Sunny Jour de Fete draws crowds

Day Two of the annual Jour de Fete again saw the pavilion buzzing with activity on Sunday.

Visitors and townsfolk alike thronged the terrace and balconies for a rolling programme of free events continuing this year's circus theme.

The Christmas Cabaret - NOT pantomime the DLWP Trust stresses - will feature Acrobats and Angels, presented by Circus Space, London.

Young People who have taken part in the pavilion's Summer Circus School with Alchemy Productions showed off their new skills to good effect on Sunday morning.

The DWLP Trust had promised "You will be amazed at what you can learn in a week."

They were not wrong as crowds enjoying among other spectacles the withy flowers - giant brightly coloured tissue flowers on withy stick stems made in conjunction with Sure Start - soon found.

Sunday afternoon's Tour De Force was just that - swift, slick, skilled and spectacular acts very much in the circus tradition.

Spectators vied for position to watch as Charlie Bicknell and her band provided the music linking the acts; Charlie in Cabaret costume leading on vocals.

Novelty was the name of the Tour de Force game. Those who remember the old "what's worn under the kilt" gag came close to finding out as Donald Grant - billed as the Scottish Diabolist - toyed effortlessly with the giant cotton reel.

The novelty theme continued with Rod Laver - who juggles balls with his mouth.

If one sounded like a mouthful over the microphone and two made him look like a hamster, the tricks he performed with three, four, even five balls had spectators alternately laughing and applauding.

His "tour de force" was to pick out Beethoven's Ode To Joy theme on bottles struck by the balls.

And all by mouth'¦.

Natalie Reckert brings a balletic grace to hand-balancing, her lithe and supple body sliding sinuously around an exercise bench with two arms.

One, two, three, four hoola-hoops. How many could Kelpie keep in action? The crowd lost count as she gyrated.

The scene is an American saloon. A single drinker downs another bourbon when in walks a spectacular redhead.

Then things really take off! So and So Circus Theatre - aka Lauren Hendry and Kaveh Rahnama - take romantic dance to acrobatic extremes.

They had Sunday's sun-bathers gasping in astonishment as Lauren flew through the air.

Seamlessly, the terrace scene shifted. Beach-lovers continued to bathe and paddle as Bexhill Sailing Club put on its own water ballet with a flotilla of white sails speeding past.

But swiftly taking their place in the bandstand were Ska Toons, a Brighton-based combo who a mix of Sixties ska, jazz and funk that have earned them the admiration of dedicated jazz-lovers.

Jour de Fete was working its magic again'¦