Portstewart to make a splash at Duck Dive Festival
Money raised at the event will be donated to the Community Rescue Service Northern District
Last updated 16th Mar 2022
Portstewart locals are set to face the freezing water once again as the annual 'Duck Dive' makes its return on St Patrick's Day after a two-year hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year’s festival has a new location at the Crescent along the promenade and is slightly different to previous years.
Instead of taking the plunge into the sea on Thursday a pool will be constructed under what is known locally as the Witches Hat for both adults and children.
It starts at two O’clock where participants will be drenched in water to raise money for the Community Rescue Service Northern District.
The charity consists solely of volunteers and relies heavily on donations to carry out its life-saving work.
All funds raised on the day will go directly to paying for life-saving equipment used by their operational volunteers when searching for vulnerable high-risk missing people.
Registration is open online here and opens from one O’clock at the Crescent tomorrow (Thursday).
Barry Torrens, Commander for the Northern District, has welcomed the return of the event.
He said: “The Duck Dive was traditionally something that happened on St. Patrick's Day in Portstewart and has been re-designed.
“It was off for a couple of years during Cvovid and re-designed and brought here into the Crescent at Portstewart.
“It will be similar in that all participants will get wet.
“We will construct a pool and a walk the plank type system and participants will raise funds for the Community Rescue Service and get wet.
“Registration starts at 1pm.
“It is absolutely wonderful that we're involved we're very proud to be involved with the Duck festival.
“Every member of the Community Rescue Service is a volunteer.
“All of our equipment comes from donations from very caring members of the public, very keen businesses and the occasional grant.
“So, every penny that's raised during the duck festival for the community rescue service goes directly the following week to purchasing lifesaving equipment that we use to search for high-risk vulnerable missing members of our community.”