Spring on the waterfront

Well the final day of the waterfront festival was yesterday and a fine festival it was too! The weather was fair and the sun smiled down on us for most of the time.

Tall ships were spectacular and some were open to the public. A great opportunity to see the inside of the fine three masted ships of yesterday. There were trips aboard the vessels taking four or five hours and working trips for longer if required

The stage in the dock basin was for the shanty festival and many great bands from around the counrry entertained us with songs of the sea.
My highlight however was the informal shanty nights in the Baltic fleet pub  largely organised by Bernie Davies and friends which took me back to the old days along the dock road in pubs long gone like "The trawler" AKA Dominic Reagans --which hosted these kind od informal shanty nights back in the 60s.

A great time was had by all and I am looking forward to the next sessions later in the year!