Littlehampton Bonfire’s glow warms good causes’ coffers

As the Littlehampton Bonfire Night draws closer, organisers have announced all those good causes in line to gain from its street collections.

The beneficiaries this year include St Barnabas House hospice, Littlehampton Swimming Club, Arun Co-ordinated Community Transport (ACCT) and East Preston Area Community Responders.

All the groups were meant to benefit from the collection by the Littlehampton Bonfire Society last year but due to dangerous weather conditions the event was cancelled.

Neil Francis, community fundraising officer at St Barnabas House, is thrilled to be supported once again.

He said without the generosity of locals and the bonfire society, the centre would have a difficult task in caring for all its residents.

“It costs over £5 million each year to provide the hospice’s services and patients are never charged for their care,” he said. “Only a small part of these costs is funded by the Government.

“For the remainder, we rely on the generosity, help and support of the local community.”

ACCT hopes to use its donation to continue to run its much-needed transport service for the disabled and elderly amid spiralling costs.

Peter Austin, manager, said: “Many people within the community rely on this transport and there is evidence that the service makes a valuable contribution to their wellbeing, health and place in the community.

“This year has seen the charity’s costs increase, the provision of local transport services reduced and the public funding pot shrink.”

Life-saving equipment for use in the Littlehampton area is on the shopping list for the East Preston Area Community Responders.

Jordan Burne-Cronshaw, of the group, said it was trying to raise £1,500 for a new defibrillator, a machine used to shock the heart when in cardiac arrest.

While Littlehampton Swimming Club’s Suzanne Nicholls said the club aimed to use the cash to assist its own young sport stars to climb to even greater heights.

She said: “Littlehampton Swimming Club’s swimmers continue to improve and are moving upwards through county, regional and even national rankings.

“This is thanks in part to the generosity of grants and financial assistance obtained by the club, thus enabling them to improve training methods and coaching expertise.”

Times for the bonfire, firework display and processions can be found in the official programmes, now on sale in shops in Littlehampton, Wick, Rustington and East Preston and at the Look & Sea Centre, Surrey Street.

For details, see here.