welldone to Gerard Richardson for giving whitehaven hope for the future and yes he would be a good mayor. however, what about the other agencies involved how did they fair. Not to good the town looked dirty with pavements both at the harbour and around the town broken uneven and filled with make do tarmac. This is a time we should showcase whitehaven but the three major agencies always let us down with no cooperation between them. where were the hanging baskets around the town it may be earlier but planning and flexibility is essential. un painted lighthouses of course the harbour commisioners oh and the wave did it once change colour. all of this investment for the renaissance of whitehaven has fallen flat due to lack of maintence and planning. no lights on the candlestick? do they walk around with their eyes closed or may be there all shopping in carlisle/workington. some of the private shops on the market place need painting especially above ladbrooks who has stole the crown from the old kinselas. some are trying but others moan that no ones coming to the shops take a walk outside and see why. Private lanlords are also letting down our community by not maintaing the buildings. therfore whose to blame cumbria county council,copeland and the harbour commisioners. are these peopole doing their jobs for u the community looking around copeland the answer is no.

If youv'e never left whitehaven or left the county you would think this was the bees knees if you aint seen anything to compare it with,Eastbourne has a free airshow and events weekend every year,rochester in kent (a similar size to Whitehaven) puts on about 4 of these a year,i thought the organisers were a business this is not voluntery so they would give their best efforts,but the reason we get so out of date musicians is because all the good ones are already booked up.I would'nt say it was a diamond event more of a pebble with glitter sprinkled on it ya need to get out more.

Well, it's over again for another year, no doubt we'll be drip fed whispers for the next eight or nine months like financial problems, the event might not take place next year etc. etc. as we get every year, but hey, lets save money, lets get the programmes printed now, we know what will be on (exactly the same as the last few years) Catherine Jenkins, Red Arrows, Titan,same old celebrity chefs, same stalls along the harbour ripping off the good and gullable with over inflated prices for produce nothing whatsoever to do with the town, air sea rescue demo, jet ski exhibition, the list is endless and very predictable. We can make a stab at guessing the event timings which will in all probability be as accurate as this years, I have spoken to so many visitors with the same views and who definitely will not be back unless alternative attractions are found.
But please don't try to contact the organisers through the festival facebook page, postings to which are removed by the organisers if deemed critical in any way, shape or form. Indeed I will be surprised if these comments are seen in print.

Ex soap actor, turned cheese maker, makes comments that are used as a yardstick. Wake up.

Gerard Richardson is a True Hero and genuinely amazing unselfish person. It has been said before and I agree that this man should be our MP, Elected Mayor or Leader of the Council. Copeland needs more decent honest people like Gerard to instill a bit of trust.

I think I need to get myself to the opticians as I must be going colour blind. I did not detect any evidence of a "patriotic red, white and blue theme" to the fireworks on Saturday night (which is not to say that they weren't very good!). Perhaps some people are getting a bit too used to over-egging the pudding?

In fact there was precious little evidence of a 'jubilee' element to the event at all and if I were the Queen I'd have asked for my letter back! It was just the same-old same-old wrapped up as something different, which it wasn't (sound familar)?

Another amazing event to put Whitehaven firmly on the entertainment map. Thanks to Gerard and the team for the vision to take this event to the heights it has reached. But most of all for the hard work and tough decisions that go on in the background to make the festival happen for us all to enjoy. Can't wait until next year to see what the team can pull out of their magic hat. Well done and a huge thank you.