Festival of Flight airshow to be extended to two days

Festival of Flight airshow to be extended to two days

15 November 2017

AMBITIOUS plans have been unveiled to turn Newcastle’s Festival of Flight into a two day event.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council is planning to extend the flagship tourism festival, which regularly attracts over 100,000 visitors to the resort, to two days next summer.

The news was confirmed on Monday during a meeting of the local authority’s Economic, Regeneration and Tourism Committee when politicians agreed to increase the district’s events programme budget by just over £270,000 to almost £1.3m in the new financial year.

The budget for the Festival of Flight is being increased by £63,000 to £140,000 and officials are hoping the increased investment will help increase the economic benefit of district-wide festivals to over £11m.

While no firm details have been unveiled about the planned extension of the airshow event, council officials are hoping that aircraft will take to the skies on both days with more ground-based activities and events.

Other major events scheduled for next year are the Ulster Fleadh, which is making a return to Castlewellan, and the prestigious All-Ireland Pipe Band Championships, with £45,000 earmarked to deliver both of the high profile events.

A four-day summer festival of racing is also being proposed for Downpatrick race course next June with politicians earmarking £20,000 for the family event.

A new junior golf tournament is proposed in partnership with the Golfing Union of Ireland and will be played over courses in Kilkeel and Warrenpoint next summer, with the top finishers qualifying to play the final stages of the competition over the famous Royal County Down links. The estimated cost of the tournament is £15,000.

The biggest budget increase will see an additional £128,000 allocated to a Guardians of the Mournes and Gullion two-week festival incorporating the Footsteps in the Forest, Wake the Giant and City of Merchants events based in the southern end of the council area. The combined cost for of the three events is £413,000, while an additional £200,000 has been earmarked to create four new giants as part of the festival.

Councillor Willie Clarke has welcomed plans to invest more money in high profile tourism events, in particular, expanding the highly acclaimed Festival of Flight over two days.

He explained while council officials are working on the detail of expanding the event’s programme, initial proposals include developing the corporate aspect of the Newcastle festival with the potential provision of a new grandstand area.

“Plans for a new techno village aimed at students who study science, technology and maths have also been suggested with council officials keen to develop more on-the-ground activities to complement what is happening in the air,” said councillor Clarke. “A key aim will be securing more overnight visitors which will benefit the local economy.

“Tourism is at the heart of the local authority’s corporate plan and we are fortunate to be able to offer visitors so many top class events,” said councillor Clarke. 

“Tourism is something we do well. Initial ideas have been floated to extend the Festival of Flight and I look forward to seeing more definitive plans to enhance what is the district’s biggest tourism event, one which I believe can be further developed.”

He added: “Tourism is our number one priority and it is important we continue to invest in this crucial sector which produces a significant economic return for the district.”

Also this week, politicians signed off on a new system which is being put in place for promoters and organisers of smaller tourism events across the district, with a total of £105,000 set aside for the so-called Open Funding Call. The budget allocated for community events at Halloween and Christmas is ring-fenced and is not subject to the new funding mechanism.