May Day carnival spectacular

A dawn downpour gave the organisers an anxious hour of decision-making but the bold approach not to retreat into the shelter of St Peter's Community Centre paid rich dividends later.

Gaily-coloured May garlands along the access drive to Barrack Hall Park decorated by Wendy Cornford provided the welcome to the hundreds who "discovered" what is still Bexhill's best-kept amenity secret.

The hill-top park looked its best for an occasion which happily combines the best of English spring-summer tradition.

Bexhill Lions Clubs' beautifully restored Nottingham Goose Fair swingboats swung in time with the sonorous tones of Hooe Silver Band.

Below them stretched a field full of activity, from Sure Start's array of children's games and amusements to a line-up of classic cars provided by the Bexhill 100 Motoring Club.

Traditional sweets and old-fashioned toffee apples were among the appetising fare on offer. A variety of bouncy castles kept the young occupied.

The maypole built last year by Mark Cornford as a permanent feature of Barrack Hall Park was in garlanded readiness for the central act of the carnival.

Under the tutelage of Pat and Colin King, pupils of King Offa School had been practising their dancing since the beginning of term. They delighted the crowd with a selection of traditional maypole, garland and stick dances.

The toughest job of a day where the hard work of the volunteer few provided enjoyment for the many was faced by judges Enid Houghton, Jeanette Armstrong and Wendy Hasnip.

Fifteen entrants waited in line to be called to the judges' table to be interviewed. Charlie the Clown kept the little girls amused as the judges totalled up their score cards and Cllr Eric Armstrong announced the results.

To Town Mayor Cllr Stuart went the honour of crowning 11-year-old Chantry Community Primary School pupil Tessa Carrick as Old Town's May Queen.

Her Princesses are King Offa pupils Charlotte Harding, 11 and Robyn Dyer, nine.

The May Queen and her Princesses later enjoyed a triumphal parade of honour around the park and around Old Town in a classic Rolls Royce.

The sunlit scene could not have been in sharper contrast to the miserable morning which greeted the organisers when they woke.