A GREAT Yarmouth charity received a massive boost with the announcement it had secured around a million Euros to develop its international festival. SeaChange celebrated the news last Friday with Yarmouth mayor Tony Smith who toasted the success of the grant following 18-months of negotiations.

A GREAT Yarmouth charity received a massive boost with the announcement it had secured around a million Euros to develop its international festival.

SeaChange celebrated the news last Friday with Yarmouth mayor Tony Smith who toasted the success of the grant following 18-months of negotiations.

Half the money is coming from EU funds, while the other half has been matched by Yarmouth Borough Council and other funders.

The Interreg Grant (the EU Inter Regional Programme) means that SeaChange will work closely with partners in France as well as South Coast festivals in England. The other partners have been working together for the past decade but recently the boundaries were increased to the East Coast and SeaChange was asked to join the partnership.

Joe Mackintosh said: “We've got it in recognition of the strong support given by Yarmouth Borough Council and the work SeaChange has been developing over recent years, including the ground-breaking Out There international festival staged in the autumn last year.”

Plans for this year's festival are already underway which will see the return of French tightrope walker Didier Pasquette who will walk across the roof tops on the seafront during the weekend of September 19 and 20. The event will focus on street arts and be centred around St George's Park.

The grant covers three years to 2012 and will link SeaChange and Yarmouth with Amiens, a town North of Paris, which is the lead partner for the project.