One Simple Life: The Whitehaven Festival 2011

The Whitehaven Festival took place over the weekend of Friday June 17th to Sunday June 19th and was an absolutely brilliant occasion, as always!
It is a combination of Maritime, Food and Music Festivals all rolled in to one, together with a brilliant Air Display, and it's possible to have a really good weekend while spending very little money indeed.
Tickets for the gigs average out at around £35 a head per gig (there are three, one on each evening) but you can wander down to the harbour and hear all the music and entertainment for free, even if you can't actually see what's going on. Actually, I've been at gigs where I couldn't see what was going on, so it's no big deal!
Friday Evening kicked off with 'Here And Now', the successful high profile 80s show, featuring Boy George, Bananarama and Carol Decker (of T'Pau), and the evening rounded off with the traditional fireworks display over the harbour. Brilliant! Spent so far, £0.00.

Saturday really saw things get underway. We wandered down at about 10am, being fortunate enough to live less than ten minutes walk from the Harbour, where everything is centred.

Almost every vessel participates in the Best-Dressed Boat Competition!

Although the weather was a little dull, the Harbour appeared to be full of life and colour, and plenty of people had turned up already. Around 200,000 people would attend the Festival over the three days, a pretty good turn-out for this little west Cumbrian's town's local Festival!

Among the attractions on the Saturday was the Jet Ski Display Team, the RAF Band, coverage and entertainment from Cumbria FM, a Fashion Show staged by the University of Central Lancashire, local musical acts on the Acoustic Stage, and a flypast by a Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
You could see all the above for free, but if you shelled out a whole £5 for wristbands for the whole weekend, you could also access the Sugar Tongue (the quay where sugar was unloaded in the heyday of Whitehaven as a major port in the 18th and 19th century) which is where the Cookery Theatre was sited, featuring celebrity chefs including the wonderful Jean Christophe Novelli, also Mark Bauman, Cheesemeister Sean Wilson and local chef Ricky Andalcio.
This is where two Royal Navy Archer-Class patrol vessels (HMS Biter and HMS Charger) and three Tall Ships were also moored.The were the Irene and the Bessie Ellen, two of the last examples of the West Country Trading Ketch, and the Johanna Lucretia, a Belgian built fishing vessel now used for private hire.

On the journey up to Whitehaven from Wales, the Irene had suffered a mishap resulting in a broken boom. The shipwright had to drive all the way up from Cornwall to do a repair job, and in doing so became something of an attraction himself. It's not everyday you see a craftsman at work, and visitors crowded round to watch him. He seemed happy enough to answer questions etc, and it was fascinating to see the two parts of the splintered boom trimmed up and grafted together over the course of the weekend.

You can't see the join...!

Meanwhile, on the Johanna Lucretia, visitors were taking advantage of being able to go aboard and take a closer look at the vessel, under the occasional gaze of a very relaxed young man who closely resembled a sleepy Viking...!

Bless!

Other attractions on the Sugar Tongue included a team from the Historic Diving Society, who don ancient looking diving suits and lead boots and dive in tank with enormous glass windows, much to the fascination of adults and children alike!
There was also a display of owls and birds of prey, including a Steppe Eagle, but I have to say they looked pretty mournful and I guess they were thinking that they would rather be elsewhere...

Over on the Milennium Promenade, Titan the Robot was strutting his stuff. Having seen 'him' last year I was happy to give it a miss. there is something unnaturally tall and predatory about the creation which I don't much care for, although I can appreciate the cleverness of the concept and the strange appeal.
By mid-afternoon the funfair was in full swing, and it was lovely to see people genuinely enjoying themselves. The atmosphere was brilliant, and I am always delighted to see how different this fair is from some I have been to in the South, very family-orientated with no yobs or tension from fear of crime or violence. Plenty of stalls selling candy-floss, hot dogs etc, but you can inhale the aroma for nothing!

Saturday evening's musical entertainment was provided by Madness, who absolutely rocked the Harbour, but sadly the fireworks which usually round off the evening had to be cancelled because of the strong onshore wind. I reckon that was the only disappointment of the weekend, and couldn't be helped.

Total spent so far, £10 for wristbands for the Sugar Tongue for both of us for the whole weekend, and £2.20 for some fudge from the Galloway Fudge Company who had a stall in the food area. We have experienced their amazing fudge before, and it is a once a year treat not to be missed!

The Sunday was brighter than the previous day, which was great for the Veteran's Parade, which was this year led by the Queen's Band of the Royal Marines and included a Royal Naval Colour Party, the RAF, Cadets and a squad of local Veterans. The Parade was followed by a Glenn Miller concert by the superb RAF Dance Band, The Squadronaires.
It was great to be able to wander down at leisure and take in the sights and sounds.

One of the highlights for me was the beautiful and majestic Chinook helicopter. The canvas camp-bed type seats of which actually rival most budget airlines for comfort, surprisingly!

We took in the sights and smells of the Made In Cumbria Shopping Village and the Continental Market.

We resisted all temptation, until we reached the Galloway Fudge Company stall again. Oh dear. Well it is only once a year...Oh ok! Twice a year if you want to be pedantic about it!

Sunday afternoon saw the brilliant Air Display, yet another amazing free entertainment to be enjoyed to the full by tightwads like us!
Needless to say, my little point and shoot camera couldn't do any of it justice but I'll include a few grainy pics just to prove I was there!

RAF Sea King Helicopter

RAF/RNLI Search and Rescue Demo

Black Knights Parachute Team

P51 Mustang

Hawker Sea Fury

The pictures are pretty poor, but the line up included a Spitfire of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, aerobatics from Garry Ferryman and Steve Carver flying purpose-built Extra stunt planes, The SWIP team of Peter Wells and Guy Westgate in Silence Twister single-seaters, the Hawker Sea Fury, a display of precision parachuting (straight into the Harbour!) from the Black Knights, all regular serving soldiers on loan from the Royal Regiment of Artillery, an air-sea rescue demonstration featuring an RAF Sea King helicopter working in conjunction with the RNLI, the Matadors aerobatics team and (my favourite!) the P 51 Mustang. Fantastic!
We found a brilliant viewing spot, and thoroughly enjoyed the display.
The Sunday musical extravaganza was provided by Razorlight, which went down very well!

Yet again we had a brilliant festival weekend, although we didn't have to part with very much dosh at all.

Total spent : £15.75 (Wristbands, Programme and Fudge!)
Of course, we are lucky to live close enough to enjoy the days and go home for lunch and out again in the afternoon!

Amazing place, Whitehaven!