Festival to celebrate lifeboat bicentenary

Britain's oldest lifeboat will visit and it is hoped a member of the Royal Family or a major celebrity will perform the opening ceremony.

More than 40 events have been planned so far including a parade of old lifeboats, air sea rescue displays and Coastguard, windsurfing, jet-ski and scuba diving demonstrations.

There will be visiting ships, photo and art exhibitions and sea, air and army cadet races.

Players from Meeching Amateur Dramatics will perform street theatre and, weather permitting, the country's finest long-distance swimmers will compete by swimming from Newhaven to Seaford.

And there will be trawler, yacht and dinghy races, fishing competitions, maritime walks, a bathing costume display and special church services.

The nautical-themed extravaganza is being organised by the Newhaven Community Development Association (NCDA), the Seaford Community Partnership (SCP) and Newhaven RNLI. It will start with a day of activities at the Fort Road Recreation Ground on May 24 and finish with the Newhaven Lifeboat Fete on May 31.

The idea for the event was conceived by the director of the NCDA Graham Amy and David Schueler of the SCP.

Mr Amy hoped Newhaven and Seaford would pull together to make the event a success. He said: 'There will be dozens of events throughout both towns for people of all ages and abilities to watch and participate in.

'The lifeboat anniversary is a great way of celebrating our joint maritime heritage and I hope other organisations or companies will come forward with ideas for more events.

'We want to make this a festival that will be remembered by residents for many years to come. It will bring together two towns who share a great maritime heritage and at the same time raise funds for Newhaven Lifeboat.'

Pat Johns, spokeswoman for the Newhaven branch of the RNLI, added: 'We will have Britain's oldest lifeboat, the 1887 Queen Victoria, on display plus many others and the Newhaven Lifeboat will be open to the public for the whole week.

'There will be events to suit all interests and I am sure it will be great success and raise funds for one of the oldest lifeboat services in he country.'

There has been an official lifeboat at Newhaven since 1803 when it was paid for by local subscriptions.

Readers interested in putting on an event for the festival can call Sally Foote on 01273 612539, Graham Amy on 01273 514942 or David Schueler on 01323 890418.