Mid Sussex Nostalgia: Dame Vera Lynn crowns Ditchling’s queen at 1982 village fair

The weather got better and better as the day went by and the crowds got bigger and bigger at the Ditchling Fair in the summer of 1982.

By mid-afternoon the village green was fully packed.

Dame Vera Lynn crowned the Queen of the Fair, 19-year-old Paulien Mott, in the morning when the skies were still a little threatening.

Dame Vera went on to exhort the crowds to spend their money due to the proceeds of the fair going to Ditchling charities.

Ditchling High Street was closed to traffic while Mr Jack Willcocks, chairman of the parish council, proclaimed the official opening of the fair from a balcony in the High Street.

Among the many attractions of the fair were a mummers play, a magician, Morris Dancers, maypole dancing, handbell ringing and tug-o-war.