Victorian weekend festivities return to the bay
IT IS a decades-old festive tradition that sees a fishing village on Yorkshire’s coast transformed with a Victorian twist in the run up to Christmas.
Crowds of visitors once again flocked to Robin Hood’s Bay to celebrate the annual Victorian Weekend.
Held from Friday to Sunday, it saw guided walks, street music and retro activities organised as part of an extensive programme of events designed to boost tourism in the bay.
Visitors, volunteers and entertainers also donned Victorian era-inspired clothes to celebrate the weekend-long event.
First set up in 1994, in a bid to promote the village’s local businesses as trade traditionally slumps in the month before Christmas, it is organised by the Robin Hood’s Bay Tourism Association.
Coun Jane Mortimer, for
It’s...pulling together to ensure visitors have a happy time. Fylingdales councillor
Jane Mortimer.
Fylingdales, attended a special church service at the village’s St Stephen’s Church during the weekend.
She said: “From what I could see the atmosphere was very nice, there was a lot of people this year and a lot of things going on. “It’s a village pulling together to ensure visitors have a happy time and enjoy themselves.” Streets were transformed this year with Christmas decorations, from window dressings and festive wreaths to eye-catching lights and trees.
In keeping with the Victorian theme, games included welly throwing on the beach, a sheep hunt for children and bell-ringing. There were also talks and presentations on the Dickensian era, guided walks across the bay. The popular annual duck race, organised by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, returned for visitors.