P&O Ferries Special Offer Foot on Passenger Fares

I am pleased to announce that P&O Ferries have launched a special Summer promotion on foot passenger fares. Up until the 30th of September foot passengers can travel from Dover to Calais for as little as £2!! Plus when you check in you will receive a buy one get one free on Costa Coffee.

Customers simply have to enter the promotional code SUMMERFOOTPASSENGER during the online booking process.

The full details of this excellent offer are as follows:

• Depart Dover between 08.25 and 19.35
• Depart Calais between 06.30 and 21.55
• Monday - Thursday only £2 per person
• Friday-Saturday £6 per person
• Sunday £4 per person
• Customers will receive a buy one get one free Costa Coffee (voucher issued at check in)
• Bookings from 15th July to 29th September, travel from 16th July to 30th September
• Promotion code 'summerfootpassenger'

If you are interested in taking up this excellent offer from P&O Ferries and would like to book please click here (this will take you straight to the online booking page at POFerries.com) or alternatively click the advert opposite.

All the best

Ray Goodfellow

July 2010

27th July 2010

Forum News - The `GFD' 

This is just a bit of fun really but over on our forum we currently have a debate and poll running in regards to P&O Ferries new vessels the Spirit of Britain and the Spirit of France and there, well, what some people are describing as, controversial White funnels. 

Being dubbed in some quarters as the GFD (Great Funnel Debate) we would like to hear how you feel about it? Are you in favour of the White funnel or do you prefer the more well known Blue?  Or do you think it makes no difference what so ever?

Why not follow this link to our forum and cast your vote today?*

* Please note that a valid forum account is required to participate on our forum. Don't worry it's very easy to join, just click this link and you will be redirected to our registration page, just fill out a few details and once your account has been activated you will be able to take part.

Best Wishes

Ray Goodfellow

Administrator of www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk

23rd July 2010

Website Page Update

Recent Photography - another brief update today featuring some more of my photography taken on the 21st July from Langdon Cliffs. Due to the fact that it's my Birthday there won't be any further updates today but I may post some more on Saturday the 24th July.

21st July 2010

Website Page Update

Recent Photography - just a brief update today featuring some of my photographs from the last couple of weeks. Vessels featured are Gaverland, Sarah Grey (Spanish Prince wreck removal), Clipper Bordeaux, David Church, Dunkerque Seaways, Maersk Delft, Seafrance Rodin, Seafrance Moiliere, Pride of Dover, European Seaway, Norman Trader, Saga Pearl II and Regatta.

18th July 2010

Website Page Updates

Dunkerque Seaways - information updated and new photographs from Ed Connell

Dover Seaways - new photographs from Andreas Wörteler.

Delft Seaways - new photographs from Andreas Wörteler.

Panther/St Sunniva - a new photograph from Ken Larwood.

Argo - new photographs from Marconista and Ken Larwood.

Saint Eloi/King Orry - new photographs from Ken Larwood and the Roy Thornton Collection.

Horsa - additional information and new photographs from Ken Larwood and Ken Lubi.

Marine Evangeline - Complete new Past and Present file featuring full history and photographs from Nicolas Levy, Alan Geddes, Andy Gilbert, Ken Larwood, Aleksi Lindström, Frank Lose and Andreas Wörteler.

Ulidia - Complete new Past and Present file featuring full history and photographs from Gerolf Drebes, Ted Ingham, Dirk Jankowsky, Ken Larwood, Ivan Meshkov, Matt Murtland, Marko Stampehl, Jürgen Stein and Andreas Wörteler.

Stena Londoner/Seafrance Monet - additional information and new photographs from Marconista and Ken Larwood.

Stena Nautica/Reine Astrid - new photograph from Ken Larwood.

Princesse Marie Christine/Primrose - new photographs from Ken Larwood and Michael Van Bosch.

European Endeavour/Gardenia - additional information and new photographs from Ken Larwood, Robert Fournier and Nigel Thornton.

Stena Fantasia/PO Canterbury - additional information and new photographs from Terry Conybeare.

Dovorian - a brief history of one of the often over looked vessels within the Port of Dover and that's the Patrol Launch/Pilot vessel `Dovorian'.

17th July 2010

Website Page Updates

SpeedOne/Condor Rapide - information updated and new photographs from Nicolas Levy.

Seafrance Renoir - information updated.

St Anselm/Stena Cambria/Bari - information updated and a new photograph from Manuel Hernández Lafuente.

Maid of Kent (III) - additional information and new photographs from Ken Larwood, Tony Garner and Peter Lockhurst.

Villandry - new photograph from AG Jones.

Stena Challenger - new photographs from Chris Wells, Marconista and Ken Larwood.

Pride of Free Enterprise/Oleander - additional information updated and more photographs from Nigel Thornton.

