Blast Bristol

Bristol’s annual harbour festival brings together live music, the grandest of sailing ships, and, in 2007 for the first time, the visiting journalists of BBC News and Sport on Tour.

Friday, 27 July was the first day of the 2007 event, and I joined the News and Sport on Tour team in the BBC marquees in Anchor Square, where they were busy showing the public exactly what it’s like to work for the BBC, and how both radio and television programmes are produced.

Members of the public could, under expert supervision, learn how to operate the cameras, scroll the autocue, and for the more daring, there was an opportunity to step in front of the camera and be the face of BBC News.

National news presenter Louise Minchin was on hand to give those reading the news some invaluable advice before they went “live”, and Penny Tranter helped prospective meteorologists as they prepared to read the weather.

Toots and the Maytals kick start the fun

Budding sports reporters could join Radio 5 Live’s Alistair Bruce-Ball and try their hand at commentating on the latest premiership football matches, and a team from BBC interactive showed others how to create their own online news story.

News and Sport on Tour was extremely well attended, and once the BBC marquees had closed their doors on Friday evening, I made my way through the at-Bristol complex to the site of the Amphitheatre stage.

The Harbour Festival really sprang into life as the working week finished; a sea of people gathered in front of the Amphitheatre stage to watch Bristol’s seminal record-spinner DJ Derek.

Many festival goers brought signs declaring their love for the waist-coated DJ, some simply had bizarre messages. “Derek! Would you like a raisin?” was one of the more obscure offerings.

Whether or not Derek did indeed want a raisin was a question left unanswered, but the legendary mix-master blended his unique collection of slinky reggae with hearty roots and beats, and gave everyone a summer workout, even as the dark clouds massed behind the stage.

Thankfully the rain contrived to stay away long enough for the crowd to enjoy headline act, reggae pioneers Toots and the Maytals. Silky voiced front-man Frederick “Toots” Hibbert declared the entire audience were “the most important people in reggae”, and he and his band were on stage for well over an hour.

Their mix of new material and old classics brought down an even larger crowd than had been in attendance for DJ Derek, and proved a fantastic start to the 2007 Bristol Harbour Festival.