Adur’s celebration of craft and community is in full swing.

The Yarn Trail launched on Saturday and will continue until Sunday, June 17, running alongside the Adur Art Trail.

Yarnbombed buildings and street furniture can be seen in Lancing, Shoreham and Southwick, with woolly decorations made by people from the district and beyond.

The Yarn Trail is the culmination of a year-long project organised by Over the Moon, a flexible creative collective based in Shoreham.

Director Emily Phillips said: “The initial idea was to add some woolly love to some buildings and get the community involved.

“At the beginning, we had no idea what a monster it would turn into. We always thought it would be great to do something on the library building and it went from there.

“All the yarn was donated and we started off with people making squares. We received funding for workshops, teaching people to knit and crochet and getting people involved in making, while linking up with local organisations.

“After Christmas, we started planning it and putting it together in a coherent trail, so you can literally start at Lancing and follow it through Shoreham to Southwick.

“Part of the point is to get people to go to places they would not normally go to.”

One of the large installations can be seen at Emmaus by the Sea in Southwick.

Jane Davies, shop manager, said: “It looks really wonderful. It is absolutely fantastic, all the hard work that has gone into it.

“When the installed it on Thursday, it was the first time I had seen it and I was blown away. You talk about things but when you see them in real life, it has a big impact.”

Pick up trail guides around the district and find out more at www.weareoverthemoon.org

READ MORE

Yarn trail to fill district with wonderful woolly creations

Year-long yarn project launched

Adur Art Trail attracts huge level of interest

Preferred options for £12million investment in Worthing town centre have been revealed.

Following the revamp of Montague Place in 2016, West Sussex County Council and Worthing Borough Council have identified a further package of improvements to the town’s public realm.

Preferred options for projects in eight areas across Worthing are detailed in a strategic outline business case published last week.

The county council has allocated £5million towards three of the eight areas: Portland Road, South Street North and South Street South.

The remaining five would be funded from developer contributions, money from businesses and direct delivery by developers.

These are Montague Place, Liverpool Gardens, the town hall, Chapel Road and Teville Gate.

In South Street the entrance of the Guildbourne Shopping Centre would be revised to provide inclusive access and create more of a feature of the arrival area.

The wider junction would form part of a shared surface area running the length of South Street to slow traffic and give pedestrians priority as well as opening up the area for events.

The current road layout would be revised, including the removal of the bus stops, to offer maximum space for pedestrians east and west.

The Marine Parade roundabout would be removed to increase pedestrian and event space outside the Pier, and the inclusion of a shared-surface junction in contrasting colour creates a more pedestrian-friendly connection between South Street and the Pier entrance. In Portland Road, the preferred option would

see the width of the carriageway reduced and street parking removed to create a shared surface between Shelley Road and Chandos Road to lower traffic speeds and improve pedestrian safety.

A new avenue planting of small trees has been included around Portland Square and Rhapsody Court, while contrasting paving would be used to define ‘courtyards’ to allow for spill-out space for cafes and restaurants.

At the southern end of Portland Road a second shared surface area would be created to give pedestrians priority at the same time as retaining existing delivery space and access.

The county council is set to release £400,000 to develop the projects through to public consultation and the detailed design phase.

Louise Goldsmith, leader of West Sussex County Council, said: “We believe these are bold, exciting and innovative ideas, which would bring better connectivity and a host of enhancements to Worthing town centre’s street scene.

“The ideas are likely to evolve as we now move into the detailed design stage for the public spaces in Portland Road, South Street South and South Street North.

“This multi-million-pound makeover is part of the Growth Deal which will see the county council and Worthing Borough Council working in partnership to make regeneration in the area a reality.”

Kevin Jenkins, Worthing Borough Council’s executive member for regeneration, added: “I’m really pleased to see these first two schemes come forward so that the public can see we are determined to revitalise some of the main thoroughfares in the town.

“We want visitors and residents alike to have a pleasant experience walking from the top of our town to the seafront. I believe these schemes open up the place so people can more appreciate what fine buildings, first class retail and leisure opportunities and beautiful vistas we have.

“I am delighted to be working with the county council on something that will make a tremendous difference to the feel of the place.”

The plans form part of a Growth Deal agreed by the two authorities last year.

The work also feeds in to Worthing Borough Council’s Seafront Investment Plan, which was launched last year and envisages promenade improvements which will link to the public realm work.

The investment plan also includes proposals to create a natural lagoon for water sports, the creation of new restaurants in seafront shelters at West Buildings and Steyne Gardens and an overall improvement to the seafront offer.

