FONTB Logo. Click to return to Home PageTransporter bridge at dawnTurnstileGondolaTowerWinding GearControl CabinNewport Transporter Bridge
 

FRIENDS OF NEWPORT TRANSPORTER BRIDGE (FONTB)

Visit

Members
Merchandise
Other Transporter Bridges
 
Renew Membership

Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge (FONTB)

 

The Transporter Bridge open is now open  from 10.00 - 17.00 Wednesday to Sunday

for the summer season and the volunteer-run Visitor Centre is open every day.


New for 2013

Walk over the top and visit the motor house every day the Bridge is open!

Full Details of opening times and charges


 

The Newport Transporter Bridge spans the River Usk in Newport, South Wales and is a Grade 1 Listed Structure. Its historic importance stems from its very unusual design. There are only two others like it in the UK and seven in the World. It is owned and run by Newport City Council and celebrated its centenary in September 2006.

Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge (FONTB) is a registered Charity founded in 1998 and dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the Bridge. .

Our activities include running the Visitor Centre, publishing a regular Newsletter for members, organising visits to the Bridge for clubs, schools and other groups and giving presentations about the Bridge. We work in partnership with other charities during their fundraising events at the Bridge and award certificates to those who have been brave enough to walk across the top on Open Days. We also maintain an archive and this website.

 

AGM

We held their Fourteenth Annual General Meeting on Friday 14 November at the Office For National Statistics.

The guest speaker was the Deputy Mayor of Newport, Councillor Cliff Suller, who praised the dedicated work of the Friends in publicising the City's magnificent, virtually unique, Transporter Bridge.

2012 Committee


The photograph shows the newly elected Committee. L to R ~ Rob Reese, Maureen Hendon, Gerald Black (Membership Secretary), Carrie Bird, Chris Jones (Talks Organizer), John Evans (Secretary),Linda Davies (Assistant Treasurer), Councillor Cliff Suller, Deputy Mayor of Newport (Guest Speaker), Bob Richards {Treasurer), David Hando (Chairman}, Dave Bassett (Engineering Specialist}

Also co-opted on to the Committee were Monty Dart (Archivist), Joyce Steven, Councillor Richard White (NCC), Mike Lewis (Museum & Heritage Officer NCC)

Anyone wishing to volunteer in the New Year to help keep the Centre open from 10am to 4pm, seven days a week, is asked to contact the Chairman on 07802 487 042 or by email

We have prepared a new Powerpoint presentation and would be glad to hear from any groups who would like an illustrated talk about the Bridge. To make a booking please contact the Chairman.



Remembrance Day

Alison Phillips has sent us this lovely photograph of the Bridge, suitably decorated for Remembrance Day, which she took recently. Thank you Alison!



Letter to Debbie Wilcox, Newport City Council Cabinet Member for Leisure Services


Dear Councillor Wilcox



SEASONAL CLOSURE OF THE TRANSPORTER BRIDGE



I write on behalf of the Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge to formally object to the proposed seasonal closure of the Transporter Bridge.  Over the months we have expressed our concerns to you and to the Museums and Heritage Officer, Mike Lewis.  We consider the Bridge to be of immense importance to the heritage of Newport, being a vital part of the industrial, social,  engineering and transport history of the city.



So much so that we consider it should be open to visitors throughout the year; at the very least on weekends and bank holidays (except Christmas Day & Boxing Day).  Our visitors’ book shows that it is visited on a daily basis by local people of all ages, people from all parts of Wales and Britain and from many overseas countries.



We urge you and your Cabinet colleagues to reconsider the seasonal closure proposal and we intend to launch a petition to that affect.



The Friends intend to keep the Visitor Centre open throughout the year from 10am to 4pm, whether the Bridge is open or not.  Then visitors will not have an entirely wasted journey.



Yours sincerely



David Hando

 

Chairman, Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge




Heritage Bid

Representatives of the three British Transporter Bridges held a second meeting with Rolf Hoehmann of the Bureau of Industrial Archaeology to progress an international, serial application to UNESCO for World Heritage Status for the world’s surviving Transporter Bridges.

Of the eighteen Transporter Bridges built between 1893 and 1916 eight remain. They are Rochford in France, Osten and Rendesburg in Germany, Buenos Aires in Argentina and the three British Bridges, Newport, Middlesbrough and Warrington. Bilbao in Spain already has Heritage Status.

This second meeting, held at the Bridge Visitor Centre at Middlesbrough, was a follow up to the Celtic Manor conference held this time last year. Newport was represented by the Chairman of the Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge, Councillor David Hando and Mike Lewis of the Newport Museum Service. The British bridges handed over bid material to Rolf, whose next visit is to Buenos Aires.

Rolf gave an up date on developments at the French, German and Argentinian bridges. He said that, although there was a long waiting list for Heritage Status, European medieval churches and castles were over represented. That gave an advantage to an international, serial application involving 20th century industrial archaeology. Nevertheless it would be a long process.

Meetings would be arranged in September with Cadw at Newport and English Heritage at Middlesborough.

Pctured below at the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge are (l to r) Mike Lewis, Rolf Hoehmann and David Hando

 

 

 

 

Sidney Robinson

 

We are sorry to have to announce the death of founder member, former Chairman and Life Vice-President Sidney Robinson on 19 January at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. Trustee Anne Gatehouse writes:

Sidney was born in Newport on 28th November 1914. He spent his working life in the shipping industry in Newport and Bristol. He had an amazing capacity for facts and his memory was phenomenal. He could walk into a building in Newport and tell you the history of it.

He was a founder member of FONTB and served as Vice Chairman and three years as Chairman, seeing us through the Centenary year of our Bridge. He supported all our events, on the Open Days still going ‘over the top’ into his nineties, he also helped me with many of the talks and was always ready with answers and information for the audience. He was so thrilled to receive a certificate for his chairmanship and later, when we made him a Vice President, he received another one. Both certificates had pride of place on the wall of his flat in Penarth which he kept immaculate.

Whatever I asked him for with regards to Newport and the Transporter Bridge, their history and heritage he always had the answer. Some times producing long explanations either written or typed, nothing was too much for him and his wealth of knowledge was amazing. I was so pleased that I set up a meeting, in my home, between Sidney and Professor Alan Jones, which resulted in the book ‘The River Usk’.

Sidney had many other interests in Newport, Penarth and Cardiff and belonged to many organisations. The main ones being The Paddle Steamer Preservation Society, Newport Civic Society, Both Penarth and Cardiff History Societies and the Victorian Society. He always travelled by public transport sometimes not arriving home until midnight. Sidney nursed his wife for many years and when she passed away a few years ago he was proud to take her to Christchurch Cemetery via The Newport Transporter Bridge

I am proud to have known him and call him my Friend.

Anne Gatehouse
FONTB & Newport Civic Society

 

The Penarth Times carried an obituary on 30 January .

Sidney’s funeral took place on Wednesday 8 February and many of the Committee and some other members gathered at the Bridge to witness his last journey on the gondola, pictured below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top

© FONTB (Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge) - Registered Charity No. 1102925