Last weekend, the Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival drew a crowd of thousands – and WT Skip Hire was among them. Held at Yarmouth’s historic South Quay, the festival celebrates the town’s rich maritime heritage, attracting locals and tourists alike. On Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September, the South Quay was home to the free event for the 16th year running, allowing visitors to experience live folk music, street theatre and incredible tall ships.
The highlight of the festival was doubtless the Swedish ship Götheborg, the largest wooden tall ship in the world, which was making her debut appearance at a UK maritime festival. Although the legendary Götheborg sank in 1745, this ship is an exact, 100% scale replica made using traditional 18th century shipbuilding techniques – a true piece of living history. As well as the Götheborg, visitors could explore a range of other vessels, including the JST Lord Nelson, RNLI Great Yarmouth and steam drifter Lydia Eva.
However, there was far more at the festival than just ships. A lively musical line-up entertained visitors across four different stages including young Norfolk folk band Addison’s Uncle, and craft and charity stalls sold pottery, jewellery and clothes with a maritime theme. Demonstrations of crafts such as net mending and gansey knitting explained some of Britain’s oldest maritime skills, while the DJR Freestyle Jetski Display Team thrilled visitors with water stunts.
Among the exhibitors was artist Mik Richardson, who made a live appearance to paint maritime images on one of our skips. Mik is a friend of WT Skip Hire, and we were thrilled to be working with him again. We first met Mik in June 2014: he came to our skip art event and decorated two of our skips with scenes of Norfolk life. He came again this year, painting a skip with a fantastical dragon design. Mik is no stranger to dragons, and painted three wonderful statues for Norwich’s Go Go Dragons! sculpture trail. A fantastic graffiti artist, he also worked on the Go Go Gorillas trail in 2013.
It was a real treat to see Mik in action at the Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival. He painted the beautiful Götheborg at sea on one of our skips, and he was even snapped hard at work by the local press! A photograph of Mik and his work of art appeared in Monday’s Eastern Daily Press, in the paper’s double page spread on the festival. We think the recognition is well deserved, and couldn’t be more pleased to have been part of this year’s festival. Take a look at our Facebook page to see even more pictures of Mik and his incredible art last weekend!