About East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society
East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society (EHHCS) is a volunteer-led organisation based in East Hoathly, East Sussex, with more than a century of tradition behind its annual celebrations.
While fire, torches and procession are an important part of the evening, East Hoathly & Halland has developed a character that is particularly centred on Remembrance. Its annual Carnival takes place on the day before Remembrance Sunday, and the society’s motto, appropriately, is “Lest We Forget.”
That identity can be traced directly back to the events that led to the formation of the society following the end of the First World War.
From Armistice to Carnival
The origins of East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society lie in the celebrations that followed the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918.
When news of the end of the First World War reached East Hoathly, villagers gathered outside the Kings Head Inn, where a huge bonfire was lit. Singing, dancing and celebrations reportedly continued throughout the night.
The festivities did not end there.
The following week, an impromptu ball was held at the Kings Head, with villagers appearing in colourful fancy dress. At around 10pm, the group formed a procession and visited the principal houses around the parish, where speeches were made before further music and dancing.
Another major celebration followed on 21 July 1919 for National Peace Day, including a fancy-dress procession that finished at the village school, where prizes were presented for the best costumes.
It was from these post-war celebrations that the Carnival Society developed.
Lest We Forget
Those beginnings explain why Remembrance remains at the heart of East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society more than a century later.
The society’s annual celebration is deliberately held immediately before Remembrance Sunday and commemorates the men and women who lost their lives in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts.
One of the most moving parts of the evening is the society’s 31 poppies.
Each represents an individual from the village who lost their life during the two World Wars. Following a short service of remembrance at the village corner, the 31 poppies are carried in the final procession towards the bonfire sculpture.
It gives East Hoathly & Halland’s celebrations a particularly poignant character, combining the spectacle of Carnival with a very personal act of village remembrance.
The Annual Carnival
East Hoathly & Halland’s Carnival is the culmination of months of work by members and volunteers.
Thousands of spectators descend on the village for an evening of processions, fire, costume and fireworks.
Members and visiting societies carry flaming torches through East Hoathly, while the society’s distinctive fire banners provide another impressive feature of the processions.
The remembrance service and procession of the 31 poppies lead towards the final part of the evening, when the bonfire sculpture is burned and the celebrations conclude with a major fireworks display.
The timing, symbolism and ceremony make East Hoathly & Halland quite different from a straightforward November fireworks event. Remembrance is woven throughout the evening rather than simply added to it.
Cowboys, Indians and the American West
Costume has been an important part of East Hoathly Carnival since its earliest days.
Fancy dress featured in both the 1918 Armistice celebrations and the 1919 Peace Day procession, but the society’s modern costume tradition began to take shape during the 1950s, when members adopted Cowboy and Indian costumes.
That tradition has continued and evolved into a broader American Western theme, including costumes representing the American Civil War.
When East Hoathly & Halland members visit other celebrations, these Western costumes give the society a distinctive and easily recognisable appearance.
At East Hoathly’s own Carnival, however, some members instead choose to wear military attire, reflecting the strong Remembrance theme of the home celebration.
It creates an interesting contrast between the colourful Western identity the society takes on the road and the more commemorative character of its own November evening.
The Bonfire Sculpture
Another distinctive feature of East Hoathly & Halland is the bonfire sculpture created for important commemorations.
Rather than treating the fire simply as a pile of timber, members have used it to create large-scale structures connected with remembrance and significant anniversaries.
For the 80th anniversary of D-Day in 2024, society members constructed a special bonfire sculpture and took part in the national beacon-lighting commemorations.
The society encouraged other bonfire organisations around the country to participate as well, describing the beacon light as representing the peace that emerged from the darkness of the Second World War.
It was a particularly appropriate role for a society whose own beginnings can be traced to villagers celebrating the end of another world war in 1918.
Mid-Summer Magic
East Hoathly & Halland is active well beyond Carnival Night.
One of its largest fundraising events is Mid-Summer Magic, the society’s own village music festival.
The event began in 2006 as a relatively small summer party for society members and local residents, with a marquee, hay bales and a handful of bands.
It has since grown into a much larger family event on the East Hoathly playing fields, featuring live music, local beers, children's entertainment and other attractions.
In recent years even Mid-Summer Magic has acquired a little Bonfire character of its own, with a small fireworks display bringing the event to a close after dark.
The Boxing Day Pram Push
Another much-loved part of the society’s calendar is the Boxing Day Pram Push.
The event provides a rather different form of entertainment from November’s torchlit processions, bringing people together during the Christmas period while helping raise funds for the society.
Alongside Mid-Summer Magic and other activities such as the Kings Head Canter, it demonstrates just how active East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society remains throughout the year.
These events provide essential funding towards the cost of staging Carnival while also giving the society a year-round role within village life.
Charity and Community
Charitable fundraising has become an important part of the society’s work.
Money collected on Carnival Night is donated to a charity selected by the society’s members, while other events throughout the year help meet the substantial cost of staging the annual celebrations.
The distinction allows Carnival itself to generate support for good causes while the society continues raising the funds required to keep its traditions going.
For an organisation built from a spontaneous village celebration more than a century ago, that continued emphasis on community remains particularly appropriate.
Membership
East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society welcomes new members who want to become involved.
Members can participate in the home Carnival, join the society when it visits celebrations elsewhere and help with fundraising events throughout the year.
There is also a considerable amount of work behind the scenes, from planning and preparation to helping organise events such as Mid-Summer Magic and the Boxing Day Pram Push.
New members ensure that knowledge accumulated over generations can be passed on while allowing the society to continue developing new traditions of its own.
More Than 100 Years of Tradition
East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society has an unusually clear connection between the events that created it and the traditions it maintains today.
It began with villagers gathering around a bonfire outside the Kings Head on Armistice Day in 1918, celebrating the end of four years of war. Further processions and celebrations followed, eventually developing into the Carnival Society.
More than a century later, remembrance remains at the centre of the event.
The 31 poppies, the Remembrance service, military dress and the motto “Lest We Forget” ensure that the people behind the names on the village war memorial remain part of the celebration.
At the same time, its Western costumes, fire banners, bonfire sculptures, Mid-Summer Magic and Boxing Day Pram Push give East Hoathly & Halland a personality unmistakably its own.
From the Armistice bonfire of 1918 to the torchlit processions of today, East Hoathly & Halland Carnival Society has turned remembrance, celebration and community into a tradition lasting more than a century.