Paddle Round the Pier hands out Â£30,000 to charities

A Brighton festival handed out Â£30,000 of donations to local charities on the British Airways i360 on Thursday morning (November 23).

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the Wave Project and Brighton Surf Life Saving Club all received cheques for Â£10,000 from Paddle Round the Pier, which holds a weekend of fundraising and water-based activities every summer.

Trustee Jon Orrell said: “Next year it’s going be almost impossible to improve on Paddle. We’re not going to make it much bigger – Hove Lawns aren’t big enough. We’re not going to be able to make it much better, but we are going to make it a bit different.”

Malcolm Harvey, who accepted the cheque on behalf of Brighton RNLI, said the donation would help fund the training of new recruits.

The Paddle Round the Pier event on the i360

Since its launch in 1996 Paddle Round the Pier has become the biggest beach festival in Europe with 50,000 attendees in 2017 and is run entirely by volunteers.

The organisation promotes community participation in amateur watersports and the education of water safety and lifesaving techniques.

Event host Romany Diva of Magic said the diverse watersports, exhibitors, food and music was an eclectic mix that worked well, and thanked the army of brilliant volunteers.

In 2018, the festival will be held on July 7 and 8.