Ninfield Carnival

The whole of Ninfield must have turned out on Saturday to celebrate Carnival Day.

At the heart of the village, the recreation ground was home to a funfair, showring, contests, games and displays, as hundreds of visitors poured through the gate to take part in the traditional fun event.

Compere Robin Fookes said: "It's super - it has been amazing. After the procession went past people just came in - like ants, they were...there were so many of them."

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He was pleased by the success of the day which included a number of new attractions as well as old crowd-pleasing favourites.

"The hog roast is something we tried for the first time this year and it sold out - I think we have only a bit of crackling left. The climbing wall has been popular, and we have an 1868 carousel from Eastbourne. Then there was the bagpipes - Trish Drawbridge was giving people a go to pay them at 50 pence each - it is not as easy as it looks.

"I think we have already got a reputation with the Carnival Day because people always want something new and different and we try to accommodate that with one or two extra differences everyyear. We had a bit of Tug Of War last year but we have got six teams coming today.

"Then with the raffle we went for a lot of cash prizes this year because money is tight, and we kept the price of beer down. It's better to have a turnover than no-one buying it."

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Central to the fun of the day was the showring which had continuous entertainment appealing to a wide range of age and taste - from the Cinque Ports Lindy Hoppers to a display by the youngsters of 1066 Gymnastics Academy and a fun dog show.

The day always begins with the Carnival Procession through Ninfield village and the winning float was Ninfield Post Office's Neverland.

Mainly students from Bexhill College, the Neverland cast were April Fusco as Tinkerbell, Bekki Dalton as Wendy, Emily Robinson as Tiger Lily, Clare Holman-Hobbs was Peter Pan, Primrose Manning and Angelica Rickard were evil mermaids, and Christos Georghiou a swashbuckling Captain Hook.

As the theme of the Carnival was Heroes and Villains, April explained that one side of their float was decorated as the ship with the baddies on board, and the other side was Neverland with Peter and his friends as heroes.

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"We have been targeted by a lot of children," she commented.

Bekki added: "It has been brilliant. The Carnival is the most exciting thing that ever happens in Ninfield. We have lived here all our lives so we have done this every year."

A large marquee contained crafts such as handmade jewellery, knitting, fabric, and artwork as well as a variety of plants for sale, while on the other side of the recreation ground was a number of classic cars displayed by Bexhill 100 Motoring Club, a bouncy castle, and the gleaming appliance brought along by a crew from Bexhill Community Fire Station.

Ricky and Nicky Shilling were in the crowd by the refreshment stand enjoying hamburgers and said: "We are local. We have been coming to this for 20 years. This is a brilliant turnout, there are masses of people here."

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