Rathlin Sound Maritime Festival 2019 - Saturday 25th May
RATHLIN SOUND MARITIME FESTIVAL 2019 - SATURDAY 25TH MAY
Make a Sea Change: Beach and shoreline clean
Sat 25th May, from 10am, start on the seafront
Not just a beach clean – how about Beach Bingo? Come a join a willing team of volunteers and see what litter the sea spits back out onto our shores. What’s the most exotic item you can find? What’s the oldest piece of plastic litter you can identify? Where does it come from? Help us make a difference to the shoreline, before the sea brings us the next waves...
Family Film:
Sat 25th May, 11.30am Parochial Hall
All welcome for a cinematic adventure with the sea and its treasures…come and see…
Art on the edge
Sat 25th May, Coastguard Hut, Ballyconagan, 3pm - 4pm,
Interact and observe. Art installation by Susan Hughes in the spectacular location of the cliff-edge coastguard hut on the National Trust land at Ballyconagan.
Mamoch Mor Currach
Fri 24th May – Sun 25th May, Rathlin Marina
Search it out, chat to the crew, learn about this inspiring and active community-built traditional boat and its expeditions and enjoy a taste of contemporary maritime culture.
A Light on the Stacks
Sat 25th and Wed 29th May, 9pm – 10.30pm, West Lighthouse Seabird Centre
The RSPB is hosting two special evening openings at the Rathlin West Light Seabird Centre - see the sun going down in the company of auks, fulmars and kittiwakes, then watch the West Light come alive as its red beam shines out across the sea and over one of the biggest seabird breeding colonies in Europe. Free entry; donations very much appreciated. (Transport will be available from the harbour car park, in front of the Manor House, for a small charge.)
Drontheims, Currachs and the like...
Add tides, weather, volunteer hours, interest and passion together with beautiful locally-built traditional boats, provide a week to gather them all together, stir well and see what happens. Over the two weekends there will be traditional boats in Rathlin’s waters. With luck they will be around during the week. Search them out, chat to their crews and enjoy a taste of maritime culture.
SS Rathlin Exhibition:
Fri 24th May – Sun 2nd June, St Thomas’s Church, all day and every day
Learn about the dramatic work of the WWII convoy rescue ship the SS Rathlin, and the hundreds of men she saved from drowning. From peacetime ferrying across the Irish Sea to the disastrous Arctic Convoy “PQ17”, the Rathlin’s life-saving role is examined, bringing this little-known story to a wider audience. This exhibition will continue to run after the Festival for the remainder of the summer.
No shelter for plastic:
Fri 24th May – Sun 2nd June, Passenger shelter, Pier 1
A display of ‘interesting plastic items’, flotsam and jetsam that have found their way to Rathlin’s shores and will be artistically installed into spaces in the passenger shelter for your education and amusement. Please don’t remove the exhibits but feel free to add to it if you come across something appropriate.
Festival in a shop:
Fri 24th May – Sun 2nd June, Co-op Community Shop
Make your own mask or pirate patch, make your own basking shark and other pirate/maritime based crafts (open during regular shop hours).
Grab n Go foods offering Fresh made Seafood Picnics by arrangement. £25pp (2 people per order min) for picnics including lobster, crab and seaweeds. Email: rathlinshop@gmail.com
A clean sea wall:
Fri 24th May – Sun 2nd June, Co-op Community Shop
Rathlin is one of 10 UK islands involved in the Cold Water Islands project, a year-long pilot project supported by Surfers against Sewage and Parley for the Oceans to tackle plastic pollution and marine litter. Come and see the information wall on the project, which islands are in with us and what we, and you, can do to clean up our act. Island businesses are reinforcing the message by reducing plastic waste and providing water refills for your own bottles. What can you do to make a sea change on marine litter?
Extra-curricular music:
Listen out for local singer songwriter Wendy Jack who will 'Pop-Up' in various locations during the festival...
Sea in the Lighthouse
Fri 24th May – Sun 2nd June, ‘Under the Sea’ Room, West Light, 11am-3pm every day
Video art works by Susan Hughes, made on Rathlin and other coastal locations of Iceland and Norway. Visual footage of below and above the surface of the sea is accompanied by audio of the artists’ own fiddle playing in response to the rhythms and tones found in the physical environment. Usual West Light Seabird Centre admission charges apply.
