Myself, Jamie and Steph headed to Blyth in Northumberland to join in the Bank Holiday celebrations of the start of the Tall Ships race from the UK to Sweden.
After the slight problem of finding out our accommodation had flooded, we were lucky and managed to find another place to stay in Whitley Bay as there were so many people visiting the event.
We were making a beach sculpture each day for four days which was great despite so much digging, thankfully Steph was on hand to bring us a steady supply of coffee and sandwiches!
On the first day we made Olly the Octopus and we were pleasantly surprised to see that he had survived the night on day two thanks to some comedic security ladies!
With the maritime theme and race to Sweden, it seemed only fitting to make a Viking longboat which was a great way to make an interactive sculpture that people could have their photos taken in. It was amazing when some real Vikings showed up and took our boat for a spin while singing some songs!
By the third day, Olly and the boat had crumbled away in the beautiful sunshine so they were turned into an underwater scene which seemed appropriate given all the rain that morning. But by the afternoon the sun came out and lots of people started turning up just as we put the finishing touches to the sculpture.
For the final day as all the magnificent tall ships passed by the beach we were working on, we made a rowing boat surrounded by sharks! The sun was out and thousands of people lined the promenade to see the ships set off across the sea. We finished sculpting by 2pm so lots of people could get in the boat for a photo opportunity with the ships in the background.
We had a great time and were lucky to have some welcome sunshine throughout the weekend. A big thanks to everyone involved from the Tall Ships team and well done for putting on such a fantastic event!