Over 100 volunteers have been recruited to help make The North Sea Tall Ships Regatta Blyth 2016 an extra special occasion.

Four months ago organisers put out a call for would-be volunteers and received a wave of applications from people wanting to take part.

140 volunteers have been appointed to help over the four day event - which takes places between Friday, August 26 and Monday, August 29 weekend of 26 – 29 August - as Ship Liaison Officers (SLOs), Town Hosts (working with Tourism & Visitor Information staff) or Event Liaison Officers (ELOs).

A number of specialist volunteers, Technical Liaison Officers (TLOs) will be assisting with ship repairs and maintenance.

Councillor Val Tyler, Cabinet member for Arts, Leisure and Culture at Northumberland County Council, said: “We have a superb team of friendly, reliable volunteers who will play a vital role assisting the organisers, and helping the crews, residents and visitors to have a wonderful August bank holiday. We’d like to thank everyone who applied to volunteer.

“It will be a busy weekend but it’ll also be fun and very rewarding. The ship and land-based volunteers will gain a wealth of experience while helping to deliver a world-class event.”

The ship-based SLOs will be working with the ships and their crews providing essential communications between them and the race organisers (Sail Training International) and the event team. They’ll also be responsible for encouraging crews and trainees to participate in the shore-based activities throughout the weekend.

Carol Bird, aged 71, from Amble and her husband John, who is also 71 years of age, attended the induction and training sessions and are working as Ship Liaison Officers.

She said: “I’m really excited about the Tall Ships Regatta and will be working alongside my husband, John, who has worked at two previous events at Newcastle.

“We love yachting and we’re really looking forward to seeing the Tall Ships sailing into Blyth and meeting the international crews and being part of this magical event.”

The majority of volunteers have been recruited from Northumberland ably assisted by others from Tyne and Wear and County Durham, and a few who will be travelling from as far afield as Devon, Manchester, and Stirling in Scotland.

A two day Level 2 Award in Volunteering Course has been offered to all taking part. The Event Liaison Officers will be supporting the Event Managers and the arts cultural program, and the ‘Town Hosts’ will be providing tourism advice and guidance to visitors.

Martin Lawlor, chief executive, Port of Blyth, said: “Volunteers are going to play an important role working on the land and watersides of the event, helping event visitors and the international crews of the Tall Ships to have an enjoyable visit to the county.”

Visitors will be able to spot the Tall Ships Volunteers as they will be wearing yellow, turquoise and red polo-shirts, and if you need any directions or help, speak to one of the Town Hosts in turquoise, they’ll be happy to help.

Send your photos!

We'd love to feature reader photographs of the Tall Ships events here on Chroniclelive and hopefully in the paper too. That means photographs of events and crowds and of you and yours enjoying the occasion too.

Please email yourpictures@chroniclelive.co.uk with your name and area and tell us where you were and we will create a gallery reflecting the excitement and events.