East Preston Festival’s new chairman reveals 2013 plans

And new chairman Ian Gordon should certainly know about trimmings – for years he ran a niche business in London supplying the braid, beads, feathers and other finery enhancing theatrical costumes for West End shows such as The Phantom of the Opera.

Now he is looking forward to helping stage the popular village festivities in their 32nd year, leading a 12-strong committee with just three members staying on from the 2012 event.

The nine newcomers stepped into the breach when Paul Amoo, effectively the caretaker chairman for last year’s festival, called a village meeting to make everyone aware that, with most of the old committee standing down following many years of dedicated service, there would be no 2013 event unless people took up the gauntlet.

“When I saw the notice saying that the festival would end if no one came forward to help, I thought it couldn’t be allowed to stop – that would have been catastrophic,” said Ian, who is now retired, having sold the theatrical trimmings business 18 months after moving to East Preston from north London with his wife Barbara in 2002.

“I went along to the meeting and all these people put their hands up to be on the committee. Then they said, ‘We need a chairman’. I sheepishly put my hand up and that was that.

“I had no idea what I was letting myself in for,” he admitted.

However, he and Barbara were already supporting the festival, visiting the village open gardens, enjoying the Phoenix Big Band concerts and taking their dog along to the dog show.

“The festival’s a big part of village life. It keeps the community together,” he added.

Evolution, not revolution, will be the watchword for the new committee’s approach to the 2013 festival, from May 31 to June 9. Sell-out events from last year, including the Phoenix Big Band, the charity fashion show and Call my (Wine) Bluff will be back, together with the open gardens, antiques market, craft fair, exhibition of art and flowers, Party on the Green, funfair and dog show.

The carnival parade will again be one of the highlights, on the second Saturday.

New attractions will include an Elvis tribute night and villagers are being encouraged to make a scarecrow for their front garden, with the winners taking part in the carnival procession.

Talented performers from the Arun Young Musicians competition will be making a welcome return to the event.

There is also a move to making the festival more of an all-year-round programme, with two events already on the stocks. On Saturday, March 16, at 7.30pm in the Conservative Hall, Sea Road, East Preston, the Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir, with harp soloist India Walden, will be recreating the sounds of the valleys.

Tickets, price £6.50, are on sale now at Hedgers Newsagents and Seaview Stores, both in Sea Road.

Funds from the concert, together with an impressive £771 raised at a jumble sale at the village hall earlier this month, will go towards the costs of the festival, which in turn helps to raise tens of thousands of pounds for local charities.