The organisers of Hartlepool Harbour Day really know how to pull a crowd. This was the start last summer of the raft race as the numerous strangely clad contestants paddled past Teesmouth lifeboat. Also taking place that day was the now famous birdman contest, not to mention a kipper eating contest. Hartlepool Harbour Day 1983 raised about £3,500 for the RNLI.

photograph by courtesy of Dirk Van Der Werff, Hartlepool Mail.