Worcester has been paying the ferryman since the 12th Century

It was re-launched in 1983, after a gap of more than 20 years and operates each summer season for up to 50 days at weekends and Bank Holidays.

Twelve volunteer ferrymen take it in turns to row the boat across the Severn from the Cathedral Watergate to Paynes Meadows and, over the past 20 years, the ferry has carried many thousands of passengers and raised a total of more than £6,000 for local charities.

Historians and archaeologists believe there has been a river crossing at this precise location for about 4,000 years, though the recorded history of the Watergate Ferry dates back to only the 1300s when it was established to take monks, milkmaids and herdsmen across the Severn to the monastic meadows opposite the Cathedral.

The names of successive ferrymen have been preserved, the most notably being Betty Webb, who was appointed in 1750 and rowed the Watergate Ferry for 43 years. The boathouse where she lived became known as Betty's of the Boat and, from her day onwards, the ferry boat was always named Betty.

Alas, the Watergate Ferry service and the last Betty boat ceased operating around the end of the 1950s, and it was not until 1982 that its revival was vigorously mooted by Nicola Milne, then wife of Andrew Milne, who was headmaster of The King's School, Worcester, at the time.

She soon recruited Mark Glossop to the cause and, after "lots of correspondence with British Waterways," he and others made a trip to Bridport, where they bought a 10 years-old boat named Moonraker. It had been used by fisherman laying crab pots and the like.

The purchase price for Moonraker was £865 but this sum, and also enough to buy an outboard motor, was found from fund-raising by Nicola Milne in memory of the late Doris Kinnersley, who had done much charitable work in and around Worcester. In homage to her, the new Moonraker Watergate ferry boat was re-christened Doris and under that name it has "sailed" throughout the two decades since.

Before the 1983 re-launch of the Watergate Ferry, Mark Glossop had to spend a lot of his spare time unearthing the original steps and handrail on the west bank of the river. They had gradually become covered by a deep layer of silt, earth and undergrowth during the 20 or so years the ferry had been out of operation.

Alas, the first summer of the revived ferry service was not a financial success though, of course, its return was very much welcomed by the public. Mark Glossop explains that a substantial sum had to be spent on repair and restoration work to the boat and, also from the fares income, had to be found the money to pay British Waterways employees to be the ferrymen.

The result was a loss on the first year's operation, though Worcester City Council kindly stepped in with a guarantee to cover up to a deficit up to £500. In the end, the Guildhall had to underwrite a loss of £409.

The following year, Mark Glossop and other ferry supporters decided it would make much more economic sense if volunteers manned the boat and, as a result, British Waterways agreed to send their Harbour Master from Sharpness to test and examine the voluntary unpaid ferrymen who came forward. They all passed, and from then on the Watergate Ferry made a yearly surplus.

In total, more than £6,000 from the ferry surpluses has been distributed among local charities such as Acorns, St Richard's Hospice, the Air Ambulance, the Cathedral Restoration Appeal, Maggs Day Centre, St Paul's Hostel, Swan Rescue, Warndon Youth Forum, the RNLI, Rose Hill School, Dines Green Family Care, and the Ambulance Service.

As Watergate ferry organiser, Mark Glossop has faced the yearly task of recruiting enough volunteers to man the boat each summer but, except for a couple of years ago, he has never experienced any problem in finding enough willing enthusiasts.

Already, he has signed up a dozen for this year, including a brigadier, the owner of a printing firm, a property agent, a design engineer, a community service supervisor, a water treatment specialist and an amateur football referee.

They come from as far afield as Birmingham and Tenbury Wells, though most live in and around the Faithful City.

Mark Glossop will, of course, be in the team of ferrymen together with Eddie Rogers, a retired fuel technologist of Cole Hill, Worcester.

They share the distinction of both having been volunteer boatmen with the Watergate Ferry from its revival 20 years ago. Mark has sung in the Worcester Cathedral Voluntary Choir since 1980 and is a business advisor, having formerly been a senior executive with Meco.

Each year, as new volunteer ferrymen come forward, the British Waterways Harbour Master kindly comes up from Sharpness to test them free of charge.

The record day's takings for the ferry - over £300 - was in 1999, when a Real Ale festival was held on the Chapter Meadows, and the boatmen kept operating until well after dark.

Among more unusual ferry passengers have been a late night wedding reception party and a 6ft Teddy Bear from Russell & Dorrell's store, transported to a Teddy Bears' Picnic on the west bank. A TV camera crew also "filmed" scenes from the ferry for a documentary about Charles II and the Battle of Worcester.

Last year, a specialist wooden boat repairer at Diglis carried out essential restoration work on the ferry boat at a cost of £1,300, and Doris is being equipped this year with a new four-stroke outboard motor.

This will be used, like its 20 year-old predecessor, to propel the boat between its mooring at Diglis Island (courtesy of British Waterways) and the Cathedral Watergate.

However, for its passenger operations across the river, it will, of course, continue to be rowed by the ferrymen at the oars, as per the centuries-old tradition.

Mark Glossop believes the Watergate Ferry has become "very much a familiar part of the Worcester landscape in spring and summer", operating from the end of March, until early September.

"We get people from all over the world as passengers and, as voluntary ferrymen, we not only have good fun but also help generate money for local charities."

The Watergate Ferry is due to be re-launched today, for its 2003 season.

The ferry fare this season will be 30p, the first rise in years from the former figure of 25p.

FACTFILE

AT one time, there were eight historic ferry crossing points along a comparatively short but strategic stretch of the River Severn running through the Faithful City.

However, all of them had, alas, disappeared by the 1960s, though, of course, the Cathedral Watergate Ferry was later to be revived.

From the north and running downstream, they were:

* Hawford Ferry which for decades carried horses and horse-drawn vehicles across the Severn.

* Camp Ferry which transported customers to and from one of the best preserved waterman's taverns, the Camp Inn which, of course, still flourishes today, though, alas, the ferry ceased to operate in the 1930s.

* Kepax Ferry which plied the Severn near Barbourne. Six riverside cottages stood at this location, all occupied by the Bailey family - the ferry operator and his six married daughters.

Many used to know the ferry more as Bailey's Boat than the Kepax.

* The Dog and Duck Ferry which operated at an ancient river crossing point near the northern end of Pitchcroft, with its operators living opposite in historic properties which still survive on the west bank of the Severn today.

The ferry derived its name from an old waterman's inn which, in turn, got its name from a cruel sport once practised on Sunday mornings at this spot.

Watermen would cut the tendons in trapped ducks' wings so they could not fly and then cast them out into the river.

Dogs would be let loose from the bank with wagers laid on which one would get to the ducks first. Pressure from churchmen forced the outlawing of the sport in the 1840s.

The west bank inn at this ferry location eventually closed down and became the home of the ferryman for many years. The Dock and Duck Ferry stopped operating shortly after the Second World War.

* The Grandstand Ferry which carried passengers across the Severn to the racecourse for centuries but which went out of existence about 40 years ago.

The late Mrs Christine Taylor, the flamboyant licensee of the former Grandstand Hotel, launched a new motor-boat ferry service there in 1966 but the venture failed. The Sabrina Bridge now occupies that old ferry crossing point.

* The Cathedral Watergate Ferry.

* The Ketch Ferry near the southern boundary of the city which was used for centuries by customers of the Ketch Inn which drew drinkers from many miles around. Worcester's Southern Link Bridge occupies that ferry point today.

* Pixham Ferry which crossed the Severn at Kempsey and Callow End had a large craft capable of taking several horses, cattle and cars at one time.

It was propelled by a submerged chain but was replaced in 1939 by a smaller boat which operated until 1947.