Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall – the ambitious event that created a line of light from coast to coast earlier this year – has won Tourism Event of the Year at the North East England Tourism Awards, announced this week.

It now goes on to compete in the national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence being held in April.

The inspiring event – led by Hadrian’s Wall Heritage – took place on Saturday 13 March 2010 and saw the full 84 miles of the World Heritage Site illuminated for the first time in 1,600 years.

A line of over 500 lights were lit at intervals along the Wall from Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west, where flaming arrows were fired into the night sky by Roman re-enacters to mark the end of the journey for the Light.

Linda Tuttiett, Hadrian’s Wall Heritage chief executive said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have won a gold award for Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall. We are very proud to have worked with all of our partners along the Wall and the 1,000 volunteers who made this incredible event happen.

“People came from communities close to the Wall, other parts of Britain, Australia, France, Canada, Belgium, Germany and the US. On the weekend of the event alone visitors spent £3 million in Hadrian’s Wall Country. The international significance of Hadrian’s Wall also ensured the event had a massive global media impact.

“We are now looking forward to taking part in the national awards in the spring and we really hope we will have an opportunity to showcase Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall again.”

Steve Stewart, chief executive of Northumberland County Council and a volunteer illuminator at Housesteads Roman Fort for the event said: “It was a magical experience and I am pleased to have been able to help bring this amazing part of Northumberland to the eyes of the world.”

Hadrian’s Wall Heritage oversees the management and development of the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site.

A DVD of the stunning event including aerial footage is available priced £11.99 from http://www.hadrians-wall.org/page.aspx/Interactive-Map/Further-Information/Hadrian’s- Wall-Country-Online-Shop .

Download the full press release PDF.

We have our remaining stocks of Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall T-shirts available to order on line.  Made from good quality 100% cotton, in smart black, these are a great souvenir of this once in a lifetime event.

http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/text.asp?PageId=242

Pat at Cell 18 Point 34A

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amazing!

carlisle! Fab! X cjw