What do you think? Email the newsdesk.

Hayfever sufferers in Sussex face another week of discomfort as pollen levels across the county are set to remain very high.

The weekend was reported as particularly bad, with comments on social media such as ‘It’s been as bad as I can remember’.

The Met Office five-day forecast is that there will be no let up at all this week.

Plus there will be a gentle breeze to keep the pollen on the move.

According to the Met office, around 20% of the people in the UK are affected by hayfever.

Common symptoms include sneezing, runny or blocked nose, itchy eyes, mouth and throat while less common hayfever symptoms can include headaches and hives.

The pollen season can vary according to how wet, dry or cold the winter and early spring has been.

It roughly separates into three main periods:

Tree pollen - late March to mid-May.

Grass pollen - mid-May to July.

Weed pollen - end of June to September.

Sussex took 17 points from the game, taking their average for the season to 15.83 per match, slightly above the 15.57 averaged by second-placed Surrey.

Both sides secured promotion to division one, with Sussex making an immediate return to the top flight after their relegation in 2017.

Sunday’s victory was the fifth of a seven-match campaign, which also included one loss and one abandonment.

After winning the toss and electing to field, Sussex dismissed Berkshire for 94. Tara Norris and Chiara Green took three wickets each, while Freya Davies and Linsey Smith both took two.

Davies finishes the campaign with 13 wickets at an average of 7.46. The 22-year-old England Women’s Senior Academy seamer has conceded just 1.85 runs per over in this year’s competition.

Green led the way during Sussex’s chase, making 32 at the top of the order. Abigail Freeborn (27*) and Paige Scholfield (13*) were unbeaten as the side reached their target with more than 22 overs to spare.

Sussex’s captain, Georgia Adams, said: “Reflecting on our 50-over campaign, it is so rewarding to have not only achieved our goal of gaining promotion but to finish as champions.

“As captain I could not have asked for a better way to finish, we set ourselves high standards as a squad and to see players step up to the challenge and get into the battle has been great.

“I’m incredibly proud of all the girls and we are all looking forward to the T20 season ahead now, hoping to continue our winning streak and play some explosive and exciting cricket.”

The Women’s T20 season gets underway on Friday when they play the 2018 Aboriginal XI on Friday as part of a double header with the Sussex Men at The 1st Central County Ground, Hove before the Vitality Women’s County T20 begins on the weekend.

Sussex will start the tournament with matches against Middlesex and Yorkshire at Mill Hill School this Sunday (10th June).

No victory for Sussex but The Saffrons delivers a cricket occasion to remember

VIDEO: Westlake sets new course record on way to Worthing 10k win

A splendid Saffrons occasion, an enjoyable sporting contest, but a disappointing Sussex performance.

Two out of three isn’t bad, but the Sharks did not quite pull off the third on a baking hot Sunday in front of a packed home crowd.

Visitors Essex, although rarely in total control, had looked the likelier winners from the early stages of this Royal London One-Day Cup encounter, and – after a day of 547 runs, thirteen wickets and some exhilarating individual play – they eased past the Sussex total with two overs to spare.

The result called final closure on the Sharks’ hopes of progressing from the Royal London group stage, although even that would have required a very improbable mix of results elsewhere.

Ahead of the upcoming T20 competition, head coach Jason Gillespie gave indications of at least one new arrival from overseas, and the word around the boundary ropes was that it might be two.

For much of this season, the Sussex batting has looked under-powered, and on Sunday, with three early wickets down and barely 40 on the board, the middle order had a repair job to do – actually reaching a respectable 281 thanks to a superb century from Laurie Evans, with punchy support from Hastings’ favourite son Harry Finch. The pair added 111 for the fourth wicket, and some lusty late slogging by Joffra Archer and Chris Jordan set Essex a fair challenge of 282 to win.

However patchy the batting display, the home crowd of more than 4,000 were lapping up both the cricket and the whole occasion. Bringing county cricket back to Eastbourne for the second time – after a seventeen-year absence – chairman Ian Fletcher-Price and his team once again got everything right.

The whole day was immaculate, from smooth admission and ample seating and refreshment provision, to clear communications and a sense of relaxed organisation. Just as in 2017 the weather was perfect: Fletcher-Price either has a hot line to the weather gods, or access to an extremely long-range weather forecast....

There are those, not necessarily in Sussex, who grumble at fixtures on the so-called out-grounds – as if a ride to a gloriously sunny Eastbourne is some sort of drudge. Sussex CCC is more enlightened, and a Saffrons fixture allows a whole tranche of cricket lovers, young and old, to embrace the sport. This truly is cricket for the people.

