Hastings Old Town Week

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The opening ceremony on Winkle Island

Hastings Old Town Week is an annual summer event celebrated in the Old Town of Hastings, East Sussex. The Old Town week typically occurs during the first week of August and is officially opened on Winkle Island, during the week events such as concerts, street parties, charity races and Morris Dancing take place. The week ends with the Old Town Carnival procession, which contains 'floats', dancers, majorettes and marching bands and ends with a firework display in the evening.

The carnival was first started in 1968 after Old Town residents felt the original Hastings Carnival should have included the Old Town in its route and decided to set up their own carnival. The Old Town event gradually got more popular and bigger, whilst the Hastings event became less popular and eventually stopped. As a parting gift the Old Town organisers were allowed to title the Carnival Queen "Miss Hastings".

Events

Seaboot Race is a race in which each entrant has to run from the start/finish line around a lobster and back, wearing seaboots and a top hat.

Bike Race is another race where the entrant has to ride up the steepest road in the Old Town, using a Butchers Bike in the quickest time possible, without taking their buttocks off the saddle. This event is done in memory of a local fisherman who died during the Great Storm of 1987.

Other events include the Pram Race, Best Dressed Window Competition, the High Street Party, Old Town Film Yearly Show, the Trawler Parade, Pirates Day and the concluding Carnival Procession.

Winning entrants crowned as Miss Hastings (carnival queen) and princesses over the last years are as follows.

Miss Hastings 1999 - Leah Newman with princesses Stephanie Bowers and Elizabeth Taylor.

Miss Hastings 2000 - Leah Newman with princesses Vicky Griffiths and Lisa O'Connell.

Miss Hastings 2001 - Sophie Foster with princesses Amanda Hills and Lucie Hide.

Miss Hastings 2002 - Lucie Hide with princesses Eugenie Demeza and Carrie Skelton.

Miss Hastings 2003 - Krystal Finch with princesses April Hollister, Charlotte Vaughan and Lydia Hall.

Miss Hastings 2004 - Tracy Bryant with princesses Lorna Hollister, Lydia Hall and Lucy Ansell.

Miss Hastings 2005 - Lydia Hall with princesses Lucy Ansell, Amy Fuller and Lisa Jones.

Miss Hastings 2006 - Amy Fuller with princesses Gemmaine Baughurst, Suzanna Milton and Lucie Hide.

Miss Hastings 2007 - Kelly Cornford with princesses Emily Zervakis, Amy Baines and Gemmaine Baughurst.

Miss Hastings 2008 - Gemmaine Baughurst with princesses Cassie Abbott and Keira Donnelly.

Miss Hastings 2009 - Lara Duke with princesses Zoe Waters and Victoria Lavender.

Miss Hastings 2010 - Tamara Gates with princesses Nicole Pavitt, Francesca Louise and Kemi Seetarum.

Miss Hastings 2011 - April Grant with princesses Lucy Richardson and Nicole Pavitt and also Deputy Miss Hastings Tamara Gates.

Miss Hastings 2012 - Elle Shoesmith with princesses Emma Tyrrel and Cheyenne Mishewski.

Miss Hastings 2013 - Bethany Hill with princesses Leylah Dobinson and Cheyenne Mishewski.

Miss Hastings 2014 - Leylah Dobinson with princesses Chloe Stretton and Hannah Burgess.

Miss Hastings 2015 - Chloe Stretton with princesses Hannah Burgess and Talitha Ford-Fisher.

Miss Hastings 2016 - Hannah Burgess with princesses Frankie Stewart, Talitha Ford-Fisher and Harmony Crane.

Miss Hastings 2017 - Elizabeth Fowler with princesses Frankie Stewart and Harmony Crane.

One of many activities during the Carnival Week
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