This year the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships Commemorative Cruise is to Chatham on the River Medway. We will join over 20 Little Ships who are expected to attend.
Other scheduled events include the Chatham Maritime Food & Drink Festival featuring the Kent produce market, antique & vintage market, artisan market, live music all weekend on the band stand and a children's activity tent.
The programme of events will be as follows:
- Saturday 24th - Depart Leigh for Chatham
- Sunday 25th - Commemorative Service on the quay side
- Sunday 25th - Commemorative Cruise Dinner at Medway Yacht Club
- Monday 26th - Depart Chatham for Ramsgate
Medway Sunlight Rotary is putting on a Dragon Boat Challenge in Basin No 2 on Sunday after the ADLS commemorative service. This is to raise money for local charities.
Ostend at Anchor
Since its inception in 1999, Ostend at Anchor
has become the most popular and prestigious annual maritime festival of
the North Sea. The event is free to the public and regularly attracts
over 200,000 visitors from Belgium, Holland, France and Britain.The commemoration of the centenary of the start of World War I will be a 'double commemoration' for the event as it is the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Ostend on 8 September 1944 by Canadian Forces commanded by Field-Marshall Montgomery of Alamein.
The event organisers have extended an invitation to any ships involved with the conflict during the Second World War including the Dunkirk Little Ships.
The little ships will be moored in the Mercator Dock, located in the very heart of the city. The event includes about 80 performances by music groups, predominantly (but not exclusively) 'shanty' and 'folk'. Those performing are not only from Belgium but also come from the UK, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands. Most performances are on stages and there are also performances on several of the visiting ships.
The event also attracts many exhibitors, commercial and non-commercial, embracing probably every traditional and modern aspect of the maritime world.
During the event there will be several official receptions and functions relating to the Liberation that will involve naval & military representatives plus various VIPs including the Ambassadors of Great Britain and Canada and some Belgian DLS veterans. The crews of DLS attending are invited to participate with the VIP's at these functions.
The programme of events will be as follows:
- Wednesday 28th - Depart Ramsgate for Ostend
- Thursday 29th - Welcome reception for skippers
- Friday 30th - Remembrance Parade
- Saturday 31st - Official welcome by the Mayor and presentation of plaques to skippers
- Sunday 1st June - Event ends - see you next year
- Monday 2nd June - Depart Ostend
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