But back to the match. A long and genial lunch break included the usual happy mass trespass on the outfield, with countless little contests between eight-year-olds and granddads, and then Sussex took the field to try to contain the Essex batsmen. It was a tough task.

The Essex openers rattled up 87 for the first wicket, and then led by an impressive 88 from Tom Westley the visitors always looked comfortable, staying slightly ahead of the run rate. Archer and Jordan did their best to get lift out of a flat, brown and expertly prepared Saffrons wicket, but it was always warm work, and despite a little wobble just after the 40-overs mark, Essex closed in remorselessly.

Westley was in sight of his century when he lost his wicket to a comedy run-out mix-up, but by then the match was lost and won. No victory for the Sharks, but a triumphant day for Eastbourne and the Saffrons.

Sussex head coach Gillespie said, “It was a similar story to quite a few of our games in this competition. Laurie Evans went on and scored a really good hundred which I am delighted about, but a few others got starts but didn’t go on which is disappointing and frustrating, both for me and the players themselves.

“With the ball we allowed them to probably play too many big shots without much risk involved. Those are two things which we need to improve going forward.

A positive was seeing Laurie bat as well as he did and also score 107 off the last ten overs but overall in the competition it’s a case of opportunities missed, both today and in a number of the other games.”

Ryan ten Doeschate, the Essex captain, added, “It sets up Wednesday nicely against Kent. If we win we’ve got a really good chance of going through.

I thought it was a deserved win for us. I was a little bit disappointed we conceded as many runs as we did in Sussex’s last ten overs, having bowled really well for the first 40 overs but on a ground with small boundaries that can happen.

“We always felt we could chase that target down. It was unfortunate that Tom (Westley) got out in the way he did when it looked as if he was going to get a hundred but apart from that little wobble at the end I felt we deserved to win.”

Steyning Cricket Club scored a first Sussex League Division 3 West win at the fifth attempt on Saturday.

Luke Chapman, who ended his wait for a maiden success as Steyning skipper, saw his side seal a 78-run triumph at neighbours and struggling Worthing.

Half-centuries from Oliver Collins (62) and captain Chapman (54) helped the visitors post 229-6 - a total they defended fairly comfortably.

Christopher Barnett (3-47), Andy Isaacs (3-26) and Isaac Tidley (2-26) did the business with the ball as Worthing were skittled out for just 151 in reply.

The hope for skipper Chapman, who is set to miss Steyning’s next two matches, is for his team to build on their momentum in the upcoming games.

He said: “I’m very happy after what was a well deserved win.

“In recent weeks we’ve felt like we’ve been in great positions to win games but haven’t been able to get over the line. It’s a big relief to finally get that first win of the season.

“Everyone’s been working very hard and it’s very pleasing as a batting unit to post a big total, giving the bowlers something to defend.

“We got off to a solid start without losing too many wickets which gave us a great foundation to kick on and score quickly at the end of the innings.

“I thought Chris (Barnett) and Oliver (Collins) were excellent in setting the game up for us.

“We were looking for early wickets and to reduce them to 27-3 was very pleasing. As a bowling unit we have been superb so far this season, everyone has been chipping in with wickets.

"Overall it was a very good team performance I am very pleased.”

Neither side had chalked up a league win prior to the crucial meeting at Worthing’s Manor Ground.

Steyning’s batsman have struggled in the early part of the season but Chapman did not hesitate in choosing to bat after winning the toss.

Things came good this time around, though, with opener Barnett (35) and Gary Hunt (37) contributing, while Collins’ well made (62) anchored the innings.

These efforts allowed captain Chapman licence to come in and smash 54 off only 25 balls - including five sixes - as Steyning posted 229-6 off their 45 overs.

Skipper Martyn Swift lead Worthing’s attack with two wickets.

Steyning’s bowling, which has been a strong point all season, did not fail in getting the visiting team over the line for a first win of the season.

Barnett followed up his 35 with the bat, collecting three wickets.

Isaacs also weighed in with three wickets as Worthing were in all sorts of trouble, slipping to 61-5 in reply.

Opener Joshua Hyde made a quickfire 44, while Giorgio Rigali made 33 down at number nine but that was as good as it got for Worthing.

Each of the five bowlers used by captain Chapman picked up at least a wicket to bundle Worthing out for 151 in 41.4 overs.

Steyning will be looking for a second straight win as they host Roffey 2nd XI on Saturday.

