A NEW attempt is to be made to save the good ship Freshspring from the breaker's yard.

Tucked away out of view on the banks of the Severn at Collow Pill beneath Newnham's St Peter's Church, Freshspring is one of Britain's last remaining steamships.

Built at Lytham Shipbuilders in 1946, she spent most of her working life as a Royal Navy Auxilliary water carrier based in Malta.

In 1977 she was sold to Bristol shipping enthusiast Oswald Burgess. The vessel spent some time in Gloucester docks before being towed to Newnham where plans were being made for a complete renovation financed by selling shares in the ship.

Mr Burgess's sudden death left the scheme in the air. However, in his will he left the ship to a fellow shipping enthusiast Mr John Richards, of Newport.

Almost single-handedly Mr Richards has kept the Freshspring afloat – an "amazing effort ", says colleague Keith Evans, of Sling, near Coleford.

Mr Evans said: "She is in remarkable condition given the years of limited maintenance. The machinery is in superb order as is her boiler all of which has been virtually unused since the refit. She even has a full set of spare boiler tubes and engine spares on board."

The time, he says, has now come to determine the Freshspring's ultimate fate and to guage interest a meeting is to be held at The Ship Inn, Newnham, at 2pm on September 29.

Mr Evans said: "The aim is to encourage as many people as possible to come along to discuss the way forward for this valuable and unique ship. If anyone would like to help in any way, either in a practical or financial capacity, we would like to see them at this meeting."