Strangford ferry: All aboard the carol ship of lights

The inspiration for Northern Ireland's carol ship of lights hails from Canada, where the festival has been running for half a century

Bracing the cold weather on a boat in December doesn't seem like the best idea, however, that's exactly what hundreds of people in Portaferry and Strangford did over the weekend.

They were on the Strangford Ferry, which sails between Portaferry and Strangford, but something was different about it.

For one weekend only, it was transformed from its normal ferry service into the carol ship of lights.

Instead of the usual quiet crossing, passengers were treated to 15 minutes of bright lights and carol singers to get them into the festive spirit.

It's the third year that the event has taken place, and its organiser, Alison Murphy from the Portaferry and Strangford Trust, explained where the idea had come from.

Alison Murphy of the Portaferry and Strangford Trust said the event helped to bring the two communities together

"I lived in Vancouver for a while, and I remembered that they do the carol ship parade of lights, which started 50 years ago with one boat - and it's now 50 boats - the whole big festival lasts for weeks," she said.

'Strength to strength'

"I thought, we've got a boat at the bottom of the street - so we thought, could we use the ferry; could we put different choirs on it?

"It's just going from strength to strength because it actually brings two communities together - Strangford and Portaferry - which are 59 miles apart by road, but only half a mile by sea."

Each ferry crossing took about 30 minutes in total, and with each journey came a different choir, with jazz groups, the Ards Peninsula choir and a number of schools from the area all getting involved.

P5-P7 children from St Mary's Kircubbin with their teachers, keeping everyone's festive spirits up aboard the carol ship of lights

Teachers Shauneen Reid and Joanne McCauley, of St Mary's Kircubbin Primary School, said their children really enjoyed being part of the singing ship.

"It's good experience for them to get out into the community and see what they do," said Ms McCauley.

"They really love performing."

Ms Reid added: "It's just something totally different. We're lucky that we have a ferry, there aren't too many schools can say that."

Hundreds of people queued up to get a turn aboard the carol ship of lights

Passengers sitting in their cars were treated to some Christmas carols from a number of choirs, relayed over the loudspeaker, as they crossed Strangford Lough

'Re-energise'

Eleanor Brown, a founding member of the Portaferry and Strangford Trust, said she hoped the carol ship of lights would shine a spotlight on an area of Northern Ireland that sometimes gets overlooked.

"Portaferry and Strangford have had a few bad years with the recession, we really need people to come and see what's going on here," she said.

"This event helps to re-energise local communities that are out in the sticks, quite a distance from Belfast.

"It's the first time my mum has come down from Carrick, it's just a really feel-good event."

As the ferry's journey across Strangford Lough was nearing an end, there was time for just one more song, but the organisers hope this new tradition in Strangford will end up lasting as long as that of its Canadian predecessor.