Major Sponsors come on board for Tall Ships 2011 – Sep 2010

Deirdre Dalton of The Waterford News and Star wrote on Sep 7th –

The Tall Ships coffers were rattling with pieces of gold to the tune of €450,000 last week as five sponsors who have come on board for the four-day festival were announced.

With just 10 months to go to Waterford’s hosting of The Tall Ships Races 2011 presented by Szczecin and organised by Sail Training International 3, Bulmers Original Irish Cider and Waterford Crystal have been named as host port partners while Waterford Institute of Technology are host port education partners and RTÉ will be the official media partner in Waterford.

Waterford City Council and the Port of Waterford are already in place as lead delivery agencies having jointly mounted the successful bid to secure the return of the event following Waterford’s hosting in 2005.

Welcoming the strong backing announced at a reception on board the Lord Nelson sail training vessel in Waterford, Cllr Mary Roche, Mayor of Waterford, said: “To 3; Bulmers; RTÉ; Waterford Crystal and Waterford Institute of Technology, I say a very sincere ‘thank you’ on behalf of the people of Waterford and all of those from around Europe and beyond who will be here next summer for what promises to be four magical days of free fun in Ireland’s oldest city.

“The support of the host port partners, education partner and media partner represent a welcome vote of confidence in Waterford’s hosting of The Tall Ships Races 2011 and is all the more appreciated in an economic climate where marketing and sponsorship spending has been hit across the board. The backing provided will augment the existing core funding in place from Waterford City Council and Port of Waterford while a positive announcement is expected shortly from Fáilte Ireland.”


Des Whelan, Chairman, The Tall Ships Races 2011, added: “We are delighted to receive such great backing from the partners who each have strong existing ties to the southeast region. Their financial and marketing support is timely as we are now within 10 months of the Tall Ships arriving back in Waterford.

The countdown is very much on to what will be Ireland’s biggest ever free quayside festival.

“We are also continuing to see good interest from the Waterford business community in our patrons’ programme which has three tiers to suit different business sizes and sectors. We fully recognise the challenging economic climate at present and, given this, are all the more appreciative of this support. It is allowing us create a comprehensive, family-friendly festival programme featuring the very best of Irish music, food and street theatre to coincide with the Tall Ships being in port.”

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