NEW BRIGHTON will be the hive of activity over the next few weeks starting with the Mersey River Festival this weekend.

A host of events are being held in the former resort. Sea shanties will be sung down by the river in Victoria Road while there will be dinghy race on Marine Lake and jet ski racing from the beach.

On Saturday night there is a NightGlow spectacular on the Mersey, part of the Balloons Across the Mersey Festival.

On Monday night there is Canadian Canoe Racing when 30 teams take part in a knock-out. This is staged on Marine Lake by Mike Jones School of Sailing with New Wallasey Regeneration, which is helping to arrange many of the activities.

This will be followed by New Brighton Carnival, over the weekend of June 26 and 27. A car boot sale will be held as part of the fairground attraction. Contact 639-3575 to book a car space or stall.

Wirral Hundred Motor Cycle race on New Brighton Promenade on Saturday, June 26, is followed by the two-day Wirral Show at Harrison Drive, July 10 and 11, plus New Brighton Rythm and Blues Festival.

Friends of the Ferries are upset that their annual river cruise on Saturday, June 19, has been 'scuttled' because there is no ferry boat available. It is still undergoing a refit.

Miss Joan Roberts, of Wallasey, spokesman for the Friends, told the Globe: "We made all the arrangements months in advance and sold all 400 tickets. Then to our horror Mersey Ferries told us, just a week before, they could not supply the boat. Through the Globe can we tell people the cruise is off. A new cruise is being organised for September 11."

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