On Saturday June 2nd 2012 VW enthusiasts will be cruising down to the Museum of British Surfing for a special visit to kick off the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee bank holiday.

It is part of the second annual ‘Big Sunday‘ rally taking place at Croyde the next day.

It promises to be quite a spectacle as dozens of classic Volkswagens roll up to the museum in the main Caen Street car park in Braunton at 6pm. The museum is staying open until 7.30pm so everyone can look around the new national surfing museum. A special concession rate of £3.50 (including Gift Aid donation) is available to all those taking part.

Everyone is welcome to come down to see the VWs in the car park, after the museum visit the VWs will be heading off to the Hidden Valley camp site for evening

The Big Sunday VW rally is raising money for charity.

Author of the 1991 cult classic ‘Walking on water‘ Andy Martin dropped-in to the Museum of British Surfing for a visit today.

Andy is a Cambridge academic, surfing correspondent for The Times and wrote the seminal ‘Stealing the wave‘ in 2007.

He was a great friend to Britain’s first pro surfer the late Viscount Ted Deerhurst, and he is pictured here with Ted’s Lightning Bolt shaped by the legendary Tom Parrish.

We have worked with Andy on several occasions over the years, most recently with our exclusive in The Times about the two Hawaiian princes surfing in Bridlington in 1890 with their English guardian & tutor John Wrightson – and back in 2005 when we brought over probably the world’s oldest surfboard belonging to Chief Abner Paki for our British surfing history exhibition at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum.

Viscount Ted Deerhurst, the only son of the 11th Earl of Coventry, became Europe’s first professional surfer in 1978, joining the new ISP world circuit.

He made the semi finals in his first contest in Hawaii in 10 – 12 foot surf at Sunset Beach, beating the likes of Cheyne Horan on the way. Ted died in Hawaii in October 1997 after suffering an epileptic fit at his home.

In the weeks before his untimely death, Ted was regularly out surfing with his Hawaiian friends on the north shore of Oahu riding waves in the 20 to 30 foot range without any fanfare.

The young Viscount was an incredibly passionate and well-liked surfer. He didn’t trade off his aristocratic background, instead paying his own way to surf around the world bringing happiness and inspiration to others – especially through his Excalibur Trust.

The Museum of British Surfing has been supported by the Coventry family since we first started up in 2003, and are proud to have Ted’s personal North Shore Lightning Bolt surfboard shaped by Tom Parrish as part of our collection.

As part of our 2012 exhibition ‘The Art of Surf’ the Museum of British Surfing has launched a children’s surfboard art competition in partnership with local award-winning board builder Gulf Stream.

Young people visiting the museum can let their imagination run riot and come up with designs they’d like to see on a surfboard. There are monthly prizes for our favourites in each age category, and the best overall art of the year will get shaped into a surfboard by craftsman Jools Matthews at Gulf Stream in Woolacombe – the board will then be auctioned to raise money for the museum charity.

“We’d like to thank Gulf Stream for supporting the Museum of British Surfing. The standard of entries has already been very high and it looks like they’ll have a stunning surfboard to create later this year,” said surfing museum founder Peter Robinson.

Age groups are 5 to 8, 9 to 12 and 13 to 16.

It is the latest children’s activity to be launched at the museum, alongside our unique ‘feely boxes’ – a bit like a ‘celebrity jungle’ challenge where you put your hands into tubes to discover what should and shouldn’t be on our beaches! It’s part of our local environment display supported by the North Devon Coast Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Surfers Against Sewage.

You can see a gallery of the latest children’s surfboard art entries below.

This Friday May 4th 2012 we’re launching our new annual season tickets for those of you who would like to visit us more than once in a year. Not only will you get cheaper admission, you can come and see us whenever you want – plus you’ll get 10 per cent off special events at the museum as an extra thank you for supporting the Museum of British Surfing.

In tandem we’re introducing a new pricing structure for our admission tickets that includes a Gift Aid donation – this means we ‘ll get an extra 20% from the Government on the full ticket price – for example an adult ticket of £4 is actually worth £5 to our Registered Charity with the tax break. You’ll need to complete a brief form when you buy your ticket at the surfing museum. Click here for full details of our entry prices.

There’s lots going on this May Bank Holiday weekend – this Saturday May 5th 2102 we’re supporting our local youth club with their Braunton Bash event, which is running all day around our site in the main Caen Street car park – a whole host of stalls and fun events to raise money for Braunton Youth Club and other local charities.

The Museum of British Surfing is teaming up with the North Devon Gazette to offer free entry to people living locally on Bank Holiday Monday May 7th 2012 in our first annual ‘locals go free’ day, as a thank you to our community. An advert for the offer is appearing in this Wednesday’s Gazette in their new monthly surfing column in the sports pages – click here for full details.

