Cromer & Sheringham Crab & Lobster festival 2010

This last weekend saw the inaugural Cromer & Sheringham Crab & Lobster festival (or Crabster festival to those in the know!).  I had the pleasure of spending two days wandering around in the sunshine photographing the various events and people.  The weather was perfect (for sunburn), some great entertainment and some lovely company, all in all a huge success.Below are some of the highlights for me, I will have the full gallery processed and online soon but it's been a manic few days so a slight delay.The festival started on Friday evening with a concert at the Cromer pavilion theatre (at the end of the pier) by the Cromer Smugglers and the Sheringham Shantymen preceeded by Sid Kipper - local legend & comedian.Below, Sheringham Town Crier - Tony Nelson does the introductions...Below, a very rare sight - The Sheringham Shantymen & Cromer Smugglers perform on stage together - accompanied by Cromer's Mayor Hillary Thompson & Sheringham's own self-titled 'Old Grey Mayor' - Noel Gant.Below, a high tech mobile demonstration kitchen was brought in for the events and hosted demonstrations by many well known local chefs including Morston Hall's Michelin starred celebrity chef Galton Blackiston, local legend Chris Coubrough and many others.Below, Cromer Mayor Hillary Thompson received much deserved attention by the Cheesy Rider street performance comedy & juggling act.  These guys are absolutely amazing, I saw all four of their performances over the weekend and every single one had me cracking up.  Comedy genius.Below, Sheringham fisherman Lenny 'Teapot' West takes on a new apprentice at the crab pot making demo - local artist & festival organiser Kate 'Teacup' Royall.Below left, Andreas from the Constantia restaurant brought some real flair to the cooking demonstration in his own inimitable style!Below right, Morston Hall's Galton Blackiston prepared a lobster grilled with garlic & lime, it smelled sublime.Below left, Jackie from Joyful Wests crab stall with one of many hundreds, probably thousands of delicious Sheringham & Cromer crabs enjoyed over the weekend.Below right, available light portrait of Lenny 'Teapot' West.Below, on Sunday the whole festival moved over to Cromer where they held the World Pier Crabbing Contest...Cromer lifeboat launched for some demonstrations for the crowds lining the pier and I was lucky enough to get a ride, what an awesome piece of kit that boat is, many thanks to John Davies and the boys of the Cromer crew for a great trip.Below, Cromer's inshore D-Class lifeboat also launched.Below, Cheesy Rider comedy show working their magic on huge crowds at Cromer...Below, I thought it would be nice to finish with this shot - one of the aims of the festival was to provide a joint event for both Sheringham & Cromer and to encourage good relations between the towns and I think this sums it up!Full gallery of shots to follow soon, I will put another blog post up with a link to it once I've got through all the processing!