Town has a blast at an ‘amazing’ three days of fun

Friday night saw more than one hundred people join the Catsfield Steamers for a night of dosey doe-ing with a barn dance in the large marquee on the recreation ground.

Saturday was a day packed with family entertainment kicking off with the ever-popular Battle Carnival.

With a combination of floats and walking groups winding through the town, the carnival finished on the recreation ground where Battle mayor Richard Bye officially opened the Summer Fayre.

The fayre saw a great afternoon with non-stop arena entertainment from, amongst others, street dancers, hula hoopers and singing groups.

The dog show ran for a number of hours with lots of entrants from our four legged friends while the humans were kept refreshed in the blistering sunshine by the bar and barbecue.

Saturday evening saw the marquee turned in to a live music arena with a line up which brought hundreds of people into a packed marquee.

Hundreds of people lined the High Street on Sunday afternoon to cheer on the intrepid trio who took on the challenge of the Battle Soapbox Race.

Around 15 teams were expected to take part, but many dropped out in the week leading up to the event having not left enough time to finish their soapbox racers.

But this didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for the event, with the crowds cheering on Team Coker, Team Wild Willy and Team Dart.

The Silver Bullet, driven by Steve Finniss and built by Team Dart from Dungeness Power Station, crossed the finish line in the fastest time.

Team Coker, from Battle, raised the most money for Battel Bonfire Boyes and Team Wild Willy won the prize for the best designed cart.

The event was organised by businessman Dale Cromwell.

Dale said: “Because there were only three carts we let them have several runs.

“We were a bit worried that if everyone who had entered went, they wouldn’t get as many gos down the course.”

He added: “The crowd did not seem to mind that there were only three.

“Everyone still enjoyed it just as much.

“Just to hear everyone cheering and clapping as they went down - it was far better than I thought it would be.”

Dale says he will ‘definitely’ be organising the event again next year.

Matt Southam, spokesperson for the Battel Bonfire Boyes, said of the weekend: “It was an amazing weekend.

“We were blessed to have such great weather on the Saturday which meant lots of people came out and enjoyed all that was going on with the Summer Fayre.

“Everyone commented how great the community feel was of the event and when the sun set for the live music all the bands were on top form and had the crowd dancing.

“We would like to thank all of our supporters, suppliers, sponsors and volunteers for all their hard work over the weekend.”