Thousands of people attended Ashington Festival this year making it a great success with such a friendly, happy atmosphere and the weather was fine and warm.
In the arena we welcomed back the brilliant ‘Jez Avery’ with his daredevil motorcycle stunt act. And sharing the bill with him was ‘Lauren Rice’ with her well known Dog & Duck act. And back by popular demand was Tom Foolery who is so popular with the children and he was sponsored by Saxon Weald. Also the Medina Marching Band was marching and playing in the arena.
The evening was sponsored by Cubitt & West Ashington, the Festival were delighted to welcome to Ashington ‘The ‘Smiley’s’ who really got the crowd dancing and Lianna Haynes ‘The Vintage Singer’ was singing a lot of the popular songs. There was also a children’s and later an adult Disco from ‘Retrospect Event Sound’ which kept people on their feet dancing. At 10pm there was a fantastic Firework display sponsored by Charles Muddle Ltd.
On the Recreation Ground was Harris Brothers Funfair, the Arun Vet Group fun dog show, car boot sale, flower show, classic car show, craft, charity and animal stalls and sideshows. Food outlets included Thai, pizzas, jacket potatoes, crepes, burgers, hot dogs, doughnuts and ice cream. And a licensed bar and Pimm’s tent.
The Carnival procession started at 1.30pm travelling through the village and arriving at the Recreation Ground. Leading the Carnival with the Ashington Carnival banner was Ted Harris and Ian MacKinnon dressed as cowboys. And on one of the carnival floats was this year’s Carnival Princess Amelia Mercer with her 2 Attendants Cindy Boult and Molly-May Mintrim and her 2 Pageboys Sebastian Smart and Alfie Cope. In the procession was the
Medina Marching band, classic cars and a stilt walker.
The wining floats were 1st Arun Vets with ‘Mr McGregors Garden’, 2nd Ashington Mini Bus as ’70 years of the NHS’ and 3rd was Ashington Short Mat Bowls.
The winning Walking Groups were 1st Chanctonbury Playgroup as ‘Aliens love underpants’, 2nd Ashington Youth Club & Gym as ‘The Red Barrows’ and 3rd was the McGarth Family as ‘100 years we remember’.
And the overall winners were 1st Chanctonbury Playgroup, 2nd Ashington Youth Club & Gym and 3rd the McGarth Family.
The Festival Committee would like to thank all their sponsors and everyone that joined in and all the helpers on the day that work so hard to make the day a great success.
We look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday 17th August, 2019!
