Today's the Day

Royal Terrace Gardens Opening Festival
2 October 2010
A day of music and entertainment to celebrate the opening of Royal Terrace Gardens. (All events are free unless indicated).
Time Event Details
12 pm - 6.45 pm Creative Torbay Stage (Princess Gardens) A wide range of live music acts from across South Devon. The line up includes; Three Bags Full, Emily Howard and Friends, Hurache, Unsung Heroes, The Humanitarians and The Quails.
12 pm - 6 pm Geopark Marquee (Princess Gardens) Interactive exhibits and geological activities plus workshops, creative play, storytelling and other family fun. Exhibitors include Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, Plymouth University, Torquay Museum, Kents Cavern and creative activities with local Geopark artist Anna Kehler.
1 pm / 2.15 pm /3.30 pm Geo Cruises (departing from princess Pier) See the stunning coastline and discover the geology of the Bay aboard the Coral Star.
Tickets: £7.00/£4.00
2.30 pm - 4 pm Book Launch: The Official English Riviera Geopark Guidebook Come and meet BBC TV presenter (How the Earth Made Us and Earth: The Power of the Planet), geologist and Patron of the English Riviera Geopark, Professor Iain Stewart, who will be signing copies of the new English Riviera Geopark Guide Book. Copies of the book will be available to buy inside the Geopark Marquee
6.45 pm Official Opening Ceremony Torbay Brass Band will open the celebrations, followed by a special performance from the Community Choir led by Dartington Composer by Association, Hugh Nankivell.
BBC presenter and Patron of the English Riviera Geopark, Professor Iain Stewart will join the Mayor of Torbay to officially open Royal Terrace Gardens before the Grand finale, the light and sound show, Time and Tide.
7.20 pm Light and Sound Show Extravaganza: Time and Tide – The Final Act (Royal Terrace Gardens) What better way to mark the official opening of Royal Terrace Gardens than this; a SPECTACULAR animated light and sound show, using the rock face as its canvas. Music and sound complement an especially composed digital projection, as we see the rock face come alive. Centred round a live dancer, a tiny figure, climbing the new walkway, small wax rubbings and ink blots created with participants from around Torbay, are transformed from tiny moments into earthshaking events. The rock walk bends, stretches and rumbles as the awe-inspiring scale of geological time is mapped out before our eyes. A truly unique event, not to be missed.
8.00 pm Seth Lakeman plus Support (Princess Theatre) Local lad made good, Seth Lakeman, widely regarded as the UK’s foremost folk singer/ songwriter, makes his eagerly awaited return with new album Hearts and Minds.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a paid event. Tickets: £19.00 (£18 concs) available through www.ticketmaster.co.uk or from the Princess Theatre Box Office: 0844 847 2315.

More Photos

One shows the lighting in the steps and the other shows the lights at the foot of the rock face. Be better if it was dark, I hope.

More Photos from Top of Rock Walk

One of these two show Livermead Head and the other swings round to the Grand Hotel and the world famous balloon and includes some of the cliff and the road at the bottom.

More photos from Rock Walk

These two photos show more of the view from the top of Rock Walk.

One looks along the Princess Pier towards Brixham and the other shows Paignton in the distance.

Open Two Days Before Official Opening

At last, 2 years and 10 months since it was closed for safety reasons Rock Walk has been opened to Joe Public. I went along this evening (Thursday) as there was an item in the Herald Express saying all the barriers had come down and would say down till Friday evening when they would go back up for the Grand Oficial Opening on Saturday. This picture shows The area above the Harbour.

Almost There, The End Really is in Sight.

While on my daily wander round Torquay I noticed a poster advertising a forthcoming attraction concerning Rock Walk. Or as it is correctly known, The Royal Terrace Gardens. The Royal in this case being on of Victoria's daughters, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. She had an interesting life, click here to find out more. Anyway next Saturday is opening day as you can see from the poster on a nearby bus stop. Not a mention of the time though. Nick Bye will be there but don't let that put you off because Professor Iain Stewart together with a choir and all sorts of other attractions will also be in attendance. We might even get to walk up the steps and admire the view at last.

If you can't make it don't worry, I'll take a few photos and post them here.

This is from the Herald Express which does know what time it all starts.

 

The one-day festival celebrates the re-opening of the gardens after the three-year project to secure the rock face, restore the popular gardens, and with its flying staircases and viewing platform offering spectacular views and special lighting system, create a new attraction for Torquay

The festivities will start at noon and include street performances and live music by local bands, family workshops, and a spectacular 20-minute after-dark light and sound show. The day is topped by an 8pm concert performance by Seth Lakeman at the Princess Theatre.

For a copy of the poster shown in the photo PDF (560kb) click here.

Exactly When Will It Be Open? Does any one know for sure?

It isn't the time it is taking to finish the work but the continuing statements made by Torbay council saying it would be ready when it was obvious it wouldn't be. What was the point in all that other than a short term bolster to some politicians flagging position. For instance the deputy mayor said it would be open by the end of July; come the end of July when it wasn't open he said, Well I only meant the scaffolding and the Blue Wall would be down by the end of July and you would all be able to look at the cliff face, not that anyone would be able to walk up the walkways. No mention of that in his original statement.
I used to be an avid supporter of the council when the work started in Jan 2008 but now I believe they should have removed the trees, reopened the top foot path (Rock Walk) and left the cliff face alone.

Look at the photo taken yesterday (all the walk ways look like this) and tell me they aren't going to leave it like this. If they are then Councillor Lewis's statement that it is being built to last 50 years is clearly outrageous. If they aren't then how long will it take to complete the work. I don't care if it is next July; I just want to know.