This year's fete, opened by Reverend Jonathan Meyer and attended by both our local MP Helena Dollimore and the Parish Council Chair Jacqui Stanford, was adjudged by those in the village with long local experience, as the largest ever. Whether that is correct it was certainly big, colourful, full of activity and with a great atmosphere - plus the rain held off, at least until the very end! Anyone interested in how many turned up only had to look at the field car park, it was 'rammed'. We had record Flower Show and Dog show entries and over 50 classic cars and tractors. There has been a huge amount of positive feedback, plus recommendations as to how we could make future events even better.

I am pleased to report that as well as us all having a great afternoon, we made a good amount of money for the Icklesham Trust. This will go towards maintaining our facilities for the use of villagers and for running village events throughout the year.

My thanks to the Icklesham Trust Committee members and all the volunteers who helped set up the different events, ran the day and managed the individual stalls. A big thank you to The Queen's Head pub for its support for the bar and to those contributing an excellent range of raffle prizes. Given the scale of the day, all involved had to work flat out, but despite this, maintained a great spirit.

I want to give a special mention to Sandra Stunt. Sandra has for many years organised the marketing of the fete to commercial stallholders, with much success. She feels it time to pass the baton on, but leaves on a high, with 2024 seeing a record number of stalls. Sandra has my profound thanks for having done such a splendid job.

Tony Thorne - Chair

Icklesham Trust Committee