By Terry Begent

The end of July 2011 marks the end of the first year since the reopening of the Folkestone Leas Lift by the community interest company, a year in which the lift has carried just under 100,000 passengers.

Right from the start it was clear that, if the lift was to succeed, the company would have to increase the hours that the service was operating, keep the fares down and look for other sources of income.

Apart from a 10p increase on the full fare in April to £1, all three targets have been met and the lift is currently open seven days a week. It has also opened a small souvenir shop and staged a number of successful events in the lower station – including a very successful beer festival that is being repeated in September.

The lift opened in July 2010 with 1 full and 1 part-time driver supported by a voluntary board of three directors. The delay to the opening of the lift that was caused by the refurbishment works until the beginning of August last year, meant that the company was not able to build up a big enough reserve to safely carry it through the winter season. This meant that the drivers had to go on to short time working over the closed season and was clear that without their sacrifice the lift would have almost certainly closed again.

Directors, staff and volunteers that have supported the lift over its first year

As the number of passengers and the income they created increased, the company was able to take on a second full-time driver who also doubled up as a conductor at the lower station. A generous grant from Shepway District Council at the beginning of the Financial Year also allowed the company to offer employment to two young people from the area who had been unemployed and unable to find work for more than a year.

Finance Director Terry Begent said, “Like any other company starting a business during a recession, we had been living hand to mouth since we started so the operating grant from the district council came as a welcome relief. Whilst it was not enough to pay the annual salaries of the staff we took on it by itself, it certainly gave us the confidence to take the risk that we would be able to afford them even if the predicted passenger numbers over the summer months did not materialise. One of the two people that we have taken on will be marketing the lift as a tourist and educational destination and we are expecting that the investment in this person will show dividends in the form of an increased footfall as well as an increase in our income from other sources.”

As the final lift of the day came to a halt on Saturday 30th, it marked the end of the first full year of the restored service and Directors, staff and volunteers gathered for a small celebration at the lower station, a celebration that included the cutting of a birthday cake that had been specially commissioned for the occasion.

Company Chairman, Eamonn Rooney, thanked everyone for the hard work that they had put over the past year and said, “When we started this project, there were many people who said that we wouldn’t be able to make it work and they would have been right if it hadn’t been for the support, commitment and hard work that you have put in.

The first year has been a holding action during which we have put the lift service back on a regular footing and operating for seven days a week but that is not enough if we are to preserve this important part of the town’s heritage.”

He then passed on a message of congratulations from Charles Evans, the local agent for the Folkestone Estate.

The lift carried a total of 99,869 passengers during the year.

Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 2011©