Calls for world leaders to mark Mayflower 2020

The Leader of Plymouth City Council is writing to the Prime Minister to call for the support of world leaders for an international event to celebrate Mayflower 2020.

Councillor Tudor Evans is calling on David Cameron to acknowledge Mayflower 2020 in Plymouth as the official UK festival and to lend his support for a plan to invite the US President and Prime Minister to come to the city while world leaders are in the UK for the G8 summit.

Celebrations for Mayflower 2020 will bridge the Atlantic bringing the UK and the USA together to mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower. The ship left Plymouth, England on 6 September 1620 with just 102 passengers and crew on board. It arrived some 56 days later on 11 November at Plymouth Rock, on the east coast of America.

Cllr Evans said: “It would be extremely fitting to have the US President visit the city along with the Prime Minister and stand on the Mayflower steps to commemorate the event.”

The Mayflower sailing is celebrated by many in the US as the beginning of a national legacy and in the UK as the beginning of one of the most enduring alliances the world has ever known.

Plymouth has ambitions for this celebration to be a year of both national and international significance for the city. Plans are underway for a period of transformation over the next seven years that will bring commercial and cultural opportunities to the city on a scale not seen since its rebuilding after the Second World War. The bid to become UK City of Culture 2017 is an important part of those plans.

Cllr Evans added: “2020 will be momentous year. We intend to commemorate this landmark anniversary through a programme of capital investment to modernise and exploit the city’s natural assets, to bring about an economic renaissance which will create jobs and commercial opportunities to the city and to create a truly transatlantic cultural celebration fit for a global audience and that consolidates our special relationship with the US and helps put Plymouth on the world stage.”

Discussions are underway with business partners in Plymouth, Massachusetts, exploring opportunities for collaborative working for their Mayflower400 celebrations. There are plans to target visitors from the east coast of America as part of the long term Visitor Plan. Certain 'star' projects will be highlighted to inspire visitors including the successful Marine City Festival which will be an annual event.