Caution is the name of the game for the 2021 Arundel Festival, with a scaled-down festival to be proud of, but avoiding big crowds in the town centre. It seems fitting to look back over the past decade to remember some of the great moments in the festival, starting with ten years ago, when the manager of Arundel Castle declared it ‘a real success, beyond our expectations’.

By Elaine Hammond

Wednesday, 25th August 2021, 10:41 am

It was a bit chilly in 2011, to be fair, but the historic backdrop provided the ideal setting for a week of summer entertainment and Bryan McDonald was delighted to report an increase in visitor numbers as the popular festival grew year by year. The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk are great supporters of the festival, of course, and in the picture above, you can see the duchess, Georgina Fitzalan-Howard, raising flag to launch the 2017 programme.

The festival offers an eclectic mix of visual arts, drama, music, dance, comedy and street entertainment. There is something for everyone. The River Arun features as strongly as the town centre in the festival and over the years, crowd favourites have included the bath tub race, the duck race and dragon boat racing.