We asked you to get creative with your birthday wishes – and you didn’t disappoint!

This spring, we launched a very special giveaway, with 40 free return ferry tickets to the Isles of Scilly on offer as we celebrated the 40th anniversary if the iconic Scillonian III passenger ferry.

We asked people to wish Scillonian a ‘Happy 40th Birthday’ via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with the best and most creative birthday wishes made in posts to the Isles of Scilly Travel social media channels winning a return ticket on Scillonian III from Penzance to St Mary’s.

We’ve been inundated with #HappyBirthdayScillonian posts ever since, and have counted up an incredible 1,748 entries on all three social media channels – wow!

Entries included messages, photo posts, gifs, memes, poems, collages, pictures of hand-drawn pictures and paintings, and even a piece of hand-sewn art.

Sharon Sandercock, Marketing and Communications Manager of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, said: “We were totally overwhelmed by the response to our 40 ticket giveaway, and really touched and moved by some of the messages people took the time to write and post.

“We heard from people who took their honeymoon on the Isles of Scilly 40 years ago and travelled over on Scillonian III in her first year of service; from lots of regular travellers who are also celebrating a 40th, whether it be a wedding anniversary or a birthday, and from those who shared heart-warming personal memories of trips taken to Scilly over the last four decades.

“People told us why they loved Scilly and why they loved Scillonian III, and shared photos of trips taken and holidays enjoyed. There was a message from someone who helped to build the ship at Appledore 40 years ago, and from someone who held her wedding reception on board in the 1980s.

“It was a tough job to select just 40 winners from so many wonderful, warm wishes, and we’d like to thank everyone who took the time and trouble to wish Scillonian a happy 40th birthday.”

The winners are:

  1. Ivy Benton
  2. Judith Marshall
  3. Tessa Watts
  4. Paul Brooks
  5. Jean Cook
  6. Lisa Collins
  7. Amanda Bates
  8. Ben Mitchell
  9. Lisa Wilson
  10. Sandra Lewis
  11. Denise Gent
  12. Candy Nichols
  13. Chris Jackson
  14. Emma Speak
  15. Kimberley Milnes-Barker (for daughter Lily)
  16. Anthony Graves
  17. John Rainbow
  18. Susan Edwards
  19. Melissa Faith
  20. Emma Stewart
  21. Sue Gornall
  22. Alan Bolton
  23. Annemarie Pickering
  24. Eve Fry
  25. Julie Howe
  26. Glenys Millard
  27. Jenny Green
  28. Christopher Smith
  29. Karen Laity
  30. Jaysan Bunoomally
  31. Ann Peyton
  32. Mike Taylor
  33. Bronwyn Hocking
  34. Jemma Lessware
  35. Lucy (@Lucyewf)
  36. Vicky Evans
  37. Bruce Murray
  38. Lexx (@ParalleHouse)
  39. Lucy Wilkes
  40. Gemma Gist

Please note winners will be contacted with a direct message via the social media channel used to enter to arrange delivery of a gift voucher for their winning ferry ticket.