The Southampton Heritage Federation is proud to announce that the Southampton Maritime Festival will be returning to the port’s Ocean Terminal this August. The Festival will once again be taking over the docks and water within Dock Gate 4 to bring you a whole host of activities and attractions that hark back to Southampton’s past. You will get the chance to visit a plethora of historic ships and v
essels to see what life was like living and working on board. War time history will come alive with the arrival of the HMS Medusa and a variety of Dunkirk Little Ships including S.T. Southampton resident ship the SS Shieldhall will be moored at the quayside and also offering the chance of a trip around the Solent. For those with a passion for sailing, the Jubilee Sailing Trust will also be attending with Tenacious, their 63m tall ship. On land you can explore a large number of displays and demonstrations over the course of two days. The quayside will be packed with exhibits including historic cars, steam exhibits, heritage trams whilst Southampton’s Ocean Terminal will house many heritage and art exhibits, craft fairs and traders. Heritages buses will once again provide a shuttle service to the docks from the city centre throughout the event and, new this year, will provide free open top bus trips from the docks around the city’s historic sites. Throughout each day dozens of live performances will be provided by brass, pipe, and swing bands as well as more modern pop groups. Plus the Friday will be a special ‘families’ day’, with many more activities aimed at beating summer holiday boredom.
