waverley was about to sail, some tiny cracks were discovered in her boilers.

“Repairs were attempted but were proving too expensive and time consuming, so the decision was made to withdraw her from service for 2019 and go all out to raise enough money – £2.3m – to replace both boilers along with associated gear, generators and switchboards.

“This will set the ship up for another 20 years at least.

“This has been the first time (war years apart) since 1887 or before that there has been no pleasure steamer on the Bristol Channel.

“We are utterly determined that the ship must not be stuffed and mounted as a static exhibit, but must return to passenger service.

“She is the last of her kind in the whole world and the only way to see the British coast on long day trips.  

“All proceeds from the book are being donated to the boiler appeal, so every copy sold represents valuable income,” added Richard, who has now penned eight paddle steamer books.

Built in 1946, PS Waverley is the last seagoing passenger-carrying paddle steamer in the world.

For more information and to order copies of the book and the DVD, entitled Britain’s Last Paddle steamers and the People Who Saved them, see www.paddle steamers.org.

To donate and for more news of the appeal, go to www.wav erelyexcursions.co.uk/save-the-waverley- boiler-appeal