Hartlepool Waterfront Festival seeks volunteers

Published Wednesday, 3rd April 2019

The Hartlepool Waterfront Festival will return this summer for a third time and organisers are looking to recruit a team of volunteers to help make it another resounding success.

Organised and run by Hartlepool Borough Council’s Events Team, the festival is working in conjunction with Volunteer Hartlepool to create The Hands Team whose members will “lend a hand” over the weekend of July 20th and 21st.

Students, job seekers and, indeed, anyone who just loves Hartlepool are invited to join the team and there will be a range of different duties and tasks for them to get involved in to ensure that Hartlepool’s biggest event runs as smoothly as possible.

For more information go to www.volunteerhartlepool.org.uk

David Worthington, Hartlepool Borough Council’s Head of Culture, said: “At last year’s festival – Hartlepool’s biggest event - we were inundated with requests from people wanting to join the team to provide hands-on support to help the festival run smoothly, whilst also giving something back to their town.

“We have now decided to take advantage of this goodwill by forming The Hands Team and we look forward to welcoming volunteers.”

Hartlepool Waterfront Festival

Zoe Bowman, a volunteer at last year’s festival, said: “I had a lovely time. I got involved in so many different activities, from helping with the initial site set up and talking to visitors throughout the day to make sure they were having the best possible experience to litter picking on site at the end of the day once everyone had left. It was a really fun, exciting day and I loved soaking up the festival atmosphere.”

The theme of this year’s festival is Harbour of Refuge, which historically was the name of a safe haven for ships seeking free shelter from stormy seas, located on the Headland. The festival will re-imagine this concept and celebrate the good-old Hartlepool welcome offered to those from different communities seeking a better life.

To do this, it will throw a big welcome party. One of the special guests and a key festival attraction will be 25ft-high puppet Brân the Blessed produced by Wales-based theatre company Small World Theatre. One of the roles of the newly-recruited volunteers will be to help bring him to life.

The festival will take place on the Hartlepool Waterfront site in the heart of Hartlepool Marina and feature a busy programme of arts, music and entertainment from 12pm-7pm over each of the two days. There will be a number of stages and areas at the festival, including the #LoveHartlepool stage hosting dance and musical acts, The House of Love cabaret stage and an expansive outdoor arts space.

Food lovers will also be able to sample a range of delicious dishes from around the world at a pop-up street food market.