The new Jura passenger ferry service has won a gold award at the annual Argyll & Bute Excellence Awards in the “Vibrant Communities” category. Members of the Jura Initiative at the Edge team and Jura Development Trust were invited to attend, and received a commemorative plaque, a gold certificate and a cheque for £500 to spend on their project.
The Jura Ferry presentation was made by Blair Fletcher of Argyll & Bute Council who emphasised the ‘very positive impact it had on both the Jura and Tayvallich communities’. Deborah Bryce told the Ileach that: “We were overwhelmed and stunned to hear the announcement that the Jura ferry had won. When the first folk to congratulate us were our immediate competitors, it shows what a great spirit of camaraderie there was around the whole event.”
Deborah, who is Development Officer at Isle of Jura Initiative at the Edge continued: “This award has been won thanks to the dedication and commitment of many different people and organisations. From the Development Services group within ABC to the Tayvallich Bay Association; from HIE to the Crown Estate; from Robin Currie and the RSPA fund to Alison Younger of Corporate Services, Community Planning Partnership, Tayvallich Coffee Shop, local community members and community groups; the list is almost endless. It’s been a tremendous team effort with both the community here on Jura and our friends in Tayvallich making a great contribution. And then of course, there’s Nicol and Donnie MacKinnon and the magnificent “Shannick”. So a great big THANK YOU to all who’ve been involved, it was a real pleasure collecting the award on your behalf.
“This was only the first year; now let’s make sure that in 2009 and 2010 the ferry is even more successful! We are also on the long leet for the National COSLA excellence awards, which means that we are in the top 10 of the “Advancing Community and Citizen Well Being” category, for which there were 41 proposals. Apparently the Jura Passenger Ferry is the only one from Argyll & Bute on the long list. It means that we are guaranteed at least a Bronze Award; we’ll know on 15th December whether it’s anything better!”
This story was published with kind permission of the Ileach local newspaper.
Dave says
January 3, 2009 at 10:36 amGreat news, and well done all involved.
So will it run again this year? If so, does anyone know when it starts?
Ron says
January 3, 2009 at 11:25 amHi Dave, the ferry service should operate between April and September, from 2008 to 2010. I am not to sure about the exact date but will post more info on that in the next months.
Being a rewarded service hopefully means that the chances should now be even better to prolongue the trial phase and make it a regular and perhaps year round service.
I think an island with more than 200 people deserves it’s own ferry, there should be no discussion there 🙂
All the best
Ron
pheonix says
January 18, 2009 at 2:15 amThe ferry and pontoons are a great asset to the island much thanks
to the jura development trust that have put many hours into the project
I do hope that the ongoing actions of jurastores do not put a end to this service
I have used this service many times over the last year it is well thought out and a asset to Jura and Islay
with timetables intergrated with public transport links
it’s a a pity argyll and argyll and bute could
not do this with other services encouraging a greener enviroment keeping trafic of the roads
thanks to jdc
Pheonix
D Bryce says
February 13, 2009 at 3:24 pmFurther information can be found on the website jurapassengerferry.com from mid March.
Support is the key! Without support we cannot secure a sustainable service so please pass the word.
Many thanks
D Bryce
Development Officer
Isle of Jura Passenger Ferry
Ron says
February 14, 2009 at 10:00 amI have written about the new website on the blog. Thanks very much for pointing that out.
Please have a look here: New website for Ferry service
Cheers
Ron