15th Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 September 2014

The 15th Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival returns to South Quay on Saturday 6 September (10am to 6pm) and Sunday 7 September (10am to 5pm) 2014 to celebrate the town’s proud maritime past and our maritime future with visiting ships, live music, street entertainment, arts, crafts and children’s activities. The festival is organised by Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority in association with Seajacks UK Ltd.

Festival activities and entertainment on South Quay are free; a donation of £1 per visitor towards festival costs is welcomed.

The Minerva

Dutch tall ships the Minerva, which will also be offering sailing trips, and the Tres Hombres, the world’s only sailing cargo vessel operating without a back-up engine, will be in port. MTB102, the third last vessel to leave Dunkirk in 1940 will also be alongside, as well as steam drifter Lydia Eva, The Daybreak (1934 Humber Keel), Izambard (Dutch style barge) RASC Fast Launch Humber, RNLI Great Yarmouth & Gorleston’s Samarbeta liefboat, HMC Protector (customs cutter) and MV Confidante (Gardline coastal survey vessel).The Sowenna, a Cornish Pilot Gig and the Edward Birkbeck, the former Winterton-on-Sea lifeboat will also be on display on the quay.

Nanne and Ankie

Shanty and maritime music will be performed throughout the weekend at three different venues on South Quay. New visiting shanty groups and singers are Nanne and Ankie from The Netherlands, La Bouline from France and Jenkin’s Ear from Guernsey, along with Tom Lewis, who has returned to the UK after 30 years in Canada and Suffolk’s John Ward. Other performers at the festival are Sheringham Shantymen, Capstan Full Strength, The Mollyhawks and The Keelers from Tyneside. Wrentham Brass Band will also be there to start Sunday morning with a maritime programme.

Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival Mascots

Visitors will be able to go aboard the Minerva, the Tres Hombres and the Lydia Eva, and meet Admiral Nelson and Mrs Hamilton, along with Horatio Herring, Lofty the Lighthouse and Mrs H; enjoy military re-enactments from East Norfolk Militia, street theatre from Inner State, Punch and Judy shows with Professor Pulson and face painting and balloon modelling.

Find out about the Broads and local nature reserves and make a dragonfly, a butterfly feeder or a flying wristband with the RSPB, or have a go at making herring kites and shark’s tooth necklaces with Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Eastern Inshore Fisheries will have a tank full of local marine species to explore. Watch Ernie Childs paint a maritime masterpiece before your eyes, see lace making, spinning and gansey knitting and maritime wood carving, also have a go at making a fisherman’s net.

Enjoy the ‘Feast of Fish’, cookery demonstrations from top Norfolk chefs including at 2pm on Sunday 7 September, ‘Ready, Steady Cook’, a competition between Daniel Smith and Mark Dixon hosted by David Clayton from BBC Radio Norfolk.

Visitors in wheelchair are advised to use the accessible entrances at Middle Gate (to the right of Nottingham Way) and the South Gate at the far end of the festival. There is a 96m long cobbled area towards the North Gate which some wheelchair users may find challenging to navigate.

Minerva Sailings: There will be five passenger sailing trips between Thursday 4 and Sunday 7 September. Tickets can be purchased at Great Yarmouth Tourist Information Centre t. 01493 332200, or the e-shop at www.maritime-festival.co.uk. Thursday 4 September 1pm, ticket £33, Thursday 4 September 6pm, ticket £33, Friday 5 September 6pm, ticket £36, Saturday 6 September 6.30pm, ticket £39, Sunday 7 September 7pm, ticket £39, Sailing duration depends on the tide, but will last from 2½ to 3½ hours.

Aileen Mobbs, Festival Chairman and GYTA Honorary President said: “We are looking forward to a weekend of maritime celebration, with our tall ships, a busy international shanty singing programme and lots demonstrations, hands-on activities and entertainment. We are enormously grateful to our festival sponsors who enable us to put on such a fantastic event every year.”

The Maritime Festival sponsors are Seajacks UK Ltd, 3Sun Group, Bateman Groundworks, BDO LLP, Birketts LLP, Bunn Fertiliser Ltd, ELM Contracts, e.on Climate & Renwables, Gardline, MDF Transport, Perenco, Persimmon Homes Anglia, Petrofac and Wellington Construction. The festival is also supported by EastPort UK and Great Yarmouth Borough Council.

The GYTA (Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority) is a unique public / private sector partnership, founded in 1994. It brings together all partners from both the public and private sector to ensure that together we can collectively provide a better resort to help businesses survive and flourish and ensure that jobs are created and sustained.