Grand Prix of the Sea - Eastbourne Extreme

If you wondered why it was a seemingly quiet morning on Visit Eastbourne’s facebook and twitter pages on Tuesday then here’s the reason why…

This year’s Eastbourne Extreme looks set to be faster than ever, as on Tuesday 24th April we launched the sports festival at Sovereign Harbour Marina by introducing our latest addition of P1 AquaX and SuperStock UK to the line up!

The Worshipful the Mayor of Eastbourne, Councillor Carolyn Heaps was at the launch and got the chance to sample the special high speed powerboats and jet skis driven by national champions, such as P1 driver Jack Weller on his Sea-doo ski - who was accompanied by AquaX regular and Eastbourne rider, Ron Burgoyne, and newcomer Rob Sired.

On the 14th and 15th of July Eastbourne will be host to its first ever Grand Prix of the Sea. SuperStock UK features around 16 powerboats, whilst its AquaX series are expected to feature more than 20 local jet skiers in the starting grid.

The Worshipful the Mayor of Eastbourne, Councillor Carolyn Heaps said “Absolutely brilliant and an experience everyone must try once in their lives. The inaugural Eastbourne Grand Prix of the Sea is a fantastic addition to Eastbourne Extreme and we look forward to welcoming the SuperStock crews and AquaX riders to the festival in July. I just can’t wait to see the powerboats and jet skis racing right in front of the beach beside the Sovereign Leisure Centre.”

After leaving the harbour at around 11am we all spent hours on the boat with people taking turns on the jet skis and having a high speed powerboat ride with Peters & May Racing with Brookspeed driver Mike Lovell (complete with intercom in the helmet and speeds of up to 70+mph towards the pier!)

This image shows just how close to the beach the races will be – so it really does look set to be an exciting weekend!

However, if this doesn’t excite you enough, then how about having a go at driving one yourself? By taking a safety course on the Friday before, the public are then able to enter competitions throughout the weekend. Now that is pretty cool.

As well as all this Eastbourne Extreme will be packing it’s weekend with some of the coolest, fastest and most intense sports. Featuring a huge line up of air, land as well as water based outdoor pursuits – such as; windsurfing, sailing, inline skating, land yachting, Zero Gravity biking, free running, skateboarding, street hockey and a brand new roller derby. The free event starts at 11am each day, so prepare to be extreme.

For more information about Powerboat P1 and all the other awesome activities to be seen visit the Eastbourne Extreme website at http://www.visiteastbourne.com/extreme/

Lily

All photos copyright Graham Huntley 2012

Titanic Memorial Concert

Sunday 15 April was the date of our Titanic Memorial Concert which went ahead at its new venue at the Congress Theatre and I am very pleased to announce that the event was a big success!

The free concert was organised to commemorate 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic, alongside the recent restoration of the 1914 Bandstand plaque, which honors Eastbourne bandsman John Wesley Woodward. The local musician, a regular in the Duke of Devonshire Orchestra, played cello in the ship’s orchestra, all of whom famously played on while the Titanic sunk.

Unfortunately Eastbourne Bandstand will be temporarily closed for May and June, due to essential maintenance works and it was fantastic that the concert was still able to take place for the 1,500 people who applied for free tickets earlier this year.

Halfway through the concert there was a short film presentation showing the unveiling of the newly restored plaque with the Mayor of Eastbourne and many of the donors, including local fundraiser Peter Goldsmith – who without their support, the restoration of the plaque would not have happened.

The wonderful afternoon of music was performed by The Champagne String Quartet. Their recital included a number of songs that would have been played on board ship.

Information boards were placed in the foyer of the Congress Theatre which people were able to look at to learn more about the fascinating history around the Titanic and our local hero John Wesley Woodwood. Each ticket had a name of a passenger printed on it and people were able to match their ticket up to the passenger and crew list on the information boards. They were then able to see how the passengers name, age, how much they paid for their ticket aboard the Titanic, where they stayed and whether they survived or not.

This testimonial demonstrates just how well the concert went:

“Just to say thank you all at Eastbourne Council for organising the free concert on Sunday afternoon. I attended with my family who all felt it was beautiful and poignant. The tickets with a name printed on that we could look at the passenger list was inspired and interesting. To all the staff who worked on this, and The Champagne Quartet. WELL DONE! THANK YOU.”

Thank you to all of those who attended on Sunday and to the musicians – we hope everyone enjoyed themselves watching The Champagne Quartet as much as we did.

Follow the link to take a look at the short film presentation of the rededication of the Titanic memorial plaque to John Wesley Woodward at Eastbourne Bandstand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdDY-9oTYYI&feature=player_embedded

Lily