The recreation ground at Icklesham was swathed in glorious sunshine last Saturday (August 1) when the annual Fête and Flower show kicked off at 1pm. There seemed to be something going on all afternoon and the Wealden Brass Band entertained their audience whilst they enjoyed tea on the patio.
In the main arena we were pleased to have “The Honk Project”, this was by courtesy of Applause Outdoors. They were dressed in candy floss pink and rode amongst the visitors on a 1950s motorbike and side-car. Albie and Doris alighted from the bike and played trombone and saxophone to enthralled onlookers. The children soon joined in with the twist and jive moves.
The talented Rye Dance group joined us and their current routine of “The Great British Bake Off” was charming and executed very well and we had a good selection of classic cars, which proved very popular. Many dogs took part in the fun dog show, which was kindly sponsored by Wagging Tails.
The Grand Raffle draw offered three cash prizes, £100 won by Mr S. Walker, second prize of £50 by Mrs Jane Austen and third prize of £25 went to Wendy Burgess. These prizes have all been claimed. The Memorial Hall hosted the flower show and although there were fewer exhibits this year, what was entered was of a very high standard. The Ridge Fire service joined us as did Pett Level rescue with their new boat.
The village organisations all ran sideshows and refreshments and the money raised from this event supports the Icklesham Trust (registered charity 305266) which looks after the Memorial Hall and sports pavilion. In the past year the hall has had new radiators with safety covers installed and the exterior of the building has been repainted and tidied up. We hope to get the patio area renewed in the coming months.
Sadly the sports pavilion suffered severe vandalism in June and we are currently awaiting the go ahead from our insurers to get the renovations started. We hope to get work started in September. The current pavilion is still used by both Icklesham Casuals and our two stoolball teams. The whole day was a huge success and thank you to everyone who supported it in any way.