Days of family fun dedicated to Ron

Up to 3,000 people enjoyed the activities on offer at the family fun days on the Friday and Saturday.

They went ahead at the Hampshire Avenue recreation ground in spite of the sudden death of the chief organiser, Ron Hildreth.

Mr Hildreth, the chairman of the Bognor Community Action Network, passed away aged 55 in June.

Bognor CAN development manager Carol Fullick said: 'The last two years have seen us put on the Pevensey Festival. We weren't going to do that anyway this year because of the amount of funding involved.

'But we didn't want to let the community down because we wanted to do something for the kids.

'We got some funding after Ron died and decided to go for two fun days at the end of the summer holidays.

'Ron got such a lot of pleasure from supporting kids and young people. We are following his dream and carrying on doing what we can.'

The work was appreciated by those who went along to the fun days. Collyer Avenue resident Theresa Ifould (35) was there with four of her five children '“ aged 13, three, 23 months and four weeks.

She said: 'It's good. Last year was a lot bigger than this but I understand one of the organisers died. It's nice they have carried on and done something even after that.

'It's a good idea for the kids. It gives them something to do because there's nothing around here for them.'

Newly arrived Wendy Morris (36), of Hawthorn Road, said: 'This is a fantastic event. We have only just moved into the area and it's a brilliant way to recognise faces. There's a good community feeling here. I've spent all summer spending money to keep the children amused and to have something like this on your doorstep for free is absolutely amazing.'

She went along with her two children, aged three and four. The oldest, Freddie, said: 'I enjoyed jumping up and down on the bouncy castle.'

The other activities on offer were football, arts and crafts, music workshops, drama, dance, a tiny tots tent, motorised quad bikes and It's a Knockout sports.

Mrs Fullick said the fun days cost more than 10,000 to stage compared to the 29,000 for the three day festival last year.

'Hopefully, we can get good community support next year for another three day event. If people want that, they will have to come forward to help,' she said.