Coastal Flavours of Whitby

We are lucky to live in such a vibrant and busy town and we were pleased to see a new event come to Whitby, particularly as it involves food!! Irene Myers has done a fantastic job at organising this event which hopefully will become an annual one, or better still twice a year. We bought some fabulous chocolates from Lauden Chocolate of Leeds and some very tasty extra virgin rape seed oil from Gold from the Wold. The mugshot on the right is Graham Collinson who was manfully looking after an information stall at the event. Graham owns Discovery Accommodation but has sneakily started competing with B&Bs by offering a breakfast option as well, just goes to show that you can't trust anybody!! (Only joking Graham). For more information about the Coastal Flavours of Whitby, see the article in Whitby Gazette. Can't wait for next year...

Folk Week

We were fortunate to have Pete Morton, one of this year's performers, staying with us. Having obtained tickets we had been to see Pete earlier in the week at a small venue but he was also part of the final 4 hour concert in the Pavilion. One of our regular guests told us about a particular song of Pete's called "Another Train" which had been an inspiration to him whilst undergoing treatment for throat cancer. This is obviously a popular song as when Pete asked for requests it was by far the most called for, if you would like to hear it, or see the lyrics, click on the link above. All in all it was a good concert and Folk Week, many said their favourite yet.

It is a shame that the Folk Week and Regatta clashed and it would be a bigger shame if this caused the organisers to shift Folk Week to another town. Without any doubt Folk Week is the biggest single event in the Whitby calendar, rivaling Goth Weekend for popularity but unlike the gothic event it is a full week of activity that takes place all around town. It isn't viable to have two major attractions on at the same time.

Christmas in August

What a strange way to spend a sunny August afternoon! This year is our fourth in Whitby and we haven't been to any of the Folk Festival events until this week, but on Tuesday we broke our duck when we went to the Conservative Club to see Pete Morton (more of him in tomorrow's blog). As we had the tickets and we'd enjoyed Tuesday we thought why not see what else is on. That is why Christmas came early as today we went to see John Kirkpatrick in his concert "Christmas and Crumpets". John is a former member of the 70s band Steeleye Span. It was certainly a different way to spend an afternoon, listening to a Christmas concert while the sun shone outside, surreal but fun!!

Regatta

Once again the Red Arrows were the stars of the Regatta closely followed by the finale of the usual firework display from the East Pier, it was a shame about the light pollution from the fair though. Undoubtedly most people enjoyed themselves and as ever the Arrows were amazing, although we cannot help but consider the environmental impact of the event with the air display, fireworks, electricity used for the fairground etc...This year, and apparently next, the event clashes with the annual Folk Week causing problems both for businesses and visitors. It would be nice to think that for 2010 the organisers would not stubbornly stick to a conflict of dates which benefits nobody other than the Regatta who gain extra revenue from the large influx of Folkies and their followers. There is no need for the dates to clash and it is far easier to move the Regatta than Folk Week. Hopefully Scarborough Borough Council, Whitby Town Council and other authorities will see sense and not allow the same situation next year. Rant over, later this week we will write about the Folk Week.

Bridge Centenary

There have been no postings to the blog for a while, that is because people in Yorkshire say "If tha's nowt to say, say nowt" we've had nowt to say recently.

On Saturday, however, Whitby's swing bridge centenary was celebrated in style with a splendid event being organised by WDTA who must be congratulated on their efforts. The Cleveland police band and Marske fishermen's choir entertained and many of the organisers and other locals turned out in their Victorian regalia.

John Freeman, one of the main organisers, has a great art gallery in the old town which is well worth a visit.

Click here for more photos.

Whitby Gazette coverage