Edwin James Festival Choir and Orchestra celebrates 20th anniversary

At the start of the week, while I was in the Littlehampton Town Council, I took the opportunity to have a look at the new exhibition, Opening Littlehampton’s Attic, which is part of the celebrations for the museum’s 90th birthday.

This is one of the hardest exhibitions to describe in print as it has such an eclectic mixture of items and gives an opportunity for a trip down memory lane both for Littlehampton and generally.

The museum team has been working hard on a cataloguing project which involves the entire content of the archives and this is a result of the hard work.

It really does have something for everyone and I would strongly recommend having a look around.

---

Also in the news – hundreds of families enjoyed a sunny Littlehampton sandcastle competition, work is continuing on a cable route for the Rampion wind farm, a new platform is offering affordable flights in private planes from Shoreham Airport, and Deliveroo has announced it is set to roll out its services in Worthing.

---

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending a private viewing of an exhibition at Pier Road Coffee and Art, which gave the opportunity to not only appreciate the wide range of art being displayed but also, as many of the artists were present, it gave the opportunity to talk with them and find out more about their works.

One such artist is also one of our Arun district councillors, Philippa Bower, who is exhibiting her work andit was great to see our MP, Nick Gibb, in attendance too.

The shop is supporting the Just a Card campaign which encourages anyone who pops in to venues like this to try and buy a card, if every person who goes to independent galleries like this did then it makes it much more likely for them to be able to survive and be more affordable to all.

While I was not officially attending as mayor, I was delighted to join the Edwin James Festival Choir and Orchestra at the Vardar Restaurant to celebrate the group’s 20th anniversary.

I have attended a number of their performances over the past year and it has always hit me how much everyone loves being a part of this particular group and throughout the evening this was even more evident by the comments being made, the tributes and awards being paid to various members within the group, and the true feeling of camaraderie with the sing-alongs dispersed through the evening.

Many of the group had just returned from a long weekend in Belgium and it was lovely to hear about the great time they had together.

It was also lovely to be there when cheques totalling £2,000 were given out to the four different charities they have supported in the past year.

Thank you to James, Chris and all the members for letting me join in your evening.

On Saturday I was at the Woodland Centre in Rustington to join the members of the Littlehampton Lions for their annual Senior Citizens Lunch.

With approximately 90 guests from the Littlehampton and Rustington areas, the guests enjoyed a three course meal followed by entertainment by local singer Alexis, a free raffle, and games of bingo.

I took the opportunity to meet and chat with the guests who certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves along with the Lions Club members who worked hard to put this event together.

While there I was reminded of the Lions Club initiative of message in a bottle.

This is a voluntary scheme for anyone living at home who might be reassured to know that essential information would be readily available to the emergency services should they suffer an accident or sudden illness.

The scheme ensures that vital information is available not only to identify you, but to advise of relevant illnesses, allergies, medication and contact addresses.

The Lions Club fund and supply an airtight capsule to contain the relevant information which is then kept in your fridge with a sticker to go on the inside of your front door to alert emergency services of its presence.

The Lions have taken this scheme further now and produced a message in your wallet which is simply a credit card sized booklet which you fill all this information out on so that if anything were to ever happen to you while you are out, the paramedics can find out information about you very quickly.

For anybody who would like further information on this scheme please call 01903 502807 or speak to your local pharmacist, many of whom keep these freely available.

I am enjoying my second year in office and having the opportunity to meet with the many interesting and varied organisations and many of the people who make this town so special.

If you would like to invite me to an event please contact the mayor’s office on 01903 732063 or fill out an online engagement form at www.littlehampton-tc.gov.uk/mayor

---

• Benefit from an ongoing discount on your Littlehampton Gazette by joining our voucher membership scheme. Once you’ve subscribed we’ll send you dated vouchers which can be exchanged for your paper at any news outlet. To save money on your Littlehampton Gazette simply click here.