With the start of Food Safety Week Crawley Borough Council is focusing on what it can do to protect your plate

The council has a team of dedicated Environmental Health Officers whose job it is to inspect local food businesses to ensure hygiene standards are up to scratch.

More than 600 businesses inspected in Crawley received a food hygiene rating of 3 (generally satisfactory) or above under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.

The scheme covers businesses supplying or serving food direct to consumers such as restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways, food vans or stalls, canteens, hotels, supermarkets, schools, hospitals and care homes.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme helps people choose where to shop for food and where to eat out by giving them clear information about the businesses’ hygiene standards.

There are six hygiene ratings ranging from ‘0’ (urgent improvement required) at the bottom to ‘5’ (very good) at the top.

To make sure businesses maintain or improve upon their rating, the council’s Environmental Health Team carry out inspections ranging from every six months (high risk businesses) to three years (low risk businesses).

The inspections are designed to assess how hygienic the premise is and how effective the food safety management systems are.

The results are then used to calculate the food hygiene rating for the business.

Businesses are given green and black stickers for display at their premises and all ratings are published online, so people can make more informed choices about where to buy and eat food.

Cabinet Member for Economic and Environmental Services, Councillor Geraint Thomas, said: “With a great range of eateries here in Crawley, many of our residents enjoy ditching the oven gloves for an evening and heading out for a meal and our dedicated team works hard to make sure that residents and visitors can enjoy their meal with peace of mind.“

Keymer 1st XI took the short trip to Balcombe on Saturday for a top of the table clash with both teams unbeaten so far this season.

Keymer won the toss and chose to have a bat. Keymer got off to a good start passing the 50 mark without loss, a good start from Harvey Box (42) was cut short with a couple of quick wickets falling leaving the visitors 69-2.

A fluent 42 from number three Ed Farifax helped build a platform for some late order hitting by Jamie Purtell who accelerated the innings with an impressing 58* off 32 helping the visitors to a total of 209-6 from their 40 overs.

In reply, some wayward bowling and assertive batting put hosts Balcombe in the driving seat with opener Andrew Stillwell guiding the hosts to 130-2 with his 49. The introduction of Box to the bowling attack changed the tempo and the left arm spinner caused problems for the middle order, picking up 4-36. A late flourish from keeper Gavin Elliott (27) looked to swing the momentum back in the favour of Balcombe but some tidy Keymer bowling dismissed the hosts for a nail-biting 194 with just 17 runs the difference in a well fought contest.

Keymer 2nd XI produced a dominant performance in a top of the table clash at home to Streat & Westmeston. Despite a faltering start which saw the hosts at 43-4, Keymer were able to post 255-7 from their 40 overs. Sid Barnes in his first outing of the season notched 58 whilst Conall Bartlett hit a career high 84. The total was boosted by 60 runs in the last 4 overs with some brutal hitting from 15 year Josh Cridland (31*) and Alex Bates (29*).

Streat started their reply strongly and after 10 overs were well placed but the introduction of Justin Toussaint into the attack slowed the run rate and forced the Streat batsmen into rash shots. Toussaint finished with 3-25 from his 9 overs, well supported by Bartlett (2-9) and Tom Andrews- Faulkner (2-19). Occasional bowler Simon McNiff finished off the innings at 131 with 2 wickets in his solitary over.

Keymer 3rd XI travelled to Palmers with their youngest side of the season. After being inserted the openers made a steady start seeing off the new ball putting on 31 for the first wicket. Nick Kitchen carried on this time in partnership with Kevin McGeough before falling for a well made 57. This brought Jon McGeough to the crease who accelerated the run rate with a quick fire 31 to take the total up to 169-6 from their 40 overs.

This was a good effort from the side but was always going to be difficult to defend on a quick scoring ground and so it proved as Palmers reached their target with 10 overs to spare with loss of just 2 wickets. This was despite some decent bowling and on another day more wickets could of been taken. The 2 wickets were both taken by u13 Salvy Ganpatsingh in his first senior league game a good sign for the future.

Performance of the month

New to Keymer and Hassocks Cricket Club in 2018 is the Performance of the Month award, sponsored by Wisdom Sports. For the month of May the candidates for the award were -

1st xi - Ronan Pithie - 4-20 vs RAM

2nd xi - Howard Collins - 60 vs Rottingdean

3rd xi - Hayden Peak - 3-11 vs Rottingdean.

