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her and the Prince, in a spontaneous outpouring of patriotic pride.
Royal Warrant until 1949. Didn’t stop the town using it up until then, mind...
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It’s the 190th 168th
anniversary of the Regatta, but only the year. The first Regatta, organised by ‘gentlemen of
the town’ apparently, was held in 1822 (or rather, this is the first written record we have of a Regatta in Dartmouth). There were none between 1828 and 1833 (probably because the ‘gentlemen’ were busy doing other things) and then a committee of local townspeople got together to organise the 1834 event, which is the beginning of an event we would recognise as a ‘proper’ Dartmouth Regatta. The First and Second World Wars account for the remaining ‘missing’ years, when few people felt like celebrating.
The report of the first Regatta in the ‘exeter Flying Post’ hinted at the long history of rowing on the Dart, as it stated that, along with three sailing races, there was one race for six-oared gigs “for which Dartmouth [was] very famous”. It also described the Dart as being very suited to the holding of a Regatta type event, as the valley sides provided a natural amphitheatre for spectactors.
5
The Regatta is held on the final Friday in august every year (meaning it sometimes slips into September). This is due to it fitting into the national Sailing Programme – so it won’t clash with other Regattas, such as Cowes Week. The first documented use of these dates was 1919; it may have been in place before, but records are scant. Certainly, in the Victorian era, the Regatta was earlier – it started on August 11th
6 when Queen Victoria made her auspicious visit.
Regattas cost money: in 1849 the cost of Regatta was £79 and in the noughties was estimated to be around £100,000. However, this does not tell the entire story: in
7
And even though Queen Victoria bestowed the ‘Royal’ on the Regatta, it wasn’t actually backed up with a
REGATTA
Interesting Facts about Dartmouth Regatta
Albert visited in 1856, except they didn’t. The Royal couple sheltered in the Dart from a storm just as the town was building up to Regatta Week, and granted the ‘Royal’ honorific and cash for two prizes to be awarded at the Regatta, but then sailed before the event began.
1
When she was here, the Queen inspired the people of the town to put candles in their windows to greet
It is a Royal Regatta because Queen Victoria and Prince
1849, £79 would have paid for a day’s wages for 390 skilled workers. If you go by an average skilled worker today costing £200, that means £79 was equivalent to around £80,000 – not so different.
of Regatta. Dartmouth’s population is just 5,400. If London had experienced the same proportion of people visiting it during the Olympics, it would have seen 26 million people pour in each day.
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The Regatta’s two fireworks’ events cost £20,000, and the Regatta Marquee around £25,000.
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At the Opening Ceremony the Mayor of Dartmouth pins the ‘silver Oar’ to the lapel of the Regatta Chairman – this is the emblem of the Water Bailiwick of Dartmouth, the property of the Duchy of Cornwall, and represents a much larger one which is part of the Dartmouth town regalia. This is a ceremonial gesture of the town handing control of the town to the Regatta Committee for the duration of the event.
15 37
The Red arrows first performed at Regatta in 1978 – their fee was £200. In 2012 the fee was around
£9,000. The river Dart again helps create the perfect theatre for their performances and it is often said (by Dartmouth Regatta committee members) that Dartmouth Regatta is the aerobatic team’s ‘favourite’ venue. The diplomatic Arrows themselves have never publicly stated this, of course...
every year around 2,000 people take part in sporting events, which means that since 1946,
132,000 people have competed at Regatta – or around the population of my hometown, Hastings, in east sussex.
The first meeting about a Regatta is held one week after the completion of the last event – the
organisers are VERY dedicated people who do it all for FREE. So if you meet someone who tells you they are on the Regatta committee, buy them a drink (but only a non- alcoholic one during Regatta itself, as they need to keep their wits about them).
There are less than 50 people who run the Regatta, taking on the huge responsibility of
organising the town and keeping it safe.
The committee have to agree a ‘disaster plan’ each year with local councils and the emergency services
in case of a massive disaster at the event, including emergency transport links and places to house dead bodies during a crisis. (NOTE: This will never be needed, enjoy your stay!)
Regatta more than triples the population of Dartmouth: 18,000 visitors, on average, come to the town each day
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