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An 'event'ful weekend for
Liverpool
IT'S a bumper events weekend in
Liverpool as the City gears up to be the national host of Armed Forces Day AND
stages the popular Mersey River Festival at the same time.
The 2 FREE major events will take place side by side, on Saturday, 24
June and Sunday,
25 June 2017, with the majority of the action being on the waterfront.
Armed Forces Day, Saturday, 24 June 2017
Liverpool is set to lead the nation in saying thank you to our servicemen and
women with the event running, from 11am to 5pm, on Saturday, 24 June 2017. It will be
attended by His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex representing The Queen, senior
political and Military representatives, the Mayor of Liverpool and Civic
representatives, and hundreds of service personnel; both Regular and Reserve;
from the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force. Cadets and veterans will also
attend.
A gun salute at the Pier Head will take place at 11am, and at that exact time a
RAF Typhoon aircraft will fly over St George's Hall, signalling the start of a
parade which will step off from St George's Hall plateau.
The parade route will follow Lime Street, St George's Place, Whitechapel, Lord
Street, Castle Street (the veterans will join the parade here), James Street,
The Strand, St Nicholas Place and along Princes Parade where a royal salute will
take place coinciding with a flypast from the Red Arrows. The parade will
disperse on William Jessop Way.
Activities and exciting displays will take place across the waterfront until 5pm
and will take place in zones dedicated to all three Military services. These
include getting up close to assets such as helicopters, diving tanks, rigid
inflatable boats, tanks, a field Hospital, simulators and seeing marching bands
in action. The Royal Navy's Type 23 Frigate, HMS Iron Duke, will be docked in the
City for the celebrations.
A Display Arena will be located next to Liverpool Cruise Liner passenger lounge
which will give visitors the chance to see a number of capability
demonstrations, ranging from Royal Marines unarmed combat display and Military
marching bands right through to an Army bridge building demo and a field
gun-race between a team from RAF Cosford and the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of
Wales (the City's affiliated ship). You can also watch the tri-services battle
it out in a number of dragon boat races at Princes Dock from 2.15pm.
2 further air displays will take place which are the RAF Battle of Britain
Memorial flypast at 1.50pm and a Royal Navy Wildcat flypast at 4pm.
The day will come to a spectacular close from 4.15pm as bands join together for
a special performance which will lead to a Beat Retreat; a colourful pageant of
Military music and drills. It will end at 5pm.
Military assets will remain on display for Sunday's Mersey River Festival
Headline sponsor for the event is Cammell Laird. CEO John Syvret said:- "I
had no hesitation in taking on the lead sponsor role to support the holding of
the 2017 national Armed Forces Day event here on Merseyside. I am certain all
the communities of Merseyside will turn out in their thousands to provide their
support, and that our great City and region will provide a magnificent venue and
spectacle for the nation."
For full details of the day, head to:-
CultureLiverpool.Co.UK
Mersey River Festival, Saturday, 24 and Sunday, 25 June
2017
The Mersey River Festival in partnership with Liverpool ONE takes place across
the waterfront on Saturday, 24 June and Sunday, 25 June 2017.
This maritime extravaganza will cover Albert Dock, Salthouse Dock, the paved
area of The Strand, Mann Island and Dukes Dock with a whole raft of free family
friendly activities.
A number of ships will be sailing in to the City and will be open to visitors
across both days, including Tall Ships Kaskelot, Pelican of London, Johanes
Lucretia, Phoenix, Shtandart, Earl of Pembroke, Maybe and Bessie Ellen. They
will be joined by a number of Military vessels and research ships.
Thanks to its inaugural success last year, The British ThunderCat Racing Tour
will make a welcome return on the Saturday, when boats will be battling it out
on the Mersey, reaching speeds of up to 65mph. This is 1 of the most prominent
motor water sports around and audiences can get a taste of the action, from
11am to 1pm.
Audiences can also expect the usual incredible jet skiing, fly boarding,
international canoe polo and wakeboarding displays along with some dry land
exhibitions or unarmed combat and weapons displays and the Sea Cadets will be
performing their field gun window ladder semaphore and club swinging activities.
The heart in the mouth Yakovlevs, will be back with their breath taking aerial
acrobatics displays on Sunday, 27 June 2017, at 2pm and again at 4pm.
There will be a number of small, live music stages across the site which are the
Ship Stage (on board Tall Ship Kaskelot), the BME Stage (in front of the Cunard
Building), Mann Island Stage (in the Mann Island Basin, behind Open Eye Gallery)
and the Liverpool Cruise Terminal.
Heritage Great Britain PLC is the official sponsor of the music zones and across
the weekend audiences can enjoy acoustic sets, Irish themed music, a Norwegian
choir, drumming spectacles from Katumba, brass bands and sets from Liverpool
International Music Festival Academy graduates.
Home Bargains, is the sponsor for the family zone which will see family
workshops, interactive entertainment, street theatre, face painting and craft
activities. Visitors can expect to be transported back to the 1940's, be amazed
by mermaids, and surprised by some pop up performances.
The Northern Boat Show will also return for its third year, running, from Friday,
23 June 2017, until Sunday, 25 June 2017. It covers all aspects of the leisure marine industry
and there will be displays of power boats, cruisers, narrow boats, and sail
boats and features some of the biggest brands in the marine world such as
Bavaria, Beneteau and Dufour Yachts.
All the Military assets from Armed Forces Day will also remain on site across
the weekend.
Wirral will also be playing a major role in this year's festival as a number of
events and activities are planned for Woodside and New Brighton. Street theatre,
balloon artists, pirates, stalls and workshops will form part of Wirral's
programme.
Chris Bliss, Estate Director at Liverpool ONE, said:- "It is a great
honour to be headline sponsor for this year's Mersey River Festival. This weekend we look forward to celebrating Liverpool's
natural ability to host world class events with spectacular entertainment
planned across both days once again."
Sue Grindrod, chief executive, Albert Dock Liverpool, said:- "Once again
Mersey River Festival returns to Liverpool waterfront this weekend, with the
stunning Albert Dock playing host to tall ships, music, and much, much more.
This now iconic festival on Liverpool's annual event calendar couldn't be
possible without the incredible partnerships between the City Council, ourselves
and our waterfront neighbours. Albert Dock positively loves being at the heart
of this maritime celebration, and people of all ages are guaranteed a fantastic
day out!"
For full details and timings of the Mersey River Festival, visit:-
MerseyRiverFestival.Co.UK,
follow then on
Twitter and look up Mersey
River Festival on Facebook.
Liverpool City Council's Assistant Mayor and Cabinet Member for culture, tourism
and events, said:- "The spotlight is certainly going to be shining on
Liverpool this weekend and I've no doubt the City will rise to the occasion.
When it comes to staging large, outdoor events, we are always ambitious and like
to push the boundaries, and having two major events such as Armed Forces Day and
Mersey River Festival running side by side isn't something that happens often.
It makes me extremely proud that Liverpool is hosting these activities. One sees
us thanking servicemen and women for the incredible job they do, and the other
sees us celebrating our impressive maritime heritage; both are fantastic, family
friendly and showcase our City and the waterfront at its very best. I hope as
many people as possible come out both on Saturday and Sunday and show their
support for the armed forces and the City as a whole."
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