Arun District Council gave businesses well-deserved recognition at awards ceremony

The Arun Business Partnership Awards is a yearly event organised through Arun District Council to give local businesses the recognition they deserve and a spot in the limelight. As L. Guess Jewellers, which sponsors the Training Development Awards was unable to attend, I had been asked to present the award.

With everyone sat and fed, it was time for the presentations of the awards and I think I was probably more nervous for everyone in the room than them themselves.

I will not go through every award that was presented as I know Arun will be keen to report this, however I would like to congratulate everyone who was shortlisted as to even get to this stage is an achievement.

The following day I decided to join friends and have a chat over a coffee and a bit of cake at St James the Great Church hall. Under the direction of Chris Allen and James Rushman, the Edwin James Festival Choir has turned its attention to promoting and supporting St James Church and Hall, in East Ham Road, as a community hub following the closure of the church, with no further services being held.

The Coffee and Chatter mornings take place every Friday between 10.30am and midday and is just one of the things they are doing. On this particular occasional the group were supporting Children in Need and over £200 will be going their way. Both the church and hall are in need of more bookings to ensure they can remain open for the community in the long term, as there are still expenses to cover even though services are no longer held in the church.

Any groups looking for a new home whether they are established or a new one just getting off the ground, are welcome to hire the hall, the church or both.

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Enquiries and bookings can be made via 01243 582330. Other than their well attended coffee mornings, the next event taking place at the Church Hall will be the Sussex Steel band concert Carols on Steel on December 6.

Having been to a number of their concerts before, I am looking forward to this. Tickets will be available on the door priced £3/£5 and doors will open at 7pm for a 7.15pm performance.

Having already mentioned Children in Need, on Sunday I was at Dance Industry Studios to join members from Adult Tap with Charlotte, who were all taking part in a national world record attempt, Tap-a-Thon!. I attended this last year and was amazed at how much energy everyone had and sadly they missed breaking the world record by just a few people, so keep your fingers crossed for them all for this year.

Teacher Charlotte Reader had certainly put them through their paces and on one occasion had them rehearse the routine 14 times! After completing the challenge, which had to start at 1pm precisely and even had Pudsey attend, everyone had the opportunity to have a well-earned cake and give a donation to Children in Need – raising another £170!

Following this world record attempt I made my way to the Littlehampton Academy for the Rotary Clubs Arun Young Musicians Gala Finals Concert. It helps encourage young people to take part in public performances which develop their musical skills and on this evening even have a chance of winning one of the awards.

I would like to congratulate our own local vocalists from Star Ignited Performance Academy who took home two of the awards, and the Littlehampton Academy Choir for winning another.

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