Tuesday 23rd May 2006 marked quite a special day in our 'run of the mill' working parties.

For a start it marked a welcome return to our old berth at Salisbury Dock, Liverpool and the resumption of 'normal' working parties. However, this Tuesday was special for another reason, in that we had great pleasure in welcoming aboard His Worship, the Mayor of Halton, Mr John Swain together with Councillor Stef Nelson, Mrs Agnes Smith (Funding Development Officer) and Mr Martyn Platt (Publicity Officer) of Halton Borough Council.

Some time ago Member, Colin Leonard a Halton resident approached the council outlining details of 'DAPS' plans to restore 'Daniel Adamson'

As has been recorded in these pages on a number of occasions, the 'DA' has very close links with the Halton area, where she was a familiar sight over many years, indeed a large number of our members hail from the borough, so we were delighted when the Council looked favourably on our approach for financial support to assist in our recent Project Planning stage. The Council very generously donated £5000 towards our costs and today we had great pleasure in being able to show first hand the progress being made toward our goal.

I think it is fair to say that our visitors were 'suitably impressed' both by the extent of work already completed and the commitment of our volunteers of whom a total of nineteen were present on the day. The work continued apace as our guests were given a tour of the vessel by Chairman Tony Hirst and Colin Leonard, taking time to chat with several volunteers and visiting all parts of the vessel without exception. Not only was this a great opportunity to express our thanks for the Council's support, but I feel sure it served to illustrate our vision of the restoration and it's potential for the region. We hope this will be the first of many such visits and we look forward to maintaining close links with Halton, now and in the future.