Fishbourne Garden Party offers celebration of summer Englishness

Simon Cox, church warden and one of the organisers, is promising a fun day out.

“This is really an add-on to the Fishbone Literary Festival. We wanted to use the church hall and the church to raise more money for the renovation of the church and we wanted to do something more than a fete. We wanted to do something gentle and calm but fun as well, and the theme this year is going to be gardening. Two years ago myself and the other warden and the vicar decided to rewild the churchyard to bring it back to nature. It's lovely with wild flowers and flowing on grass it. That got us into thinking about nature and where we are, fairly close to the harbour.

“So for the Fishbourne Garden Party we wanted to do something that involved creatives and gardening but also had a literary theme. So we have got a couple of guest speakers.”

At 12 middy they will welcome Elizabeth Sawday (Apuldram Roses). Renowned for her flourishing rose nursery, Elizabeth brings more than “35 years of thorny tales, rosy advice, and secrets of successful rose propagation.” And then at 2pm, the event will welcome Mike Gilson, author of Behind the Privet Hedge, a witty wander through British garden culture – from neat privet hedges to blooming social history.

“Normally for the literary festival, the format would be that you buy tickets and get to listen to the speakers and then go to the book sale and the lunch and the cakes but with this particular event, entry is free. You don't have to pay to see Elizabeth or Mike who will be speaking in the church. And then in the church hall we have got six or seven local artists from Sussex and Hampshire who will be covering things like painting and drawing, glass and ceramics. And we've also got second-hand books which I shall probably be managing myself being a bit bookish!

“And then we've got the fete and the garden party. There will be a tombola with nice prizes that have been gifted. And we will also have a plant stall from local nurseries that have donated or from the congregation of the church that have been growing steadily different plants and herbs over the last three months.”

Monies raised for the church will come through sales: “We have also got a cafe with homemade rolls, and it being a garden party, we will have cream teas. And what else would you expect? We will have a Pimm’s tent.

“The more we have got into the organisation of it, the nicer we have found it. It just feels like a lovely celebration of Fishbourne and a celebration of summer Englishness.”