Bexhill Roaring 20s may move elsewhere

The town’s flagship event, which attracted thousands of people from across the country, was cancelled this year because of a lack of funding, according to the organisers.

At Bexhill Town Forum’s meeting on Tuesday evening (March 27) it was confirmed that another town may inherit the event.

Bexhill’s Roaring 20s was organised by Roger Crouch and Alastair Hazell and started in 2014.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Alastair said: “People loved the event so much some even moved to the town.

“There were between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors to Bexhill at last year’s event.”

Earlier this year organisers said the event had been scrapped because of a lack of funding from Rother District Council (RDC).

Alastair added: “We were contacted by towns along the coast interested in taking our event. The only way to move forward is to move the event on.”

He said it was not possible to have two separate 20s events on in Bexhill, as the inaugural Great Gatsby Fair will now be held for the duration of the weekend starting July 21 .

He added: “I would like to thank everyone for making the Roaring 20s event so memorable. We are most grateful.

“This was very much Roger’s event and I have been proud to support it. The town owes Roger a great debt. He is a gem and Bexhill should treasure him. Roger has been an amazing guy.”

At last year’s Roaring 20s Bexhill shimmied back into the record books as it reclaimed the Guinness World Record for the largest Charleston dance.

A total of 1,086 people, dressed in 20s garb, took part in the event by the De La Warr Pavilion.

In 2015 the town took the accolade from the previous record of 356 held by the Blue Mountains, Lithgow and Oberon region of New South Wales, Australia, with 502 dancers taking part. But Bexhill soon lost the title to Swing Patrol London, which managed 975 dancers.

Councillor Martin Kenward, RDC’s deputy leader, said: “Roaring 20s was a fantastic event.

“Rother’s budget for Bexhill events is currently £9,000 and until five years ago was nothing at all.”

He added the event had received financial support from RDC each year it ran.