The highlight of the year in England’s south-west is the Newlyn Fish Festival, taking place today on the last Bank Holiday of the summer under what is promised to be blazing sunshine.
This year’s Newlyn Fish Festival looks to be the biggest and best to date, with an auction of promises, a Busker’s Corner, cookery demonstrations, Fish Films in the Fridge, the market and fishing vessels open to the public, gig racing, a learning zone and a music stage. There are more than fifty stalls with Cornish crafts at the festival and the word is that the Red Arrows, who are taking part in a display over the Scilly Isles, have agreed to do a fly-past over Newlyn on the way, and maybe on the way back as well.
The Penlee Lifeboat and its crew play a prominent part in the fish festival every year and this year also sees the return to Newlyn of the first trawler race for many years, with race routes for three classes of fishing vessels – and a warning to those taking part that other competitors may come armed with eggs and flour.
Prizes are donated by Consols Oils, J Reid Scallop Gear, Gael Force, Mike Cornish, the Cornish Ice Company, Survitec, Cornwall Creels and Newline Chandlery. Proceeds of the festival go to the Fishermen’s Mission.