The Museum of British Surfing is open from 11am to 5pm all Bank Holiday weekend – and we are located in the main Caen Street car park in Braunton, North Devon.

The Museum of British Surfing is teaming up with the North Devon Gazette to offer free entry to people living locally on Bank Holiday Monday May 7th 2012 in our first annual ‘locals go free’ day, as a thank you to our community.

The offer applies to those living in EX31, EX32, EX33 and EX34 postcode areas. To claim your free entry you need to text NDG SURF MUSEUM to 80058 – you’ll be given an entry code that you’ll need to bring with you along with proof of address (current utility bill, valid driving license etc). The offer allows one individual ticket per text – normal admission charges apply to those without the correct code or identification.

An advert for the offer is appearing in this Wednesday’s Gazette in their new monthly surfing column in the sports pages.

The Museum of British Surfing is open from 11am to 5pm on Bank Holiday Monday May 7th 2012 – we are located in the main Caen Street car park in Braunton.

Terms and conditions: The offer is for one individual ticket only. Text lines close at 5pm on Monday May 7th 2012. Texts cost 25p plus one standard rate message – usual promotion rules apply – visit www.northdevongazette.co.uk – customer services 0207 633 5020. This offer is being run by the North Devon Gazette and the Museum of British Surfing holds no liability for any technical or financial issues relating to either the text or the offer.

The Museum of British Surfing has donated £300 to Braunton Youth Club to help provide extra activities for local young people.

The award is the latest community initiative by the charity, first established in the North Devon village in late 2009. Earlier this year it organised a gardening project involving youth centre members and pupils from Kingsacre Primary School, and sponsored by Marsdens Cottage Holidays, to improve a neglected area in the main car park.

Last summer it provided the money for Braunton artist Conor Wilson to work with more than 60 volunteers to design and paint new murals in the skate bowl on the museum site at The Yard, on the Caen Street car park.

As part of its commitment as a Registered Charity to provide new opportunities for young people, the Museum of British Surfing provides a rent free 25-year lease to Devon Youth Services so that it has a secure home to run Braunton Youth Club.

The Museum of British Surfing opened on April 6 2012 and has already had more than 1,200 visitors to its inaugural exhibition ‘The Art of Surf’.

The Museum of British Surfing was delighted to welcome its 1,000th visitor on Saturday April 14th.

London surfer Matt Philpott walked through the doors straight from a surf session to be presented with one of the museum’s new organic t-shirts to mark the milestone.

The museum opened just 8 days earlier in its new permanent home in the main Caen Street car park in Braunton. The busiest day so far was Easter bank holiday Monday with 230 visitors in just six hours.

The Museum of British Surfing is now open from 11am to 5pm from Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays, except bank and school holidays). All proceeds from entry fees and commercial operations go into running and developing the charity’s work, both in UK surfing history and in the local North Devon community.

Click here for admission prices. The museum runs a Gift Aid ticket scheme – the charity gets an extra 25% contribution from the Government on the entry price if you Gift Aid your ticket.

The Museum of British Surfing launch party saw legends of British surfing rubbing shoulders with current champions, grant funders and supporters from across the UK.

More than 150 people attended the event, sponsored by Skinners’ Brewery and Finisterre clothing, which featured an exclusive performance from Cornish musician Neil Halstead.

Representatives from the museum’s grant funders were there including Leader 4 Torridge & North Devon, North Devon Council, North Devon Coast Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Devon County Council – plus Braunton Parish Council.

The official opening was performed by two of the highest profile British surfers on the international circuit longboard champion Ben Skinner and big wave expert Andrew Cotton.

The night was the culmination of fifteen years work by founder Pete Robinson, supported by volunteers, friends and family – and the four trustees of the charity Richard Gregory, Hugo Tagholm, Andrew Coleman and Kevin Cook.

It was also the launch for the museum’s inaugural temporary exhibition ‘The Art of Surf’, which runs until Christmas 2012. The Museum of British Surfing team were supported on the night by volunteers from Croyde Surf Club, and are working in partnership with Surfing GB, Surfers Against Sewage and Surf Life Saving GB.

The Museum of British Surfing opened to the public for the first time on Good Friday 2012 at its new permanent home, at The Yard in Caen Street car park in Braunton. Each year it will feature a major new exhibition exploring different themes in surfing culture and history – delving into its massive collection to bring a fresh view for visitors.

The main photo by Rob Tibbles shows legends from surfing and surf life saving: Alan Kift, Bob Powers, Bill Gliddon, Tony Cope, Barry Charlesworth and Graham Yeo – standing beneath Bob’s personal board he shaped at Mortehoe around 1964.

See the slideshow below for images from the night, and you can see more of Rob Tibbles photos here. A film is coming soon.