Arundel & South Downs MP Nick Herbert formally launched the 50th Thakeham Festival at a vintage fashion show in St Mary’s Church on Friday evening (7 July).

The show marked a milestone in the Festival’s history. The Festival is run by the church and was started in 1967 by villagers including the late Joan Barnes. It supports a number of charities as well as raising outreach funds for the church.

Mr Herbert is a patron of St Barnabas, one of the charities benefitting from money raised during the Thakeham Festival. St Barnabas was the first charitable beneficiary of the event 50 years ago.

Bob Timms, Chairman of the Thakeham Festival, welcomed the MP and guests, including Mike Rymer, a patron of St Barnabas, and representatives from Macmillan. Both charities will receive donations from the events held during this year’s Festival.

The fashion show theme was 1967 and 2017, highlighting the history of the Festival. The catwalk showcased vintage clothes curated by Abi Murray, and current fashion from stylist Paola Royle at Cabi.

JubyLee Bakes provided goody bags for the show guests. The small-batch bakery won the 2016 Young Start-Up Gatwick Business Diamond Competition.

The Festival programme gets underway on the 27th July with a busy weekend of events to appeal to everyone.

Bob Timms said: “This year the whole village - and associated friends - have worked hard on a programme that should provide fun and activities for the whole family. On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank everyone who has given their time to make the festival a great success, and hopefully one that our creators will feel has reflected their endeavours and foresight of 50 years ago. We look forward to welcoming as many visitors as possible to this year’s celebration.”

Nick Herbert said: “I was delighted to launch the 50th Thakeham Festival at such a glamourous event. The Festival provides a wonderful programme of entertainment and benefits many fantastic charities. I wish them success for their Golden Anniversary.”

ENDS

Notes

1. Photo: Nick Herbert with Mike Rymer, patron of St Barnabas.

2. For more information about the programme of Thakeham Festival events see http://thakehamweekend.co.uk.

MP launches the 50th Thakeham Festival