A wonderful Sandcastle event!

The Whitley Bay Chamber of Trade’s 17^th annual Sandcastle Competition, supported by North Tyneside Council, took place on Sunday 10^th August. Once again the weather was on our side, with beautiful sunshine greeting the first participants. A small queue formed at the registration table ahead of the official opening at 10am, with a few serious competitors eager to get started as early as possible.

The event followed the same format as previous years, with the entrants choosing to create either a sandcastle or sand sculpture. Once again there were some fantastic team names – among the most memorable were Genius Guinea Pigs, End of Dragons, The Struggling Seahorses, Capybara Chaos and Chicken Jockey. The range and standard of entries was incredibly high, with creations as varied as St James’s Park, a VW camper van, a snake, Spanish City and several mermaids.

The event continues to grow each year, and this time we had a record 205 entries across both categories – a total of 883 participants. We even had teams joining us from as far afield as Italy and New Zealand!

This year, participants had the opportunity to donate to Cullercoats RNLI in lieu of an entry fee. Although the event has always been free to enter, recent events have highlighted the importance of the RNLI and the crucial service they provide. Thanks to the generosity of our local community, we raised an incredible £488.23, which will go directly to Cullercoats RNLI.

A huge thank you goes out to Bay Uke, Izzy’s Face Painting, Turners Funfairs and North Tyneside Council, who helped to make the event the fun-filled day that it was. Thank you also to our amazing team of volunteers who gave up their free time to ensure that the event ran smoothly from start to finish.

Photographs and footage from the event are available to view on the Chamber’s ‘Our Whitley Bay’ Facebook and Instagram pages.

As always, we are so grateful for the support of the local community, and it was lovely to see so many friends and families enjoying the day. We can’t wait for next year!