The Ashington Festival 2012 had the very best weather possible and the crowds turned out in full force. There were a huge number of stalls, a car boot sale, the Harris’ Funfair, a dog show, the carnival procession and new for this year a superb stage with some fantastic entertainment.
Carnival Princess, Sarah Shaw, and her attendants lead the procession followed by Horndean Marching Band and a whole host of floats including 1st Prize Winners Chanctonbury Playgroup for their incredible float “Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” and The Newland Family for their Walking Group “Wallace & Grommit At The Olympics”. Runners up included Ashington Church, Ashington Scouts, Toby’s Toy Landrover and Bloomin’ Gorgeous.
What looked like thousands of people then gathered on the Ashington Recreation Ground to enjoy the fabulous sunshine, superb food, cool drinks and the all new stage show – a first for the village! The Band of the Royal British Legion started things off; and with prizes for procession winners handed out by Fowlers Estate Agents, were followed by an amazing “Rat Pack” tribute by Ian Barnes. Robbie the Magician delighted the audience with a great show of magic tricks and Diane James, the Bournemouth Bombshell, charmed the crowd with some beautiful songs from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
The Gorgeous Miss Jason, one of South East’s best loved Drag Performers, was on fine form and managed to keep things naughty but very nice chasing some “very nice boys” around the field. The headline act was Laura White, sponsored by David Wilson Homes, who appeared in the X-Factor in 2008. She belted out a number of songs from her new album, due to be launched in the UK soon, and went on to sign a whole load of autographs for waiting fans.
As the sun went down the huge crowd was then blown away by Paul Jackson who paid brilliant tribute to Freddie Mercury and had most of the spectators up on their feet and chanting along “Day-O”! He was a hard act to follow, but Aloud Out put on a truly dynamic set covering some favourites in fantastic style, taking the crowd with them all the way to the Fantastic Fireworks, kindly sponsored by Charles Muddle Ltd.
An amazing day, unique for West Sussex, all made possible because of the kind sponsorship of The Co-Operative, Northover Fuels, The National Farmers Union, Winner Plant Hire, Class Technology Solutions and many others. The Festival was a huge success and the Festival Committee would like to say a huge “Thank You!” to everyone that helped on the day with our biggest turnout ever and an amazing atmosphere! Roll on 2013!
