Village fete hailed a success

Villagers turned out in force to support Walberton Primary School's first summer fete. The large response enabled about Â£3,600 to be raised for new playground equipment at the school. Saturday afternoon'soccasion became a real community affair as young and old had fun with the range of attractions. Kim Folgate, the chairwoman of the school's parent teacher association, said: "It was an absolutely brilliant event. The children had a marvellous time, the sun shone and the whole vil

She said the fete was the first of its kind in Walberton since the early 1990s. Its staging followed the opening of the new primary school last autumn. The fete on the village playing field co-incided with the horticultural society's rose show in the village hall next door.

Those who preferred the outdoor attractions could indulge themselves in wellie boot throwing, the coconut shy, a dog show, face painting, skittles and a bouncy castle.

'We had 43 raffle prizes, we sold 340 glasses of Pimms, 60 children had their faces painted, 140 limbos were made under the cane, 218 attempts were made to win a prize in a jam jar, 500 was raised at the bottle stall and the poor rat got whacked 128 times,' stated Kim. 'The children were the key to the success of the day in many ways. They gave us fabulous displays of jazz dancing, country dancing and African Djembe drumming led by Kristian Bediakko. The success of the fete means we are about halfway towards our target of raising 10,000-15,000 towards new playground equipment.'