Leigh fishing festival to be transformed next year (From Southend Standard)

Leigh fishing festival to be transformed next year

1:10pm Tuesday 19th March 2013 in Echo News

THE popular Leigh fishing festival is set to be transformed into a celebration of the estuary when it returns in 2014.

Leigh Town Council set up a working party to plan the event, which has been rebranded the Leigh Maritime Festival, and its initial ideas have now been revealed.

The council said that it is looking to “use as many areas of Leigh’s Old Town as possible”, as opposed to just the Mayflower pub’s car park, and have set a provisional date for the festivities as July 27 next year.

Originally a celebration of the town’s rich fishing heritage, the council wants to broaden it to champion Leigh’s maritime history - incorporating music, seminars, estuary information, and other entertainment.

Carole Mulroney, council chairman and member of the festival’s working party, said: “The festival has been very orientated around fishing, and while this is obviously important, what we are trying to do is to try and broaden its scope so it takes in anything to do with the estuary.

“Audiences change over time and people want different things so we’re trying to broaden it out, especially to children, as they’re our future.”