Monday 4th December 2017
With December upon us, seasonal celebrations in Saundersfoot are well underway. This weekend, the Festival by the Sea kicked off the festive season with live music and illuminations. Around 60 talented local craftspeople showcased their work, alongside Santa’s Grotto, the funfair and displays by Pembrokeshire’s Falconry.
Down in Saundersfoot, the boats are being sorted for the winter months. The yachts have been lifted out of the harbour so they can be repaired, refurbished and re-polished. Our own elves at the sailing club have been busy winterising the powerboats and safely tucking them away in the garage until sailing commences next year. Thanks as ever to the Wednesday crew for all your hard work, the club would not be the same without you! Similarly, most of the rowing boats have been winterised and tucked up for the winter months, but two are still in action from the harbour for use at high tide. Big thanks to those who helped with this over the weekend.
Whilst we’re all preparing our decorations for the Christmas season, how many of us actually take a moment to think about where these decorations come from? Did you know that over 60% of the world’s Christmas decorations are made in factories in the Yiwu Christmas Village in China? These decorations are often hand made by workers who don’t understand the fuss as Christmas is not celebrated in China. None of these workers are paid more than £1 per hour and work 12-hour shifts to feed the world’s insatiable need for cheap Christmas decorations. In the UK, we spend about £2 billion on tinsel, fairy lights and various other Christmas decorations every year, but just how do these decorations end up on British soil?
The OOCL Hong Kong is the world’s largest cargo ship, spanning the area of four football pitches and the most likely answer to how our decorations reach British shores. It is 400m in length (taller than the Shard) and 58.8m in width. This mega-vessel weighs 210,890 tonnes and can carry 21,000 standard 20ft containers. It serves the Asia-Europe trade lane sailing in to the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk. Ships like the OOCL Hong Kong bring over hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Christmas decorations every year in order to get us ready for the festive season, taking in excess of a month at sea to reach us. Isn’t it amazing to think of the journey your Christmas decorations have been on?
Gypsea Girl