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Meridian Sandcastle Competition 2007
Blue
skies may have been in short supply so far this summer but with its return
to our shores this July, the Meridian Sandcastle Competition presented
families with a fantastic opportunity to finally step foot out onto the
golden sands and to enjoy everything our Island beaches have to offer.
Now in its 11th consecutive year, the Meridian Sandcastle Competition takes place at various seaside resorts across the South Coast between July and August. Bognor and Littlehampton were the first to host the event so far this year and unfortunately they fell victim to inclement weather conditions (and we've since learnt that wasn't their only misfortune!) However in contrast, the timing of the long-awaited break in the weather couldn't have been better for the two remaining venues - Ryde and Durly Chine in Bournemouth.
Summer has finally arrived!
Meridian television
camera crews once again received a warm and friendly welcome to the glorious
stretch of sand surrounding Appley Tower for another staging of the ever-popular
event. Frazzled parents who up until now were finding it a challenge to
keep their children entertained throughout the first week of the summer
holidays, gladly brought their offspring to down to Ryde, many accompanied
by visiting friends and relatives - all of whom 'got stuck into' building
their sandcastles with great enthusiasm.
If the lure of
the sunshine coupled with the thought of great prizes for the winning
sandcastle sculptures wasn't enough to entice people down to the beach,
the competition was once again hosted by the gentleman often referred
to as the "nicest man in television" Fred Dinenage, from Meridian Tonight.
Now in his 43rd year in TV, Fred said: "Every year that we run this competition
it just gets better and better. I am constantly surprised at just how
inventive the kids can be: they work so hard to sculpt amazing things
out of what is really just some wet sand. And there's always one child
who does a sculpture of me.. without any hair! I can't think why." Also
accompanying Fred as celebrity judges this year were his colleagues Gareth
Evans, who often presents the Meridian news and sport on Saturday afternoon
and the familiar face of Meridian sport, reporter Paul Belverstone.
A stunning location to do the Island proud
Talking to iwight.com,
Gareth Evans said that this was the first Meridian Sandcastle Competition
he had ever attended and was he delighted it had turned out to be such
a beautiful day. He also remarked on what a stunning setting Appley Beach
made for the event, with the liners sailing past and the impressive sight
of Portsmouth's Millennium Tower shimmering away in the distance. Several
members of the Meridian Team echoed these comments, coupled with remarks
relating to the overall cleanliness of the beach throughout the course
of the morning.
The competition was open for children up to and including 12 years old to enter, with ITV Meridian and Inspire Leisure thoughtfully supplying buckets and spades for those who forgot to bring them. The girls from Mimicks were also on hand to provide a free face painting service to all of those youngsters who wished to participate.
Energetic enthusiasm coupled with inventive ideas
Once the registration
process was complete, Fred sounded the hooter and gathered all of the
young contenders together beside the sea wall. Having introduced them
to the three judges and explained that sandcastle building should only
take place between the two sets of flags, the hooter was fired once again
and the crowd scattered excitably in every feasible direction to commence
work on their dynamic creations. This year saw a total number of just
over 200 children register for the event; certainly a good turnout, although
not quite as impressive as the first time the competition visited Ryde
six years ago, when nearly 400 youngsters put their names down to take
part. Previous to this, the Isle of Wight's Meridian Sandcastle Competition
was held on Yaverland Beach in Sandown.
When asked how
popular the competitions have been overall so far, Fred Dinenage told
iwight.com that the support of the Meridian viewers never ceases
to amaze him and despite the bitterly cold weather last week in Bognor
and Littlehampton, the event was still very well supported. Fred laughed
as he recalled how the weather became immaterial after a time as a slight
misjudgement with the tidal forecast suddenly presented itself as an even
greater problem! "It was blowing a gale so we couldn't even put our flags
up to mark the parameters of the sandcastle building area, then the tide
came in and we were barely left with any sand at all!"
Shrek the Third comes first!
After
an hour of intensive work, the 12 o'clock hooter filled the air on Appley
Beach to signal prize-giving time and all of the contenders (and their
by now ever-so-slightly flagging adult assistants) re-grouped beside the
sea wall to hear Fred, Gareth and Paul announce the eagerly anticipated
results. Scooping third place with a traditional sandcastle design were
visitors to the Island Daniel and Alex Hake aged 12 and 8 from Luton.
The very popular 'Meridian Yacht' took second place with ITV 'goodie-bags'
being presented to Ryan and Jay Bell aged 8 and 6 years old from Sandown.
Finally the judges
favourite and winner of this year's Isle of Wight Meridian Sandcastle
Competition was a contemporary design by Page and Lauren (both 12) from
Wootton with their topical recreation of Shrek. The girls had come well
prepared to fight off some serious competition this year - imaginatively
combining red glitter to form the friendly ogre's nose with strategically
placed bright green seaweed to represent his ears.
To view more of this year's sandcastle designs along with further images
of the day, please visit our online photo
gallery. Also make sure you remember to tune into Meridian Tonight
on Friday 24th August to catch the all-important television
footage!
See more highlights of the competition at www.itvlocal.com/meridian
©2011 Isle of Wight Council
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