The centenary edition of the UK’s largest and longest-running kite event was free, with workshops, a funfair and a calm space for visitors
100 Kites for 100 Years: Southsea Common Hosted the Portsmouth International Kite Festival on 12 and 13 September 2026
The centenary edition of the UK’s largest and longest-running kite event was free, with workshops, a funfair and a calm space for visitors
By Camden Rose, history student and kite flyer
Tuesday, Garden, Kite Line Tangled
Dear diary, I am a kite person, and I did not make it to Southsea this year. V2 Radio previewed the Portsmouth International Kite Festival, giving the dates as Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September 2026, 10am to 5pm each day, at Southsea Common. I read the preview after the event, with the particular misery of a person who has missed a party.
I cannot tell you how the weekend went, because the preview is not a report. I tell you what it promised.
The Centenary
The article says the festival was part of Portsmouth’s centenary celebrations, marking 100 years since the city was granted city status, with the theme 100 Kites for 100 Years. It was a free family event, run with Portsmouth City Council and The Kite Society of Great Britain, and is described as the UK’s largest and longest-running kite event.
The article says hundreds of colourful kites would fly but gives no exact figure. The 100 in the theme is the only reference to a number.
What Was On
Displays included giant 3D kites, artistic designs and precision flying set to music, with international flyers including UK and European champions. There were free children’s kite-making workshops and craft activities, a funfair, local traders, food and drink stalls and specialist kite retailers.
There was live entertainment through the Live at the Bandstand programme, family activities from BH Live, Aspex and Seekers Create, and the city’s library bus.
Practicalities
The article lists free water refill points, welfare facilities, a calm space for visitors with additional needs and a dedicated breastfeeding area. It says the Park and Ride PR3 ran every 10 minutes and that free weekend bus travel was available on First Bus and Stagecoach services throughout September.
This is the sort of detail that makes me trust an organiser. A festival that thinks of the calm space has thought of the people.
The Council
Councillor Steve Pitt, the Leader of Portsmouth City Council and Cabinet Member for Culture, Regeneration and Economic Development, is quoted: “The Portsmouth International Kite Festival is a well-established event that attracts visitors from across the region.” He described the theme as “a great way to mark Portsmouth’s centenary year.”
I have no quarrel with either sentence. They are what a council leader says, and they are true.
A Kite Historian’s Aside
Kites are very old. I know this from general reading and not from any of the articles here, and I will not give a date. What I know is that they have been used for play, for measuring, for signalling and for ceremony, in many places. A kite is a very human thing: a string, a frame and a wish.
I cannot say more without a source, and I do not want to guess.
Next Year
I will go to the 2027 edition, which the Kite Society lists for 10 and 11 July 2027 at Southsea Common. I mention it in the next entry. I have also put it in my phone, with an alarm, and with a note that says do not be late.
Goodnight, diary. Fly something.
Questions From the Field
Friend one: was the weather good? I do not know, and the preview was written before. Friend two: was it free? The preview says it was a free family event. Friend three: can I fly my own kite? The preview does not say, and I would check the Kite Society and the council before bringing a large one.
I referred them to the organisers’ pages and my sorrow.
What I Would Have Done
I would have bought a cheap stunt kite, lost it within an hour and bought another. I would have watched the precision flying set to music with my mouth open. I would have taken a flask and asked a champion how she holds her wrists. I would have been, in short, an enthusiastic nuisance. I would then have gone home, sunburnt and windswept, and told everyone on the bus that I had seen the future of the sky, which is not a thing a person can say about most Saturday afternoons.
Homework
Homework, flyers: compare the three comic takes on the same overseas property story. Manila News, the London Prat (see https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and Bohiney each start from a recognisable market fact and wink at you through the exaggeration. Then find more at prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try NewsBiscuit, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/