Hartlepool, NOT Constantinople

We are very happy here at Topsail that we have recently been successful in our tender to win the contract to supply all the hospitality on the Tall Ships visiting Hartlepool in August 2010.

You can see our main page on this here. Or download the Corporate Hospitality PDF here

Hartlepool will be the fourth major Tall Ships event that Topsail have won the tender for in the last 2 years. In September 2008 we worked in Falmouth for the ‘Funchal 500′,  and in Liverpool in July on an event that was one of the centerpieces of their successful ‘European Capital of Culture’. It was an evocative sight to see such a hugely impressive fleet graced the famous Mersey and the city’s iconic docks.

This August our team hopped over to Belfast for the Belfast Maritime Festival – a celebration of Tall Ships that finished the last leg of the ‘Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge’. Tall Ships Races and Festivals are fast becoming the special highlights of every working year for the team here. Having worked on our first major maritime festival way back in 1996 in Bristol, things then really started taking off in 2003 at The International Festival of the Sea (IFOS) in Leith, Edinburgh. The next IFOS was huge, coinciding with the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar and took place in Portsmouth in 2005.

Tall Ships festivals – usually taking place as Tall Ships enter their destination port after a race which is usually organised by Sail Training International – are amazing celebrations of the seafaring and maritime tradition. We are proud to be associated with their continuing successes and anticipate Hartlepool next year to be the next big success.

It seemed fitting that we met our new colleagues from the North East to sign contracts for the event at this year’s Tall Ships conference held in Istanbul. Last month’s conference was packed full of Tall Ships owners and representatives from all over the world and there was a palpable buzz around the Hartlepool stand – the ships attendance list is getting quite impressive!

For the best corporate hospitality event you are likely to be able to have in the North East if not the whole country next year, drop us a line.

And for a great Christmas present idea for all boat and sailing lovers, buy a ticket for a tall ship day sail - £85 for a brilliant day out under billowing square sails next summer.