Littlehampton braced for Christmas carnival bonanza

The day-long fund-raiser is set to be one of the association’s biggest winter events to date, with dozens of stalls and plenty of action planned.

It will will kick off in High Street, from 10am, with the town’s mayor Emma Neno officially launching the festivities.

Earlier this year, the carnival’s coffers were hit by the cancellation of the funfair visit by long-time supporter Bill Coles’ Amusements to Southfields Recreation Ground over the carnival weekend, after weeks of rain left the open space waterlogged and too dangerous to use.

Vice-chairman of the carnival association Nicky Hitchins said: “We had a disappointing year for our carnival in the summer. We didn’t get as much support as we would have hoped for.

“Subsequently we couldn’t support our local charities as much as we wanted to do.

“So it’s vital people come out and support our Christmas Fun Day.”

The Christmas bonanza will be flooded with festive joy by the stocking-full.

Expect the magical scenes from the nativity story to come to life at a children’s petting zoo, in High Street.

And even though this year might not feature the popular reindeer regulars of past events, there will still be plenty of other animals for youngsters and their families to say “hello” to.

Father Christmas has also found the time to stop by and speak to children at his grotto – so long as they’re not on his naughty list, that is.

There will also be a range of dynamic displays from a number of local dance groups.

Members of Celebration Samba will be showing off their skills at 10.05am and 11am. The Bognor-based Wonder Girls pom-pom troupe will be performing throughout the day, alongside hula-hoop expert Chelsea Hunt and Littlehampton traditional Portuguese dance group, Danças e Cantares da Madeira.

Festive music will be performed by the talented young singers of the River Beach Primary School choir and the Raydar girl’s choir, throughout the day.

Nicky added:“We have been inundated with stalls this year. There are dozens of different ones ranging from haberdasheries and crafts to DVD stalls and clothing stands.

“So many have been applying for this year that we have even had to turn some of them away, which just shows how popular the event is.

“We’re hoping that this could be our biggest Christmas event yet.”

The fun day is scheduled to end at 4pm.