CAPTAIN Kurt has a new enterprise and he's staying faithful to Marianne...

Kurt Tarrach is the new owner of Bickerline River Trips which operates from South Quay, Worcester.

Mr Tarrach, known to many as Captain Kurt, worked on the cruise boat last year. When the former owner decided to sell, he decided to buy.

It means the 31-year-old, from Upton Road, Callow End, near Worcester, is the new man at the helm of the Marianne, which takes passengers on 45-minute trips up the River Severn towards Bevere and back to the Cathedral.

But Mr Tarrach - a former freelance stage manager at BBC Pebble Mill, Birmingham - has more than just trips for trippers in his log book.

He's planning to use the Marianne as a floating classroom and also provide locals with sedate night-time journeys.

"I'm planning to do pre-booked evening cruises - not a shuffle blasting out music, but a relaxing trip with a bar," he said.

"And because one of the other skippers is an environment teacher, I am trying to organise parties for schoolchildren studying Stage II of the National Curriculum."

Tourist attraction

Last year, the Marianne carried 15,000 passengers and the boat is officially listed as a Worcester tourist attraction.

Built in 1954, at Cork, Republic of Ireland, she was designed as a tug and following a slight re-design to accommodate passengers, was used for a time to ferry prisoners from Cork to Cove Island, just off the Irish coast.

The boat was brought to Worcester in the 1970s, restored and can now carry 88 passengers.

Mr Tarrach, who has just had 10,000 leaflets printed to publicise his new venture, also has an interesting line in marketing.

"The Marianne offers the perfect spot to take a photograph of the Cathedral as it appears on the back of a £20 note," he said.

Although the Marianne has already begun its 2003 season, Easter is going to be a special time for the boat and its crew, with a special re-launch planned for today, Good Friday.

Local actor Trevor Harrison, who plays Eddie Grundy in The Archers, will be cracking open a bottle of champagne and the Bill Bailey Jazz Band will be playing on board between noon and 4pm today and tomorrow.