All three members were deserving nominations, but it was Ronan Pithie who picked up the award. His 4-20 vs RAM blew away the top order who were chasing a low total and was a match changing moment. Ronan picks up a £20 voucher for use in Wisdom Sports and was presented with his prize by club President Christopher Wilson.

Heath lose out to Chichester in low scoring game at Goodwood
No victory for Sussex but The Saffrons delivers a cricket occasion to remember

The merging of Chichester and Bognor Regis into one settlement could become a reality by the middle of this century if the current rate of housebuilding continues, one councillor has warned.

A review of Chichester District Council’s local plan, which allocates housing and employment sites up to 2029, is set to be completed by 2020.

Meanwhile the Government is consulting on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), a document containing rules for where development should go, but campaigners have argued that what is proposed will neither solve the housing crisis nor protect the countryside.

Simon Oakley, who represents Tangmere, suggested the continuation of five-year reviews as set out in the NPPF would lead to the ‘incremental removal’ of the open countryside between western Arun and Chichester’s built-up areas.

He said: “At the rate we are going by the middle of this century we are going to get Bogchester and into Barnham as well.”

He pointed out that the open countryside gap also served as a green connection between the South Downs National Park and nature reserves at Pagham and Medmerry.

He asked that the issue of maintaining a green gap between the two settlements form part of future discussions between officers at CDC and Arun District Council at a meeting last month.

Andrew Frost, head of planning services at CDC, replied: “We must be aware of the need to meet our objectively assessed housing need in the most sustainable way possible so over the coming months when we progress our local plan review it’s appropriate for us to have close co-operation and working and sharing ideas with Arun.”

Officers pointed out that the concept of strategic gaps did not exist any more in planning terms, but the issue could be raised in discussions between officers of the two councils.

John Connor, CDC’s cabinet member for the environment services, echoed concerns about what he described as a semi-circular green corridor.

He said: “This does stand at huge threat of being disrupted or cut off by development.”

In its response to the NPPF public consultation, CDC disagreed with proposals to introduce a presumption in favour of sustainable development where delivery is below 75 per cent of housing required.

The council explained: “Failure to deliver on sites with planning permission cannot simply be attributed to a local authority.

“Although local planning authorities can allocate housing sites, they possess relatively limited powers to influence the rate at which housing sites are delivered thereafter.”

Financial penalties for developers to speed up build rates should be considered, the response said.

The council supported more transparency around viability assessments, which developers often use to reduce their contributions towards community facilities and affordable housing.

A small group of Tone Zone Runners took on the Trundle 10k, an off-road race up to the top of the hill and back down again.

Tone Zone’s Simon Gill finished in third place with a very quick time of 37min 38sec, followed by Jack Penfold with 43:49. Crossing the line shortly after was Sean Power in 45:48.

Simon Hunt, Duncan Stephenson-Gill and Michael Manwill all ran sub-50 minutes. Jess Thomson and Lousia Proctor had a battle towards the end of the race, resulting in an exciting sprint finish for the spectators.

Sarah Santer crossed the line just after the hour for the club and was happy with her time considering the tough course. Nicky King and Debi Haddleton did well too.

At the other end of the country were Grace and Derek Natoli, competing in Edinburgh. Derek took to the Half Marathon course and finished in just under two hours. Grace ran the full marathon distance and fell in love with Edinburgh, labelling it a great race... and it looked like it too as Grace finished in 4:31.

Tone Zone marathon man Paul Coe, who’s aiming to run 100 marathons before the end of October, took on the North Downs Way 50, a 50-mile race.

Coe said: “After 79 marathons this was certainly the toughest event I have ever run. Nearly 6000ft of climbing over 50 miles takes its toll in the latter stages, but overall I was very pleased to complete it – 10hr 55min was a lot better than I was expecting.”

The following week Coe ran his 80th marathon along the Thames, having recovered well, and finished in 4:14.

Tone Zone times - Trundle 10k: Simon Gill​ 37:38; Jack Penfold​ 43:49; Sean Power ​45:27; Simon Hunt​ 45:48; Duncan​Stephenson-Gill 46:39; Michael​ Manwill​ 48:54; Tony Holcombe​ 52:53; Jessica Thomson ​56:28; Louisa Proctor​ 56:28; Peter Ramsdale​ 58:15; Sarah Santer​ 62:01; Stephen Goddard​ 62:18; Samantha Yates​​ 63:38; Debbie​ Patching​ 65:40; Nicola King ​70:34; Debi Haddleton ​71:17. Edinburgh Marathon: Grace Natoli 4.31.00; Edinburgh Half: Derek Natoli 1.59.37. London 10k: Paul Wells 1.02.39. Humber Bridge 10k: Sarah Baker 1.01.00; Jo Andrews 1.07.00. The Bere 10k Alston: Daniel Hughes 1.08.00. Dorchester Marathon: Simon Bodsworth 4.52.36; Joan Woolley 6.34.00. Arunners five-mile Beach run: Peter Ramsdale 39.29; Chris Dummer 40.13; Sarah Santer 42.33; Donna Strowger 45.53.

