Whitehead Summer Festival: Jaws, raft races and e-bike taster sessions part of packed programme

It will include the ever-popular raft race plus kayak races, barbecue and refreshments. The fun starts from 1.00pm with pre-registration at www.cayc.co.uk - all registration fees will be donated to RNLI Lifeboats.

The Marine Parade-based club will also be the location for the Festival Swimming Race. Race starts at 2pm (registration 1.30 – 1.50 pm).

As ever, the programme offers events to suit all tastes. Friday (July 21) includes a children’s cinema screening of ‘Finding Dory’ at 2pm in the Community Centre main hall, while at 7pm in the same venue ‘Jaws’ will be the feature for adults.

Each of these free events is a “special opportunity to enjoy a film in Whitehead’s old cinema”. The screenings are part of the Strand Arts Centre’s Northern Ireland-wide project, The Lasting Picture House, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Writing in the festival programme, the chair of Whitehead Community Association, said: “For the 2023 festival we will be supporting Tiny Life, the charity formed to help families here in Northern Ireland with babies that are born too small, too sick and too soon.

“An event of this size requires a great deal of effort, not only by our committee, volunteers and staff, but by the whole town. We at the Whitehead Community Association would like to thank the many businesses and residents of the town who help make the festival a great community-wide event for this and, we hope, many more years to come.”

Spread over 16 sites, the festival started on Saturday past (July 15) with the flower show and continues with talks, competitions, dancing, crafts, sport, barbecues and much more.

One way to sample what the seaside town has to offer is via an e-bike. Whitehead Community Association has half price (£15) taster sessions ((over 18 years only) on Thursday, July 20 and 27 and Saturday, July 22, 10am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm. Booking is essential for the half day experience, telephone or 02893378077 or [email protected] .

Whitehead Summer Festival runs until Friday, August 11 with the ‘Food and Folk Fest’ at the Recreation Grounds on Saturday, July 29, among the highlights still to come.

Full programme: https://whitehead-ni.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Summer-Festival-2023.pdf