PICTURES: Earnley Fête

Organised by Earnley Parish Council, the annual fête was launched last year following the completion of the Parish Plan, as residents had stated during the consultation that they would like to see more community involvement.

Chairman Keith Martin said: “It is part of our aim as a parish council to develop a community spirit in the parish and we seem to have achieved that.

“It was really a great success. It was our second fête organised by the parish council and we were just delighted with the amazing number of people who turned up.

“The feedback from people who were there was what a lovely fete because we had lots of old-fashioned things like a coconut shy and that went down well.

“We had the beautiful walled garden open for access and people who went around that were delighted.”

Earnley Grange’s private garden is rarely open to the public. Although the garden has been neglected in the past, the owners Celia and Ian Parker have been working for the past two years to restore it to its former glory. The progress made in restoring the garden since the last fête has been amazing.

Mr Martin said: “We are very grateful to Celia and Ian Parker for providing the community with such an amazing location to hold its fête.

“We are very grateful to all our volunteers, as without them we could not run this wonderful event.”

It is not yet known how much money was raised by Mr Martin believes it will be significantly higher than last year.

The proceeds will go be divided equally between the RNLI for the new lifeboat at Selsey, St Wilfrid’s Hospice and Earnley Church.