“History has to start somewhere,” Brightlingsea Mayor Mick Barry told guests at the first Brightlingsea Oyster Feast – which marked the first harvesting of Brightlingsea native oysters for decades.
The feast – a lunch at Brightlingsea Sailing Club on Friday (September 30) – was hosted by the Deputy of the Cinque Port Liberty, Mark Wilby.
So the oysters served up to diners at Brightlingsea Sailing Club marked a historic moment – the start of what could be the resurgence of the industry in the town, and perhaps an event to rival the more famous Colchester Oyster Feast.
The first 300 or so bivalves harvested hadn’t travelled far. Grown on ancient layings in Brightlingsea Creek – owned by local boatbuilder Robert White – the oysters were harvested and purified by Gary Humm, who runs the Thames Estuary Lobster Hatchery on the Shipyard Estate.
Speaking after lunch, Mr Humm said: “It’s my plan to bring the natives back to Brightlingsea in abundance.” And he added: “This isn’t for us, it’s for the children of the future.”
Guest speaker and Brightlingsea resident Professor Stephen Heppell – who owns My Alice, a traditional fishing smack built in 1907 that would once have dredged for oysters – also emphasised how important fishing had been to the town, pointing out that in 1930 more sprats were landed here than in the rest of the UK.
Brightlingsea was a major oyster producer until the severe winter of 1963 irreparably damaged the layings in the waters around the town and killed off the industry.
In recent years the local industry has developed around West Mersea, from where producer Richard Haward supplies tens of thousands of wild-grown Mersea rock oysters to buyers around the world.
May I ask who decided who were the guests, who invited them and did they pay for the meal?
The Colchester Oyster Feast is prohibitively expensive at £98 a ticket.
This event was organised by the Deputy and was largely attended by members of the Liberty. Tickets were paid for. This was something of a first all round, and the number of oysters available was limited. Whether or not it becomes a bigger/more open event is a question for the organisers. And yes, the Colchester event is expensive – and always has been. Colchester Council says the event is fully funded by the ticket sales, so presumably there’s no cost to council tax payers.
Sounds like a great event – how can you get involved nex year?