THE last ever paddle steamer built in the UK has secured a promise of nearly £4 million to return to its glory on Loch Lomond.

The biggest milestone in the two-decade quest to restore the Maid of the Loch, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has pledged £3.8 million to the project.

The team behind the restoration of the famous steamer now need to secure another £1.7m to see it operational again.

The Loch Lomond Steamship Company (LLSC), the charity that owns the Maid of the Loch, has been awarded a 'Round One Pass' by the HLF, meaning it can prepare all the necessary technical surveys, drawings, and specifications for the ship’s rebuild.

The vital first stage of the overall project, the Round One cash is worth £230,400.

Phil Preston, LLSC chairman, said: “This has been a 20-year cause, during which we have raised and reinvested over £1.9m and committed over 80,000 hours to restoring the ship.

"With this promise of around £3.8m from HLF, we now need to do the hard work of raising the other £1.7m."

The Maid, which is capable of carrying up to 1,000 passengers, was built at the Glasgow yard of A&J Inglis and launched in 1953.

It sailed only until 1981 and by the time the LLSC took it over in the mid-90s it was in a poor state, having been extensively vandalised. One of its lower rooms was swimming in five feet of water.

After carrying over three million passengers in its near 30-year history, the vessel has been owned by several different companies but has remained tied up at Balloch ever since.

The owners previously won HLF funding in 2006 to rebuild the Grade A listed Balloch Steam Slipway, has reconstructed Balloch Pier, created new car parking and restored the Maid from its vandalised state to a moored visitor attraction.

Colin McLean, head of the HLF in Scotland, said: “As with all ships, restoring the Maid of the Loch to full sailing condition is going to be an enormous challenge. By giving this initial support, we have given its owners the opportunity to see whether they can meet that challenge, and we wish them well in their endeavours.”