Loads of bands and the Chilled Turtle Ukulele Festival

Live bands and Ukuleles bring musical magic to the Paddle Round The Pier Beach Festival

This year’s Paddle Round The Pier Beach Festival, sponsored by the Custom Group, will see a great selection of bands take to the main stage over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of July, plus it will host the inaugural Chilled Turtle Ukulele Festival.

The festival, which is now the UK’s largest free charity watersports event, will have a main stage situated within the ‘Paddle Village’ on Hove Lawns. This stage will see a number of local bands and some from further afield entertain the crowds, which are expected to be in their thousands.

Jenny Collins, who has organised the live entertainment said: “This year we have had requests from a huge amount of bands wanting to take part after the success of previous events.

“It was really hard to shortlist them, but we’re happy that we have a great mix for people of all ages and musical tastes.”

Bands to play this year on the Saturday are: Estrondo, Alex Gigante, Titan System, Samara, Doll And The Kicks, Two Spot Gobi, Hollows Of Venus and Los Albertos.

Sunday’s line up is: The Rinky Dinks, Carlo Sandblow, Seeker, Soul Reality and the Railing Stains.

More musical entertainment comes to the event this year in the form of the Chilled Turtle Ukulele Festival, which is on the Sunday. This unique event aims to unite Ukulele players from across the UK in one place and will be headlined by the legendary Rinky Dinks. This Ukulele ‘supergroup’ from Bristol have gathered a huge following with their versions of classics including “I Predict A Riot”, “Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” and “A Town Called Malice”.

Rebecca Richardson from Chilled Turtle added: “The response we have had so far from people has been amazing.

“We’ve had hundreds of people saying they want to bring their Ukulele along and have a jamming session.

“To have the Rinky Dinks agree to come and play is fantastic. Not only will they perform on the main stage, but they are also going to play off the people in the main paddle round the pier as they enter the water.

“It just goes to show there are plenty of closet Ukulele fans out there!”

Chilled Turtle have commissioned a special ‘Ukulele Song Book’ for this event and are hoping that if this is a success then they will aim for the world record attempt of ‘most people playing Ukuleles simultaneously next year.

Proceeds from the Paddle Round The Pier Beach Festival are split between the three designated charities – the RNLI, the Chestnut Tree Children’s Hospice and SurfAid International. Although the event is free to enter, people are asked to donate to the official volunteers, who will be collecting with their buckets across the weekend.

For more information about the bands and the event in general can be found on www.paddleroundthepier.com.