St Mary’s Children's Sports Day in Lewes celebrates its 75th year

London hosted the Olympics in the summer of 1948, and on a small green on the outskirts of Lewes, Mr Maurice Breese decided the children of Lewes deserved to celebrate their sporting achievements as much as the olympians of the day.

With events running over two Saturdays afternoons, even including a Cross Country on the Wednesday during the 60's and 70's, there were plenty of opportunities for children to test their sporting skill and have a chance at winning. Once all events had been completed, in his trademark blazer and loudspeaker in hand, Mr Breese would announce the winners of the day's events.

On Lewes History Group, Carole Kirby remembers: “Another high spot of the year was Nevill Sports Day organised by Mr Breeze. My friend and I loved taking part, even though we never won. There were the egg and spoon races, sack races, and to practise for the three legged race we would walk round the estate with our legs tied together. At the end of the day Mr Breese would stand on top of a large green electrical unit at the edge of the green and present the prizes.”

Maurice acted as Clerk of the Course until his retirement in 1990, when Colin Reynolds, who had been supporting the Children’s Sports Day since the 1980's and took over as Clark of the Course. Ric Courcha took on the role of organising the sports, handing over to Hugh Coppin, from 1999 until 2015, when Colin then took on organising the annual sports in addition to his role on the day.

The tradition of providing refreshments was started by Francis Brown, who organised the refreshments for many years during the 50's 60's and 70's supported by her family, who were involved in most of the running of sports day. This tradition has been continued by Kath Reynolds, who has been involved since 1993 organising much needed refreshments for hungry children and their families, including cakes and other delicious baked goods donated by the kind residents of Nevill Estate and Wallands.

For 75 years, children have looked forward to the flags appearing around the green to signal the time of the year where they could compete in the huge variety of events organised for them by St Mary’s Children's Sports Day, and hope to be one of the lucky children who won a prize, the most prestigious being the Sportsmanship Cup, kindly gifted by W E Clark and Son for at least 35 years. The current director David Clark is still very happy to continue this tradition.

Helen Lee (nee Blake) fondly remembers: “My friends and I looked forward to it every year. It was the absolute highlight. My best friend and I won the three legged race and also made up a relay team with two other friends - the Blois Road Flyers. We won the trophy and each of the team members kept it at their house for part of the year before handing it back.”

Winning wasn’t everything. The spirit of community and friendship upon which this event was founded still runs through communities in Lewes and encourages neighbours to look after and rely upon each other, one of the many reasons it makes our wonderful town a very special place to live. The fabulous community of volunteers who help to organise the day, start races, record results and many people support the event by baking cakes, biscuits and scones to feed the hungry racers on the day are a testament to this community spirit.

This year, St Mary’s Children’s Sports Day celebrates its 75th year and looks forward to inviting children from all over Lewes to take part in sporting events on June 24. Registration forms can be found at stmaryssocialcentrelewes.co.uk/sportsday ,by scanning the QR code on the flyer, or by picking up a paper form from St Mary’s Supporters Club in Christie Road.

For more information, for participating, volunteering or just visiting on the day, please visit the St Mary’s Children’s Sports Day Facebook page