After a wash-out in 2005 the weather on Saturday 22nd July 2006 was almost tropical in Cullercoats Bay as we held the 16th annual Cullercoats Harbour Day in aid of the RNLI.

This year's harbour day was opened at midday by BBC weather presenter Trai Anfield who was around for the whole day, becoming involved in the various attractions on offer thorughout the day, including the Sandcastle Competition and our new for 2006 attraction "Get your kit on".

The beach was filled with thousands of visitors throughout the day as they came from as far afield as Spain to enjoy this years Habour Day celebration.

Some of the attractions available included the "Get your kit on" challenge, where visitors were timed to see who could put the full RNLI crew equipment on in the quickest time. Our crew average an amazing 35 seconds and the fastest challenger of the day was a young boy from Northern Spain who achieved a time of 42 seconds on his 4th attempt. He was thrilled to win a Radio Controlled Lifeboat for his efforts.

The Assault course from 2004 returned this year, and was even better thanks to Scott Jones who had designed new ideas for the course, this was another very popular part of the harbour day, which also included the usual Coconut Shy, Penalty Kick, a new Sponsored Soaking and a impressive display by the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade.

Busy for the whole day, were the stalls near the boathouse which sold a huge range of products and food - from Books to Jewellery to Bric and Brack to Hot Dogs, Stuffed Dolls and Kipper Sandwiches.

Live Music was enjoyed through the day and the Lifeboats from Cullercoats, Blyth and Tynemouth provided a display for the visitors.

After the event the crew and helpers relaxed during the annual Harbour BBQ well into the early hours, celebrating the £7911.00 that was raised during Cullercoats Harbour Day 2006.