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Sussex Network Festival of Arts & Craft, 19 July 2008
On Saturday 19 July the Sussex Network of U3As (SURA) held its first arts & craft festival for East & West Sussex in Oakmeeds Community College, Burgess Hill to celebrate the creativity and enthusiasm of its 9,000 members in Sussex. 25 out of its 31 U3As from Rye in the East to Midhurst in the West participated.
Over 1,000 people attended the festival which had demonstrations of the performing arts, including music, dancing, theatre, and poetry reading in two halls simultaneously. There were also displays of creative writing, painting, photography, poetry, card making, needlecraft, woodcarving and family history and working demonstrations of craft in the adjoining teaching block.
The festival was organised by Nova Brookes from Arun U3A. The chairmen or vice chairmen of five borough and district councils across Sussex attended the event. Success should not be measured only in terms of attendance of course, all contributors and visitors found the experience joyful and exhilarating, with many promising to keep in touch with interest groups from other U3As.
Visitors were impressed by the standard of the performance and of the works exhibited. Even the catering was exceptional. Shirley Meakins and her team from Burgess Hill U3A managed to produce an interesting range of sandwiches and drinks for about half of the attendees without excessive queuing or delays.
One of our VIP guests Cllr Chantal Wilson, Chair of Wealden District Council, East Sussex remarked that she was amazed and fascinated by the range of skills of U3A members and that it was an eye-opener for her and that she had no idea so many people were involved across Sussex, nor how many individual U3As or interest groups exist. Everyone was left in no doubt that that there is life after 60.
Click on any picture below to see a slide show of the day
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