Fantastic Arundel Festival fundraiser a stunning success

The fundraiser, sponsored and hosted by Sparks Yard, based in Tarrant Street, took place in the idyllic setting of the South Lawns at Arundel Castle in glorious summer weather.

Enthusiastic bidding sent the hammer prices for auction lots soaring, bringing in £4,430 and a further £1,100 from the art auction. The raffle and gift trees raised £2,500, a lively game of heads and tails added another £390 and ticket sales came in at £1,100.

The Arundel Brewery bar boosted the coffers by another £2,000 or so, making the total for the evening an impressive £13,000.

A brief power outage after the auction did nothing to dampen the guests’ enjoyment and they stayed on to dance to live music from the Fabulous Fug Band.

“The event was a really special occasion and we were overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity,” said Andy Heggadon, of Sparks Yard.

“The festival is such an important event for the town and it is wonderful that everyone is so supportive, from all of the wonderful volunteers, the companies that supported the event such as Tent’s n’ Events who supplied the marquees free of charge, Arundel Brewery who ran the bar, to everyone who donated raffle and auction prizes.

“Sparks Yard is immensely proud to have organised and sponsored the event, it was by far the best one yet and let’s hope we can do even better in 2015!”