Hailsham Christmas Market Attracts Shoppers

A Christmas Market organised by Hailsham Town Council in partnership with Hailsham Forward on Saturday [5 December], has been hailed a success by councillors, despite a change of venue for part of the event due to inclement weather.

The market saw the Hailsham Civic Community Hall packed for the start of the traditional Christmas retail period, with over 30 stalls selling Christmas gifts, decorations, cards, cakes and many other items.

There was a programme of festive entertainment for the family and activities for children inside the Quintins Shopping Centre throughout the day including carol singing from members of Christchurch and Hailsham Choral Society, balloon modelling, face painting, tinsel pull and pin-the-nose-on-Rudolph.

An open-air skate rink in Vicarage Field, which has been a feature at the Christmas Market in recent years, was again a major attraction for children and families and Santa & his Sleigh (provided by Hailsham Rotary Club) made an appearance in the High Street to hand out free presents to children, kindly donated by Tesco and Poundland.

Hailsham Parish Church hosted their Historic Open Church at which free coffee, tea and hot chocolate was served.

Deputy Town Mayor and chairman of the Town Council’s Communities Committee, Councillor Amanda O’Rawe, said: “After many months of planning, it was amazing to see so many people enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the market.”

“The range of stalls, as well as the festive entertainment and activities for children on offer were impressive and lots of people are going to be receiving lovely Christmas presents soon!”

“I’d like to thank everyone involved in the organisation of the event, including Hailsham Forward and the wonderful Town Council staff who worked so hard in putting this together.”

“Additional thanks must be given to Tesco and Poundland, who very kindly donated a large amount of presents for Santa to give out to children on the day.”

Mickey Caira, Deputy Town Clerk and Business Enterprise Manager at Hailsham Town Council said: “There was a busy flow of shoppers in the Civic Community Hall on Saturday and local businesses and craftspeople had an interesting selection of stalls.”

“Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves here and in the Quintins Centre and it was nice to get into the Christmas spirit.”

Hailsham Town Council invites members of the public and other organisations to get involved in some of next year’s big community events, which include a Children’s Market and Food Market, both taking place next summer. For further details contact Karen Giddings on 01323 841702 or send an email to karen.giddings@hailsham-tc.gov.uk.