Sandcastle Festival draws the crowds

Morecambe festival a success

THOUSANDS of hardy souls braved some unseasonable weather over the weekend to venture down to the golden sands of Morecambe beach to visit the resort’s third Sandcastle Festival.

The event, which was organised by Lancaster City Council, took place over two days (Saturday and Sunday August 15 and 16) and provided visitors with a free weekend of seaside fun.

Despite some particularly windy weather the town was packed with people enjoying the entertainment on offer.

On the prom four of Europe’s leading professional sand artists wowed the crowds with their expertly crafted sculptures and the Grand Variety Theatre marquee provided a range of seaside entertainment.

The crowning glory of the weekend was the Morecambe Super Sandcastle Competition, in which 19 teams took part.

And if that wasn’t enough the weekend was topped off with a sell out show by master of comedy Ken Dodd at The Platform.

Coun June Ashworth, Cabinet member for Cultural Services and one of the judges at the Sandcastle Competition, said: “It was a wonderful weekend and it was great to see so many people enjoying themselves.

“With so much going on everyone will have had their favourite part of the weekend.

“My personal highlight was judging the Sandcastle Competition because the standard was very high and choosing a winner proved to be difficult.

“All those who took part should feel very proud of themselves and I hope the winners enjoy their prizes.”

The winners of the Sandcastle Competition were:

Younger Children (nine teams)

1st - Georgina Butcher (no team name given)

R/UP - Liam United (Liam Menmuir)

Older Children (four teams)

1st - Sugar Sugar (Zoe Pinington, Zara Pinington, Jade Burke)

R/UP - Small Digger (Damian - no surname given)

Adults (six teams)

1st - Edinburgh Eejits (Corinne Levey, Annette Levey, Daniel Currie and Tom Wheeler).

R/UP - Walrus (Chris Rigby, Zeynab Walid and helped by children Simone and Martha).

* Look out for a feature on the festival in a future edition of the Daily Telegraph.

A reporter and photographer from the paper visited the festival on Sunday and interviewed many of the people providing the entertainment, as well as the festival organisers.

The pair lapped up the atmosphere and enjoyed a stay at the Midland Hotel.

Date Published: 17/08/09