A Tyneside lighthouse, three brass bands and an armada of ships will be staging a unique musical performance tomorrow.

Fifty boats of all sizes will be gathering on the North Sea from 11am, ready to perform the
ambitious musical score at 12pm.

Crowds will gather on the coastal cliffs as the composition is played across a space of
several miles around Souter lighthouse.

The event, created by artists Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway along with
composer Orlando Gough, is a key part of the Festival of
the North East and aims to mark the phasing-out of the foghorn from the
UK’s coastal landscape.

Foghorns have been used since the 19th century to warn shipping of
danger but in recent years the devices have been superseded by GPS and other
technologies.

Souter Lighthouse, near South Shields on Tyneside, has one of the few remaining working horns in the UK, which will sound along with 75 musicians from the Felling Band, the Westoe Band and the
NASUWT Riverside Band.

New technology
will allow the ships offshore to play simultaneaously.

Final preparations

The event team a working hard to ensure the first-ever event of its kind is a success.

A spokesman said: ‘We’ve been dropping off horns at various ships over the
week, and then tomorrow morning we will be running around like
crazy people doing final tuning of the horns and installing the control
boxes that will drive the ships horns.

‘It’s a difficult balance – we want to have our horns distributed between
as many ships as possible, but the more ships we have to deal with on
the morning of the show the more crazy it’s going to be.

‘Every single
horn will need to be re-tuned once it’s in position, and all of the
electronics, computers and air supplies have to be tested and set up –
all in the space of a few hours.’

How to take part

Organisers are welcoming vessels of all types and sizes to take part in a sail-by tomorrow, call 07738
953116, email rhollinshead@gritandpearl.co.uk

Find out more at www.foghornrequiem.org.

(Pictures
show: event team members tuning and assembling some of the horns, Souter Lighthouse and a brass band practice event at Souter)