North East Maritime celebrates history on Saturday 23rd and 24th July on Newcastle Quayside and the River Tyne
As part of NE1’s Summer in the City programme, the action is taking to the river next weekend on Saturday 23rd July and Sunday 24th July to celebrate the city’s maritime history. NE1 has teamed up with the charity, the North East Maritime Trust, a not for profit organisation, that works to restore old working boats from its base in South Shields, to bring history to life on the river.
12 historic boats will sail into the Newcastle City Marina in the heart of Newcastle’s Quayside to take part in the celebrations and a ‘noisy’ river parade.
The celebrations will be matched on the Quayside with the charity providing information and chatting to the public about their work and the historic boats on the water while you can enjoy some entertainment with DJ Kenny and some sea shanty music as well as commentary of the river parade at Wesley Square.
At 12:45pm on Saturday 23rd July, the 12 boats will sail from the NE1’s Newcastle City Marina into the middle of the River to perform a commemorative parade on the water sounding their horns and providing a noisy spectacle for spectators on the Quayside to enjoy. The parade will sail round the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
On both the Saturday and Sunday, the historic boats will berth at Newcastle City Marina offering the public the chance to view the vessels and talk to their owners - boat viewings can take place between 10am- 12:45pm, and 1:15pm-4pm on Saturday and 10am–1pm on Sunday.
Tariq Albassam; Director of Operations at NE1 said: “Newcastle is steeped in maritime history, that’s why we wanted to celebrate these historic roots by bringing activity back to the river.
“The old fishing boats that will be taking part in the weekend’s commemorative parade have a lot of history and heritage. It will be great for people to see these boats and to talk to the team at the North East Maritime Trust to learn more about the vessels and the region’s colourful, maritime history and heritage. All the action can be enjoyed from the Quayside which has been transformed by NE1 for its Summer in the City programme – people can enjoy what’s happening on the water as well as all the colourful and dramatic installations and new seating on dry land.”