Congratulations to 18-year-old Jordan Butterfield, who has been awarded the gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Jordan has autism so the challenges required to pass the award really pushed him out of his comfort zone.

His perseverance paid off and he was rewarded with a visit to Buckingham Palace for a presentation reception hosted by the Duke of Edinburgh.

Proud mum Lindsey Butterfield said: “It was a fab experience and the gardens at the palace are amazing. Three of the royals were present, the Earl of Wessex, Countess of Wessex and Princess Beatrice. There were lots of celebrities, too, but we did not see them.”

Jordan, from Tarring, completed his award with West Sussex County Council when he was a student at the Special Support Centre at The Littlehampton Academy. He was part of a group of seven, based at Oak Grove College.

He is now studying football coaching at Chichester College.

The award usually takes 12 months to complete and requires work in five different fields, including volunteering, physical achievement, practical skills and a shared activity in a residential setting away from home.

Lindsey added: “It has been quite an achievement for him. It took him 18 months. A lot of people think if you have special educational needs, you can’t do it but you actually can.”

The season ended very successfully for St Francis after their first XV ended with third place in their league with the intention of looking for promotion next season.

St Francis’ 2nd XV ended one of their best seasons in the past decade by managing to field a side for every game and even getting themselves in the Salver Cup final.

With head coach Bob Aldridge’s first season now done he can look to push the Sussex side with his sights set on the development of a colts XV and working on expanding the ladies XV as they push for promotion next season.

St Francis will also be introducing and working with the RFU to bring O2 Touch Rugby to Southgate Playing Fields and giving people the opportunity to try the game without the physical contact aspect.

At their end of season awards dinner, the club were treated to fantastic stories by former Lion and Welsh international Derek Quinnell, who also handed out the awards for the evening.

For the most improved player awards Charlotte Jennings (ladies’ team) and Al Ellis (men’s team) were selected while Jack Veaney and Katie Mouskos won the coaches’ award for their fantastic seasons.

The ladies player of the year award was shared by the outstanding performances and workloads of Anita Morgan and Kiri Baxter while for the men’s 2nd XV Steve Etherington picked up the award. For the first XV Chris Goodayle won after a phenomenal debut season for the club.

Finally with their hard work in the background, Liam McGahan and Rhys Matthews picked up clubman of the year awards for their contribution to organising kit and sponsors for the club and Alex Minnis won the Peter Weeks award for his commitment and success as captain of the 2nd XV and his work in recruitment for the club.

The rugby club was also proud of four of their players who took part in the highly successful Run Gatwick Half Marathon.

St Francis will now look to start up their boot camp during the summer along with O2 touch rugby which will be starting in mid-June.

The club are actively looking for recruits already for both their ladies and men’s teams – check out www.stfrancisrfc.com or email playrugby@stfrancisrfc.com for more information.

Crawley Town Life Saving Club achieved what no other team has done in the past by winning all three major senior national championships titles SLS Wales Still Water, SLS GB Pool and RLSS SPEEDs in the same year when the club were crowned RLSS champions the Tollcross Olympic pool in Glasgow originally built for the recent Commonwealth Games.

The Championships was rescheduled due to the Beast from the East which resulted in Crawley Town squad size being halved but this did not stop the 19 strong squad picking up 36 gold, 34 silver and 15 bronze medals details of which follow; Crawley’s men that led the way with Martin Schofield, Sam Lawman, Simon Worne and Richard Jagger convincingly winning three male Open relays, but were chased all the way by the B team of Alex Jackson, Sam Murray, Enrique Riuz and Dan Seagrove-Castle as they took three silvers.

Crawley’s top individual man was the ever hard working GBR international Richard Jagger who at the age of 29 final achieved another goal by breaking the British record for the gruelling 200m Super Lifesaver which had only recently been broken in February having been held for nine years by Crawley Town’s Andrew Kane.

Not content with just one title, Richard also took the 200m Obstacle title.

