Celebrations were held to mark the silver anniversary of a charity.
On Friday, May 10, 25 years and a day from the date when The Ferry Project registered as a charity, a special thanksgiving celebration was held in the Queen Mary Centre in Wisbech.
Conducted by The King’s Church in Wisbech, which was an instrumental part of the Churches Together initiative that led to the birth of The Ferry Project in 1999, the celebration brought together many of the organisations, partners, and supporters who have worked with the Project over the past 25 years and who have all contributed towards the success of the charity.
The gathering included representatives from Wisbech Town Council, Fenland District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Anglian Water, Barhale, Hunts Forum, Blackfield Creatives and many more.
Keith Smith, founder and CEO of The Ferry Project, spoke about what first inspired him to start it while he was peeling potatoes on Christmas Day and how, together with the help of the church, other organisations, supporters, and God, the Project was established.
John Heathorn, who had experienced homelessness firsthand, and was helped by The Ferry Project, spoke about some of the early days of the charity, and what his experience was like in the Mill Close properties that were owned and run by it.
Nicola Knowles, manager of the Queen Mary Centre, spoke about how The Ferry Project helped to save the centre from demolition 10 years ago and how it has become a thriving hub for the community and people of Wisbech.
Since The Ferry Project took over the running of the Queen Mary Centre it has received over half a million visitors.
In 2023 the Queen Mary Centre served 70,000 people out of the framework of the building and currently there are 300 appointments for wellbeing clinics being delivered from there very week.
As well as this, the Queen Mary Centre is used as a venue for a wide variety of activities including First Aid training, sniffer dog training, Slimming World, Taekwondo, the Citizens Advice Bureau, an osteopath, NHS diabetic eye screening and Covid-19 vaccination clinics as well as serving as a donations hub for the Ferry Project.
Fenland poet laureate, Hannah Teasdale, recited a very moving and poignant poem she had written especially for the occasion called ‘We Are The Ferry Project’.
Clive Butcher, one of the leaders of The King’s Church, recalled some of the early beginnings of the charity when funding was needed to get it off the ground.
A ‘loaves and fishes offering’ was taken in the church where people brought what they could and whatever they felt was right, out of the resources they had, to give towards the work.
Some £2,000 was initially raised by the church and used as seed money to hire a fundraiser who then was able to raise a further £100,000.
This enabled The Ferry Project to purchase its first property for the rehousing and rehabilitation of homeless people in Wisbech.
Over the past 25 years, the Project has had over 1,000 volunteers, supported over 1,000 people to access employment, provided over 450,000 nights of accommodation, there has been a member of staff awake and available 24 hours a day for over 200,000 hours, and the charity has supported over 3,500 people into accommodation.
This event sees the launch of a year-long Silver Jubilee of celebrations and events hosted by The Ferry Project which you can find out more about on their website www.ferryproject.org.uk.
Currently, there is a campaign called ‘Walk With The Homeless: 10K Steps A Day In June Challenge’ where members of the public are invited to help fundraise by trying to walk 10,000 steps a day during the month of June.
Money raised will not go towards running or operational costs but will go into The Ferry Project’s ‘Hardship Fund’ which is money that can be directly accessed by the homeless people they support and can be used for things such as training, buying bus tickets to get to job interviews, buying new clothes, setting up a home, and paying dentist bills – all of which help to give a homeless person a fresh start in life.
If you would like to sign up as a fundraiser or simply make a donation, you can do so on the JustGiving page.
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