PICTURES: All the fun of Ditchling Village Fair

Ditching Village Fair

procession. Photograph by Liz Pearce (SUS-180617-212111008) — Ditching Village Fair procession. Photograph by Liz Pearce (SUS-180617-212111008)

Magic, music and merriment was the order of the day on Saturday (June 16) when The Ditchling Village Fair took place.

For 2018, it was organised by new co-chairmen Simon Woplin and Jack Daniels, who took on the role around nine months ago from the Broadbent Smith family who organised the past 10 fairs.

The day-long celebration, which takes place every two years and has some 700 years of history, got underway with its usual wake-up call from ‘The Wizard of Ditchling’. Reverend David Wallis read the fair proclamation at 9.30am and the Jack and Jill race started up West Street from 11.30am.

The morning fun was then followed by a procession starting from St Margaret’s Primary School at 1pm and activities and entertainment, including a dog show and amusement rides, on the village green.

New for 2018, the chairmen closed West Street for the whole day and brought in Street Diner, which provided seven different food stations.

Jack said: “Overall the event was a really great success. It is a real team effort. We had a lot of help from a few people.”