Pagham Pram Race plaque to be installed

Competitors in this year's race were continuing decades of tradition

The organisers of the Boxing Day spectacle have been given permission to fix a plaque to one of the parish’s ‘welcome’ signs.

It will endorse the race’s claim to be the oldest event of its kind in the world.

News of the approval was given by the race organising committee’s chairman, Tim Holland, at last week’s latest staging of the charity event.

Mr Holland has been involved with the pram race since 1977.

He told the thousands of spectators around the race’s finishing line: “We are so glad that there is going to be some recognition displayed about the race.”

The plaque will be attached to one of the picturesque metal signs which Pagham Parish Council installed at the entrances to the parish about three years ago.

Cllr Ray Radmall, chairman of Pagham Parish Council, said: “Tim approached the council earlier in the year to see if a commemorative plaque could be put at the entrance to the village.

“It will be on one of our signs signing the mill and the church.

“We have consented to that and it will be happening in the next few months.

“It will commemorate the pram race as being the oldest pram race in the world.”

The plaque’s installation will come a year before the race celebrates its 70th anniversary in December, 2016.

It is said to have been devised by servicemen who had returned home after the second world war and wanted to have some fun at Christmas.

The race has survived changing fashions and times intact and observes the same rules. Mr Holland said the race’s fundraising for groups in the surrounding area had been stepped up in recent years.

The committee had also attracted three younger members, aged from 16 upwards, in the past year to ensure its survival well into its eighth decade.

GALLERY: Pagham Pram Race 2014

First world war tribute wins prize in 2014 Pagham Pram Race