REVIEW: Gloucester Tall Ships Festival 2007
Well what a success!
The first and hopefully not last Gloucester Tall Ships Festival
at the Docks this year was a resounding result for the capital and we
dearly hope to see it return for 2008 - as this is what the city needed
after such a dreadful year. It was a breath of fresh air which not only
brought the ships down the Sharpness Canal but what the organisers gave
the thousands of on-lookers who came to see this nautical spectacular.
The
arrival of the ships on Friday attracted a larger number than
anticipated and we feel that more festivities should have begun then,
as visitors were eager to stay in the Docks. The array of
entertainments over the weekend were well received and the organisers,
Gloucester Renaissance and City Council did extremely well to
coordinate the event and bring the 20,000 plus visitors to the Docks -
after all nobody really knew what to expect.
The
Docks is the biggest asset that Gloucester has and should attract more
visitors and with the new proposed development of the Quay we feel the
future is looking up for the Docks. It’s vitally important that it
maintains its maritime links and it’s been suggested that Gloucester
Docks needs more permanent attractions - perhaps the Johanna Lucretia
(one of the Tall Ships) could be one of them – it is indeed a beautiful
ship although in need of some TLC but it’s certainly in the right
location to receive some. T. Nielsen and Co. are traditional
shipbuilders and bring classic ships into the Docks. They themselves
must attract visitors to the Docks wishing to see craftsmen working in
the setting for which it was originally built. Speaking with Sarah and
Tommi of Nielsen's, they too are eager to see the development of the
Docks and have become frustrated by the previous attempts over the past
few years.
This was the first year of the Gloucester Tall Ships
Festival and as it was an astounding success, must return in 2008. We
are sure plans are already being drawn up.
30 October 2007
Explore Gloucestershire
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