What a day we had on Friday 5th July! The rain didn't dampen anyone's spirits.
We had some brilliant parent volunteers come down to the Paddock super early to peel, chop and arrange some delicious fruit donated by Bill's ready for the children to devour after the parade. Bill's have been donating fruit for the Year 6 children of Lewes for 20+ years. We are so grateful to them for providing such a lovely healthy snack after all that walking, singing, chanting and costume wearing.
We always love the moment when the children start walking into the Paddock in their costumes. This year there were some amazing raincoats for the costumes!
The people of Lewes came out to support and cheer on the children Moving On and it made for a wonderful atmosphere!
The children and adults of St Pancras schoo did a wonderful job leading the procession in their pumpkin delights as this was their final year as the school closed its doors in July 2024.
We had an incredible selection of food from Jammie Dodgers to peas in their pods, to tacos, to some noisy carrots, to popcorn and mushrooms. A bounty of costumes representing some of Sussex's finest locally grown fruit and vegetables.
We are so grateful to Priory School who supplied us with a fabulous Samba band, they did an incredible job!
We marched past Lewes Councillors stood on the steps of the Law Courts wearing fantastic hats that were fashioned into all sorts of food, down school hill past the wonderful ladies from Tizz's who were blowing bubbles into the parade and then down past the fruit and veg guys on Cliffe Precinct who were wearing their Moving On 2024 t-shirts and then back up the hill past the Friday Food Market stall holders who were also wearing their Moving On 2024 t-shirts and the lovely cherry seller who was handing out cherries to the children and then back down into the Paddock.
When back in the Paddock we had the Kooky cupcake ceremony. Each school came up and presented their Kooky cupcake decorated with their fruit or veg which was carefully lifted and secured onto the giant cupcake stand in the middle of the Paddock. There was lots of cheering and shouts of "put it on the top!" from the children. It made an incredibly beautiful centre-piece and the sun even came out to help us celebrate!
Our dancing Queen, Gemme Coe then arrived to lead our flash dance to this year's song "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. This is one of our favourite moments, watching the children, teachers and adults dancing together.
Our wonderful compare, Matt Carr did a fabulous job keeping everyone entertained and informed!
We then had the super lovely Lewes town crier, Jon Borthwick AKA Shouty Man give a speech to our Year 6 Leavers, which always makes sure the parents and adults are crying by the end!
A big thanks to our wonderful Head Steward, Katie Greenwood and her team of stewards for making sure all the children and adults in the parade were safe and knew where they were going!
And thanks to James Gander and the hard working production team from Firestory events.
We rounded off this incredible day with a party in the Paddock which had a change of venue this year due to all the rain. We shared picnics, listened to music from Keith Ellis and his band and were entertained by magician Arthur Coppin down at Human Nature's warehouse in North Street. There was also a chance to look at the Kooky cupcakes and the Recipe for Life which were all on display. We had a food donations point for the Lewes Food Banks and a chance to chat with a lovely lady from the Lewes District Food Partnership and free cherries!
Thanks to everyone who makes this incredible day possible!