Dunkerque Seaways - additional information added plus photographs from Nigel Thornton and Robert Fournier.

Delft Seaways - additional information added plus photographs from Robert Fournier and Andreas Wörteler.

Dover Seaways - additional information added and a new photograph from Robert Fournier.

European Clearway/Via Mare - additional information added and new photographs from Ken Larwood and Frank Lose.

Stena Scandinavia/Cesme - additional information added and a new photograph from Ken Larwood.

Sally Star/Rostock - additional information added and a new photograph from Daniel Ferro.

Sally Sky/Larkspur - additional information added.

Free Enterprise VI/Pride of Sandwich - additional photographs from Ken Larwood and the Roy Thornton collection.

16th July 2010

Website Page Updates

Ferry Timetable Guide Summer 2010 - information updated.

Prins Albert/Eurovoyger  - information updated. 

Princess Marie Christine/Primrose - information updated and new photographs from Arne Pyson and Mark Leiper.

Pride of Free Enterprise/Oleander - information updated and new photographs from Ken Larwood, Robert Fournier and Nigel Thornton.

Seafrance Manet/Stena Navigator  - information updated and a new photograph from Gordon Hislip.

Pride of Dover - information updated and new photographs from Neil McBride and Ed Connell.

Pride of Calais - information updated.

Pride of Canterbury - information updated.

Pride of Kent - information updated and new photographs from Kevin Blair.

Pride of Burgundy - information updated.

Ostend Spirit - information updated and new photographs from Andreas Wörteler.

Seafrance Rodin - information updated.

Seafrance Moliere - information updated.

Seafrance Nord Pas de Calais - information updated.

15th July 2010

Website Page Updates

Norman Bridge Past and Present  - information updated and new photographs from Marconista and Andreas Wörteler.

Norman Trader Past and Present - information updated and new photographs from Marconista, Andreas Wörteler, Gordon Hislip and Ed Connell.

Maersk Delft, Maersk Dover and Maersk Dunkerque Past and Present - information updated and new photographs from Ed Connell.

European Endeavour Past and Present - nformation updated.

April 2010

18th April 2010

Important Information

 

Owing to my dad being gravely ill in the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, I have to sadly inform you all that I am going to be unavailable until further notice. 

Additionally as I have stated on our Twitter Feed this evening, all website updates are suspended until further notice as well.

As I am sure you can all understand, neither the website or the forum is my priority at this present moment, my dad and my family are my main focus.

During my absence Paul Bilbrough will be taking over new account activations on the forum as well as offering forum technical support and please don't forget your excellent Admin/Moderator team of DoverT, Aqui_Fan and Paul Cloke who are there to assist you with any queries you may have during this time.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking the forum staff for there additional support and I would like to thank you, my website visitors/forum members for your continued patronage of our website and forums during this difficult time.

Many Kind Regards

Ray Goodfellow
Dover, United Kingdom 18th April 2010

5th April 2010

Website Page Updates

Recent Photography - photographs of the Ostend Spirit at Dover and Ramsgate have been added plus the Norman Bridge at Dover.

Brave Merchant/Norman Bridge Past and Present  

Prins Filip/Ostend Spirit Past and Present

Norman Arrow Past and Present

Speed One/Condor Rapide Past and Present

European Endeavour Past and Present

Forum News  - April 2010 upgrade

We are quickly approaching a year of very successful forum operations on our new server and Paul Bilbrough will soon be undertaking a refit of our boards to bring them in line with the visual style of this website. The upgrade is not just cosmetic, we will also be upgrading to the latest version of forum software (phpBB 3.0.7-PL1) and following feedback from our members we will also be adding some additional functions within the forum template



One of our most requested additions is a link to the main website. As can be seen in the above image there will be a button that takes you straight to the main site.



As can be seen in the above image we will also be adding a quick link to AIS and online booking with P&O Ferries (subject to approval).

You may have also noticed from the main image that we are also planning to run advertising from P&O Ferries on the forums via there affiliate marketing programme (subject to approval). Some people may ask why are we putting adverts on the forum? 

I have often been asked by members "how can I financially support the forum/website?" I have looked at the various options available and have now decided on advertising. 

We have been using affiliate advertising for both P&O Ferries and Norfolk Line on the main site for a year now and the commission we have earned from on-line ferry bookings has certainly helped towards the £250 a year running costs of both sites. Please don't worry, we will not be swamping the forums with pop ups and adverts every other post, there will just be the one banner advert at the top of the page.

How does it work?

Every time an advert is clicked and a booking is made we receive a percentage of that sale in commission, so all bookings made from either of our sites goes towards supporting those sites.