The Crawley Ladies relay team featuring Jade Hand, Jessica Hancock, Vicky Threlfall and Luisa Petra won the 4x50m Obstacle relay but had to be content with silver in both the 4x25m Manikin and 4x50m Rescue Medley relays as the team was forced to change its favoured order due to a wrist strain sustained by Vicky.

In the drawn mixed Lifesaver relay Jade and Jessica joined up with Simon and Sam for a comfortable win in an event reintroduced for forthcoming world club championships RESCUE 2018 taking place in Adelaide, Australia.

For the 15-17 Youth category it was the girls that lead the way when their relay team Georgia Blenkley, Ellyn Reeve, Jade and Jessica taking golds in both the 4x50m Obstacle and Medley Rescue relay’s but had to be content with just a silver in the 4x25m relay.

The weekend’s most successful competitor was GBR Youth international Jessica who won a total of five individual and three team golds together with two individual and three team silvers when competing in both her age group and her Open team-mates.

Sadly in the boys 15-17 Youth age group only Alex Jackson and Sam Murray could make Glasgow so no team golds were possible, however the two lads did ensure the Men’s B team went away with two silvers and a bronze.

In their individual events there was some very exciting racing with the pair medalling in virtually every event which included Alex securing his first National title in the 100m Manikin Tow with fins just over a second ahead of third place team mate Sam who both smashed their previous personal best performances.

In the youngest 12-14 age group Crawley Town was lest with just one competitor Emily Hurst who despite being one of the youngest in her group secured a worthy Bronze in the physiologically demanding Rescue Medley which involves a long underwater swim to retrieve the manikin half way.

A special mention goes to George Hopkinson, Crawley Town’s former European Club Open fin bronze medallist who came out of retirement and travelled all the way from Melbourne, Australia to compete at Glasgow so that he can once again represent Crawley Town in this year’s World Masters Championships.

While George did not medal on this occasion he put in two very impressive performances following his 9 year absence from the sport.

Crawley Town will now start to prepare for the ocean based Surf Life Saving championships and for further information about these and the club please visit their website at www.crawleytownlsc.com.

Brighton and Hove Albion is looking for local schools to take part in a programme that uses football to inspire young people to learn, be active and develop important life skills.

With Premier League status secured for next season, Albion is planning to expand its Premier League Primary Stars programme from 16 local primary schools to 24.

The scheme is run by the club’s official charity, Albion in the Community (AITC), which provides selected schools with around ten weeks of support and activity to inspire pupils in everything from English and maths to teamwork and sport.

Paul Williams, schools manager at AITC, said: “The response and feedback from schools involved so far has been incredibly positive and we can see the impact the project is having on pupils’ health and wellbeing as well as their confidence, behaviour and attainment.”

AITC’s sports mentors work with different schools each term, spending one day a week in each school and working with whole classes, small groups and individuals to deliver PE alongside football-themed literacy, personal, social and health education (PSHE) and numeracy lessons.

The charity now wants to hear from local schools interested in signing-up for the next academic year.

Any Sussex-based primary school can express an interest in taking part, with AITC particularly interested in working with those schools and young people most in need.

The planned expansion follows positive feedback from schools which benefited from the scheme.

“We have loved being involved in the Premier League Primary Stars project this year,” said Jane Fendley, head teacher at St Mark’s CE Primary School in Brighton.

“The children were always incredibly excited about AITC coming in to work with them each week.

“The curriculum lessons, whether it was PE, literacy or PSHE, were all engaging and delivered with great enthusiasm and took into account the children’s differing needs.”

Ms Fendley encouraged other Sussex schools to get involved and confirmed St Mark’s would be applying for next year’s programme before the 15 June deadline.

AITC will select schools based on need and their completed applications.

Schools can watch a video produced by the Premier League to show how one local pupil has benefited from the project this year. The film can be viewed online at www.plprimarystars.com/educatables/brighton-cadogan.

To find out more, and to download an information pack and application form, visit www.albioninthecommunity.org.uk or email schools@albioninthecommunity.org.uk.

Firefighters were called to Horsham town centre after an alarm went off this afternoon (June 4).

One crew was called to a building in Albion Way after an alarm sounded at 3.45pm.

A spokesman for the fire service said the cause of the alarm was unknown and crews remain at the scene investigating.

Nothing serious was found and firefighters left the scene at 4.20pm.

Jose Izquierdo is on the Columbia World Cup plane and completes a trio of Brighton & Hove Albion players that are going to Russia.

The winger has been included in his countries 23-man squad that was announced today to compete at the tournament this summer.

