The Wightlink Ryde Slide will be taking a year off and looking to return again in 2020. The event is acknowledged to be the longest public waterslide in the UK and has become a big part of the Island’s summer calendar in just a few years. “The event depends on a lot of people volunteering their time and resources and a year just goes by too quickly. We’ve decided to catch our breath and come back bigger next year,” commented the Slide’s founder Wayne Whittle.

In 2013 Wayne Whittle, then Mayor of Ryde, was sent a photo of Bristol’s ‘Park and Slide’ – a 100m water slide installed in the centre of Bristol by artist Luke Jerram. The picture was sent to Wayne on Twitter captioned ‘Can’t you make this happen Mayor?’. Wayne thought that the road in Bristol where the water slide was located looked similar to Union Street in Ryde, so he pushed for the event to happen. In July 2015 the Ryde Slide was born!