Forum Facts

During our first year of operation we have had over 400 members join us who have posted 855 topics, that's a total of 5722 posts  

Feedback, good or bad is always welcome and if anybody else has any further ideas or suggestions for future forum upgrades please feel free to post them at viewforum.php?f=22 or leave a reply to this message. 

I would just like to take this opportunity of thanking all our members and our staff for there continued support and enthusiasm over the last year.

February 2010

9th February 2010

Website Page Updates

Prins Filip/Norman Spirit/Ostend Spirit Past and Present  - updated to reflect yesterdays announcement by LD Lines that the vessel is to transfer to the Ramsgate to Ostend route.

Recent Photography - page updated with my first photography of 2010.

Brave Merchant/Ave Leipaja Past and Present

January 2010

23rd January 2010

Website Page Updates

The main Past and Present index has been updated with the addition of forum based Past and Presents and a couple of articles. All forum based P&P files and articles are  marked with a * and a valid forum account is required to view them.

European Seaway Past and Present  - updated and additional photographs from Ken Larwood, "France", Robert Fournier, Jean-Guy Hagelstein and Francois Longuet.

Seafrance Renoir Past and Present - updated and additional photographs from Robert Fournier.

22nd January 2010

Website Page Updates

Cruise Ship Times 2010 - As published by the Dover Harbour Board. I believe that the published list currently only contains cruises originating from the Port of Dover and does not include vessels using Dover as a port of call. I will contact the DHB in the near future and ascertain if this is the case.

Internet Links - Additional Links have been added.

Seafrance Manet Past and Present updated to Stena Navigator Past and Present with new photographs from Robert Fournier, Alan Geddes and Trevor Kidd.

Prins Filip/Norman Spirit Past and Present updated with photographs from Ken Larwood, Jean Guy Hagelstein, Nicolas Levy and Nigel Thornton.

13th January 2010

Site News: Website `Refit' Underway

As some of you may or may not be aware I have had some issues in my personal life recently and as a consequence this website has suffered greatly with no updates since June 2009.

This website itself has been around in some form since 2002 and with everything that has been going on with me recently I have been very tempted to throw in the towel and put the site to bed, permanently. 

Having seen John Luxton's message the other week with regards to the closing of Irish Sea Shipping I completely understand and support John's decision to quit.

The amount of time and money involved in running a complex site such as this and the want for some free time, especially when there are other more important things to focus on is certainly fresh in my mind. 

This is a hobby and sometimes there is a hazy line between a hobby and what feels like a job. When things start becoming a chore they are no longer fun and that causes problems and that's exactly how I have felt for the last 6 months. 

So what to do? 

Well I could have departed quiet easily to be honest but I think what we have here, what we have built up is an important reference to the enthusiast and hobbyist alike. It's not just about me either, other people have put a lot of work into producing material, researching and of course managing the forums and just because I have my own issues doesn't mean should suffer as a consequence. 

Another obvious consideration is of course yourselves, the community, the rather large community that has built up through this site and our forum. I would feel like I am betraying you all by leaving without a goodbye or a thank you. Your the very community that inspired me to start a website in the first place! 

I know there are a few members of our community that feel like they have been wronged in the past few months and all I can do is apologise, I never intended to upset anybody.

Well It's a New Year and as you have probably guessed from the new look I have decided to stay as a part of our community. It's a new start, not just for me but for the website to. 

I am on a weeks leave and have spent the last 4 days re-designing the website (yes I am as regular with my `refits' as the local ferry operators   ) and I have added some improved functionality to the site to make it a little easier to navigate your way around the site.

The design is all new and all pages have been re-coded from scratch.

A new quick access menu bar has been incorporated to the top right of each page that gives you instant access to the forum, AIS and communication options.

 

Quick access menu bar

The use of pop out boxes, known as Lyteboxes (as used on the old site for displaying images) have been incorporated into the quick access menu bar and have been extended to display pages as well as images. 

For instance when you click on `Forum' from the quick access menu bar the forum will load in a Lytebox, thus not taking you away from the main site. You only have to click on the background to return to the main site at anytime.

This functionality has also been extended to display AIS data from MarineTraffic.com directly from the quick access menu bar without having to navigate through the menu system.

Forum Lytebox in action on the homepage


AIS Lytebox in action on the homepage

The use of pop out Lyteboxes on the new site has been tested on Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari web browsers without any issues, hopefully giving us cross browser compatibility which is something we didn't have before.

The site has been primarily designed for Internet Explorer and uses the `Lao UI' font but should display in other browsers with the Arial font.

Social Networks

The new site will also encompass social networking. There are many services out there now and I have decided to use Twitter. 

Twitter gives me the option of sending information out to a large audience without having to use a PC. It would also seem that Twitter is far more popular than RSS, with very few people subscribing to my own RSS feed.