It is the first time that the 25-year-old has been taken to a World Cup.

He came off the bench at half-time for Colombia on Friday and impressed against Egypt in a 0-0 draw in Italy.

Albion boss Chris Hughton did not pick the wideman for their final Premier League game of the season against Liverpool due to a slight injury.

At the time, Hughton was confident the Colombian would make a recovery and said: "We are hoping he will go away with Columbia in the World Cup so we weren't prepared to take a risk.

"It would have been a risk. But not only him - in every game, depending on the injury - we wouldn't take a risk with any player."

Seagulls' summer signing Leon Balogun is also traveling to the competition for the very first time.

He has been selected in the Nigera squad which had already been announced.

Albion supporters got their first glimpse of the defender as he playerd the first half in their 2-1 defeat against England at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening.

Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan will be making second apperance at a World Cup finals, having represented his country in 2014 in Brazil.

The stopper kept a clean sheet for the Socceroos in their 4-0 victory over Czech Republic at the NV Arena in Austria on Friday.

Shoreham Horticultural and Allotment Society is set for its annual early summer show.

The show is at the Shoreham Centre on Saturday, opening at midday.

Entrance is free but donations are always welcome.

There will be exhibits of sweet peas, roses and pinks, plus various pot plants and classes for vegetables, homecrafts and photography.

There will also be plants for sale, a raffle and tombola, plus homemade refreshments available.

The presentation of trophies will start at 3.30pm, followed by an auction of produce.

Gary Weedon heaped praise on all of his East Preston Cricket Club team as they bagged a comprehensive Sussex League Division 5 West success on Saturday.

All-rounder Jack Sunderland followed up his century from the previous week hitting 81, while Joe Carter claimed figures of 4-26 to fire East Preston to a 176-run home victory over West Wittering.

Sunderland also did a fine job with the ball, taking 3-16 as he continued to show his credentials in all departments.

Victory was just a second from five matches to start this season for East Preston but skipper Weedon feels belief is starting to build following promotion last term.

He said: “It was a great win and a real team effort.

“Jack (Sunderland) batted brilliantly in the middle overs to help us to a good total.Having seen the recent results we wanted to make sure that we left a total which West Wittering could chase to take the draw out the equation.

“In the field we were again very good and managed to restrict the runs and take regular wickets. “Although at one point we felt that we were never going to take the last two wickets.

“Jack and Joe (Carter) came back on to remove the lower order. The extra pace certainly helps when looking to bowl a team out.

“I’m very happy with our start to the season, although it has been a mixed bag, we are unbeaten and have been in a position to win four or five games. If you asked me at the start of the season I would have taken it. However there will be better teams to play so we need to continue our form on.”

East Preston were stuck in but a quickfire 36 from opener Paul McCafferty set the tone for the innings.

Sunderland came in later in East Preston’s innings and made sure his side posted a total of over 250.

All-rounder Sunderland smashed 81 from 67 balls - including five sixes - as they posted 255-7 off 47 overs.

The reply was poor from West Wittering. The need to go at a run rate of five an over proved too much.

Opening bowling partnership of Sunderland (3-16) and Carter (4-26) quickly got to work ripping through West Wittering’s batting line-up.

Brandon Trimmer (30) and skipper Harry Staight (14) were the only batsman to reach double figures as Wittering were skittled out for a measly 79 off 40.1 overs to hand EP victory.

East Preston make the trip to Wisborough Green on Saturday.

Crawley Town fans’ favourite Dannie Bulman believes Reds can be the next Accrington Stanley.

The popular midfielder does not think it is necessary to have an enormous squad to gain success.

He just thinks they need to find a consistent goalscorer and have competition for places.

Bulman said: “I don’t think we need either a big squad or a lot of experience.

“If you look at Accrington Stanley, they won this league without a massive squad, but with togetherness and great team spirit.

“We need to add to the squad and this window is going to be interesting as it’s Harry Kewell’s first summer since he had the chance to see us playing.

“Goals are a bit of an issue, so I am looking forward to seeing which players come in the door.

“Competition is vital - as long as we have good quality players who want to do well for both the club and themselves, we can’t go far wrong.

“They have to be able to churn out performances week-in, week-out but don’t necessarily have to be experienced, as long as they have an ambitious attitude and want to do better.”

Their loss to Essex saw them slip out of contention in the Royal London One Day Cup although they had been in the game for much of the contest.

See Gillespie's post-match thoughts in the Sussex Cricket video interview, above

No home win but what an occasion

One Day Cup hopes over for Brown and Co