In 1973 the Hope Cove Association, mainly made up of local hoteliers, decided to organise “Hope Cove Fete and Holiday Weekend” for August Bank Holiday in an attempt to revive Hope Cove Regatta which had been abandoned in the early 1950s. The idea was to provide a free fantastic weekend of fun for all ages. It started with dancing in the village square on the Friday and over the Saturday, Sunday and Monday there were sports organised for children on the beach, a raft race, a pram race, fancy-dress competition and a fishing competition.
However as the organisers found it difficult to run their hotels and the very successful Weekend at the same time a new committee was formed from people who were happy to give their time and together with help from local businesses, the first Hope Cove Weekend in its current format took place at August Bank Holiday 1974.
Fast forward to this year and as usual there will be a number of stalls and traditional games in the Square and fun for all the family on Harbour Beach with a range of free activities and competitions ranging from Tug of War to Family Sports, Sandcastle Competitions and Swimming Races. There will be live music every evening and Fireworks on Saturday night. The History Group will provide an Exhibition in the Reading Room full of fascinating facts about Hope Cove over the years.
Look out for our Souvenir Programmes for £3 on sale in various places in and around Hope Cove and check out our website www.hopecoveweekend.uk for updates.
This year we will be selling HCW “merch”to mark our 50th Anniversary. Limited amounts of tee shirts, sweatshirts, bucket hats and tote bags will be featured on our website and there will be a stall in the square from the Saturday morning. All drinks purchased over the Weekend will be sold in Festival style reusable cups at a cost of £1. The surplus proceeds from HCW will be distributed between local charitable concerns as in previous years. We rely on donations to keep HCW going as a mainly free family fun event and we are really grateful to our event sponsors and donors. There are various ways of donating over the Weekend via our Collection Tins or Sum Up Machines and QR code on the programmes or our website.
We rely on our wonderful team of volunteers to Marshall all the events. If you fancy donating a bit of time over HCW please do attend our Volunteer Meeting at The Cottage Hotel Hope Cove on Sunday 18th August at 10.30 am or email Hope Cove Weekend Committee at [email protected]
