Latest News from Hulmes Ferry.

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10th October, 2015.	Vulcan Bomber flies over Hulmes Ferry on its final flight.
		Vulcan bombers last flight as it circles barton airfield( 30 min walk from the Irlam Jetty ), could be seen surging over the treetops and over the ship canal from hulmes ferry. Vulcan Bombers where first introduced in 1956, capable of carrying a nuclear payload and last saw action in the falklands war in 1982 but since have been discontinued due to high maintinence costs. The XH558 Vulcan, named "The Spirit of Great Britain" was restored for use in display flights but sadly today marked its final flight.
23th September, 2015.
	The new ferry boat is expected to be in full operation at the start of the 2016 season ( start of 2016 season to be confirmed but expected in May ). Alterations to the Flixton jetty and removal of a dead tree from the Irlam jetty will take place throughought October in preparation for this.
17th September, 2015.	The new ferry boat is on its way !!
		The voice of the people has been heard and thanks to Steve of Bilway Ltd who has campaigned ceaslessly to retain and improve the service, a new ferry boat is on its way which was provided at steve's own expense ( Peel holdings being reluctant to sponsor the new boat despite surveyors reports ). More stable, more passenger carrying capability and easier to board makes this a vast improvement and represents a landmark in the ferry services 130 year history which has seen it transformed from scully boats to rowing boats to a dingy with an outboard motor and now we have a real passenger carrying ferry. It is up to the people now to take advantage of this service that continues to run free of charge linking the Flixton and Irlam communities. This is the last surviving ferry service accross the canal and needs to be used to prevent it slipping into dissuse.
5th July, 2015.	The Manchester Airshow
	An unprecedented number of people used the ferry service for show day and I gather from first hand information that all services where stretched to breaking point on the day due to the unexpected number of people arriving for the show. I would like to thank all the people who showed great patience with our service and great resilience in the unexpected storm that followed on their return journey. We made in excess of 130 canal crossings on the day from 9.30 am and I only got to the end of the queue by 1pm ( 1 hour after the displays had begun ). I am sure it would have exceeded this number of people if I was able to take more people across and reduce the lengthy queue which many gave up on when they realized we could only ferry one person at a time in the small boat. On a positive note I am pleased we got everyone back home safely if not a little dishevelled from the storm. The number of people highlighted a problem that has long since been known. As one young child observed "He needs a bigger boat". One lady pointed out that this service replaces a footbridge and a footbridge would have easily taken the number of people and so should the ferry service. I am also told that a surveyor has looked at the boat and proclaimed it inadequate even before the Airshow due to instability and the number of people it can carry but as yet funding has not come forwards for a larger vessel.