Fourth Bognor kite festival was '˜absolutely fantastic'

Committee member Jan Malpas said: “It was absolutely fantastic – unbelievably fantastic. We had thousands of people here. The kites were magnificient, the children’s entertainers were magnificent, the bands were great.”

The festival returned for its fourth year across the bank holiday weekend and for the first time it took place in Felpham, running on the King George V Playing Field.

Wet weather on Sunday, however, saw fewer visitors compared to the ‘brilliant’ Saturday and Monday and the organisers had to cancel its ABBA tribute act.

Jan said: “The stage was just too wet. It was dangerous for them to go on it. We had to cancel that which was such a shame and so many people were looking forward to it.”

On Saturday a memorial kite to ‘Mr Bognor’ Erik Jack, who was president of the carnival and the voice of Birdman and the kite festival, was launched. It was organised by kite festival committee members Sarah Boote-Cook and Dave Mitchell, and Erik Jack’s wife Melanie and daughter Bethany were there to see it fly.

Jan said that they are ‘proud’ to have created the kite and that they will fly it every year at the festival in his memory.

Speaking of next year’s event, Jan added: “We are hoping we can come back to this site because the site size if everything that is needed.”