Sussex Day with a difference

While communities across West Sussex won’t be celebrating Sussex Day in the usual way this year, there are still some ways you can celebrate our beautiful county.

Sussex Day falls on 16 June – this date was chosen because it is St Richard’s Day, which marks the life of St Richard who was Bishop of Chichester from 1245 until his death in 1253.

Leader of West Sussex County Council, Paul Marshall, said: “West Sussex is a wonderful county, full of rich heritage and history together with modern attractions, places to visit and many, many local businesses. These are strange and unprecedented times with the coronavirus outbreak, but as a county council we are doing all we can to ensure we bounce back and thrive again as we emerge from the outbreak.

“We would normally encourage local communities to celebrate Sussex Day with local events, but it has not been possible to organise public events this year due to the outbreak. The Sussex Day flag is flying on many public buildings and we encourage residents to celebrate Sussex Day from home or safely outside today.

“Businesses and attractions are starting to open their doors again as coronavirus restrictions are eased, so let’s all do our bit and support our local West Sussex businesses to help them through these very difficult times.”

The West Sussex Record Office together with Screen Archive South East has also chosen Sussex Day to launch the first in a series of videos delving into the history of the county and giving a unique view into how people lived.

The multi-media mix of films, photographs, blogs, posters, folk songs, saucy postcards and rare documents have been combined into a series of 10 films. Each new episode will be available every Tuesday from 12 noon, with the last film being uploaded on Tuesday 18 August. Watch them via the Record Office’s ‘West Sussex unwrapped’ blog.

To find out more about Sussex Day, visit the County Council website at www.westsussex.gov.uk and search ‘Sussex Day’.