Oyster Festival at Whitstable

Whitstable's annual Oyster Festival opened last weekend with the Landing of the Oysters  and their blessing by the  Rev Simon Tillotson from St Peters Church, the seafarers church in Whitstable, which recocnizes St. James of Compostela, the patron saint of Oystermen.

Many thousands of people come to the festival which has a week long programme of events. Festival website here

The tide was in for the landing of the oysters and I was struck by how close the various boats were to the shore. I also had a sense of how lovely it must be  for all the children and youngsters in boats enjoying themselves.

After the blessing of the oysters the cart and clergy and dignitaries joined the parade through the town.  Some great paper mache heads and fish and the two giant figures along with a wonderful steam punkish  metal crustacean vehicle.

Along the harbour were hundreds of stalls, most with food and drink for all the crowds. There were the longest ques at the oyster stalls, which seems right as it was an oyster festival. 

It was very busy  and very hot, I needed to cool off in the small areas of shade  every so often.
But I enjoyed the atmosphere, the parade and seeing the landing of the oysters.

Blessing of the Sea Ceremony Margate

 

January sees the Annual Blessing of the Seas ceremony in Margate. The ceremony is for
the Feast of the Epiphany/Theophany in commemoration of the baptism of Christ in the Jordan. Margate has a large Greek Cypriot community and the celebration begins with a service at St Michael the Archangel, the Greek Orthodox Church at Margate.

The procession was led by the Margate Girls and Boys Brigade marching band and many local mayors and their mace bearers, and other dignitaries, consular authorities from Greece and Cyprus and clergy from the Greek Orthodox Church walked behind to Nayland Rock, opposite the train station in Margate.

The ceremony is proformed by clergy from the  Greek Orthodox church including Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateria and Great Britain, who conducts the blessing. The Anglican Bishop of Dover was also in attendance.

I always enjoy watching processions and seeing the costumes and regalia on show, this year the weather was blue skies and sunshine which was great. I didn't stay for the whole ceremony but could hear the prayers following me as I walked along the sea front.

Day out in Canterbury

Waiting for the parade to begin.

I went over to Canterbury this week to take some photographs of the 5th Batallion the Royal Regiment of Scotland. 5SCOTS., for the stock sites. They were parading through Canterbury for the last time in their 10 year stay.

The 5SCOTS are being reduced to a single company and will take up public duties in Scotland. I wonder how they feel about that after all their active duties. Hundreds of people lined their route to the cathedral showing their support for the men.

While I was in Canterbury I also spent some time in the lovely Westgate gardens and St Dunstan's gardens taking photos of the historic buildings that side of the city.

I also found the Masonic museum and was very interested in their regalia. I made some sketches and plan to go back to do more drawings. The symbolism is very interesting and includes the stone masons tools, some Christian imagery including the all seeing eye and stars, stones, gavels, swords and crosses.There is a good collection of Masonic items in the museum including china and glass.

A lovely old plate in the collection.

Dickens Festival in Broadstairs

I went over to Broadstairs to see the start of the Dickens Festival on Saturday.
The parade started from the Pierremont war memorial and the costumed characters praded down the high street to the sea front and the Victoria Gardens.

Dickens was a regular visitor to Broadstairs from 1837 to 1851,which he called "Our English Watering Place"  While he stayed in Fort House, Dickens wrote his famous book, David Copperfield.

The festival was started in 1937 and has been held annualy except during the second world war.

I always appreciate the effort people take in making costumes and accessories and keeping local traditions alive. The weather stayed dry fortunately but the wind was strong and many a hand was clutched to a hat as they paraded through the town.

The restored Sefton Landau carriage had two beautiful black horses decorated with plumes and carried the Royal Characters.

At the Victoria Gardens there were stalls outside and inside a marquee. After the opening speeches there were readings from Dickens and musical entertainment.

The wind did play havoc with the sound system but people seemed to be enjoying performances sitting in traditional deckchairs.