For Captain Mike Lowe, Sundays as a boy were never ordinary. His grandfather would bundle him onto the number six bus to Woodside, then across the Mersey on the ferry to Liverpool, before carrying on to New Brighton. The seaside had its charms, but for young Mike the highlight was always the return crossing: the smell of the river, the hum of the engines, the feeling of belonging to the water.

That spark never faded. Determined to build his life on the river, Mike started out as a deckhand and steadily worked his way up to Mate. It was during this time that Cammell Laird — the legendary Birkenhead shipyard and now proud sponsor of Mike’s mural — was constructing a new ferry: the Overchurch. Mike and his childhood friend Teddy Rodden would make regular pilgrimages to the yard, watching the vessel take shape rivet by rivet, their excitement growing with every visit.

When the Overchurch was finally ready for launch and sea trials, Mike’s dedication was rewarded in the most fitting way possible. He was invited aboard as Mate to the Captain for those very first voyages — putting the ship through her paces on the open sea, testing her strength and spirit. For Mike, it was more than a job; it was the moment a boyhood passion became a life’s calling.

The Overchurch went on to serve countless journeys across the Mersey and today continues her story as The Daffodil, a bar and restaurant at Liverpool’s Royal Albert Dock. Just as the ship found a new lease of life, so too does Captain Mike’s story live on — not just in the memories of those crossings, but now celebrated on the walls of New Brighton thanks to the support of Cammell Laird, whose legacy is inseparable from the river itself.