Meridian Sandcastle Competition

Blue skies may have been in short supply so far this summer but with its return to our shores this July, the Meridian Sandcastle Competition presented families with a fantastic opportunity to finally step foot out onto the golden sands and to enjoy everything our Island beaches have to offer.

Now in its 11th consecutive year, the Meridian Sandcastle Competition takes place at various seaside resorts across the South Coast between July and August. Bognor and Littlehampton were the first to host the event so far this year and unfortunately they fell victim to inclement weather conditions (and we've since learnt that wasn't their only misfortune!) However in contrast, the timing of the long-awaited break in the weather couldn't have been better for the two remaining venues - Ryde and Durly Chine in Bournemouth.

Summer has finally arrived!

Meridian television camera crews once again received a warm and friendly welcome to the glorious stretch of sand surrounding Appley Tower for another staging of the ever-popular event. Frazzled parents who up until now were finding it a challenge to keep their children entertained throughout the first week of the summer holidays, gladly brought their offspring to down to Ryde, many accompanied by visiting friends and relatives - all of whom 'got stuck into' building their sandcastles with great enthusiasm.

If the lure of the sunshine coupled with the thought of great prizes for the winning sandcastle sculptures wasn't enough to entice people down to the beach, the competition was once again hosted by the gentleman often referred to as the "nicest man in television" Fred Dinenage, from Meridian Tonight. Now in his 43rd year in TV, Fred said: "Every year that we run this competition it just gets better and better. I am constantly surprised at just how inventive the kids can be: they work so hard to sculpt amazing things out of what is really just some wet sand. And there's always one child who does a sculpture of me…. without any hair! I can't think why." Also accompanying Fred as celebrity judges this year were his colleagues Gareth Evans, who often presents the Meridian news and sport on Saturday afternoon and the familiar face of Meridian sport, reporter Paul Belverstone.

A stunning location to do the Island proud

Talking to iwight.com, Gareth Evans said that this was the first Meridian Sandcastle Competition he had ever attended and was he delighted it had turned out to be such a beautiful day. He also remarked on what a stunning setting Appley Beach made for the event, with the liners sailing past and the impressive sight of Portsmouth's Millennium Tower shimmering away in the distance. Several members of the Meridian Team echoed these comments, coupled with remarks relating to the overall cleanliness of the beach throughout the course of the morning.

The competition was open for children up to and including 12 years old to enter, with ITV Meridian and Inspire Leisure thoughtfully supplying buckets and spades for those who forgot to bring them. The girls from Mimicks were also on hand to provide a free face painting service to all of those youngsters who wished to participate.

Energetic enthusiasm coupled with inventive ideas

Once the registration process was complete, Fred sounded the hooter and gathered all of the young contenders together beside the sea wall. Having introduced them to the three judges and explained that sandcastle building should only take place between the two sets of flags, the hooter was fired once again and the crowd scattered excitably in every feasible direction to commence work on their dynamic creations. This year saw a total number of just over 200 children register for the event; certainly a good turnout, although not quite as impressive as the first time the competition visited Ryde six years ago, when nearly 400 youngsters put their names down to take part. Previous to this, the Isle of Wight's Meridian Sandcastle Competition was held on Yaverland Beach in Sandown.

When asked how popular the competitions have been overall so far, Fred Dinenage told iwight.com that the support of the Meridian viewers never ceases to amaze him and despite the bitterly cold weather last week in Bognor and Littlehampton, the event was still very well supported. Fred laughed as he recalled how the weather became immaterial after a time as a slight misjudgement with the tidal forecast suddenly presented itself as an even greater problem! "It was blowing a gale so we couldn't even put our flags up to mark the parameters of the sandcastle building area, then the tide came in and we were barely left with any sand at all!"

Shrek the Third comes first!

After an hour of intensive work, the 12 o'clock hooter filled the air on Appley Beach to signal prize-giving time and all of the contenders (and their by now ever-so-slightly flagging adult assistants) re-grouped beside the sea wall to hear Fred, Gareth and Paul announce the eagerly anticipated results. Scooping third place with a traditional sandcastle design were visitors to the Island Daniel and Alex Hake aged 12 and 8 from Luton. The very popular 'Meridian Yacht' took second place with ITV 'goodie-bags' being presented to Ryan and Jay Bell aged 8 and 6 years old from Sandown.

Finally the judges favourite and winner of this year's Isle of Wight Meridian Sandcastle Competition was a contemporary design by Page and Lauren (both 12) from Wootton with their topical recreation of Shrek. The girls had come well prepared to fight off some serious competition this year - imaginatively combining red glitter to form the friendly ogre's nose with strategically placed bright green seaweed to represent his ears.

To view more of this year's sandcastle designs along with further images of the day, please visit our online photo gallery. Also make sure you remember to tune into Meridian Tonight on Friday 24th August to catch the all-important television footage!

See more highlights of the competition at www.itvlocal.com/meridian

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