Safe in Sussex Gingerbread House Event
The 1st Safe in Sussex Community Gingerbread House Event took place at St Oscar Romero School in Goring by Sea, with a wonderful selection of houses on show. This year’s Gingerbread House fundraised £3,280.
It was the charities 4th year of having their signature Business/Community Gingerbread House Decorating Competition, which took place on zoom the day before the public event, with entries displaying at the community event. This year 19 local businesses took part.
The public event sponsored by CommPoint was held to show off Gingerbread Houses and included 3 new categories, an adult and children’s Gingerbread House Decorating Competition using packs made by Fay Miller from Gingerbread World and a Freestyle Gingerbread House Decorating Competition where entrants could makes their own gingerbread house creations from scratch and show their creative talents.
All 4 competitions were judged on imagination, inspiration & appearance.
Competition Winners and Categories
Noah, aged 8 won the Children’s competition and said: “I really enjoyed decorating the gingerbread house and I think it’s really lovely that we all helped to raise money for people who need a home and some help at Christmas. I have eaten my chocolate prize already!”
Alice won the Adult’s competition and said ” I have never decorated a gingerbread house before, and this competition gave me a great opportunity to do that! it was something good to focus on, it was my birthday when I decorated it with friends, and it made us enter the Christmas spirit, we had chocolates and cakes!”
Kasia won the Freestyle competition and said: “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to take part in such a lovely event, to show my gingerbread creation to others and meet amazing people. I was impressed by how many lovely houses there were to see.
“Still can’t believe I actually won and got first prize! I’m so happy. Safe in Sussex is a wonderful organisation, it means a lot to me what they do and I hope to raise more money and be part of gingerbread house event next year!”
Rayner IOL, Worthing won the Business/Community competition, Graham Holden who is a Senior Software Analyst at the company said: “It’s hard to believe that 12 months has passed since the last Gingerbread House Competition. It was a real pleasure to enter again this year, and great to see so many entries of such high quality.
“I really do hope, and believe, this competition will continue to grow year-on-year in support of this fantastic charity.”
Gingerbread World’s Fay Millar said: “This is my fourth year of working with Safe in Sussex and the gingerbread competitions and houses have evolved and grown in that time. It is such a fun and exciting event to be part of and to see what everyone creates. Our first ever public competition was a great success, and I was blown away by the level of decoration and talent on display.
“The work Safe in Sussex does is so important for so many families and the gingerbread houses symbolise creating solid and loving homes and family units. I am very proud to be able to work with them and bake the gingerbread they need for this wonderful event.”
Louise Gisbey, Deputy CEO of Safe in Sussex and one of the judges on the day said: “It has been wonderful to see the creative designs and learn about the inspiration behind each entrant’s gingerbread house. Judging was a tough job as all the entries were fabulous and you could see the effort and time people had put into decorating their gingerbread house.
“We are so grateful to everyone who got involved and have helped to raise much needed funds for the charity.”
As well as St Oscar Romero School hosting the event, the year 10 students at the school designed the large house packs this year. Phil Dean, Extended Learning Leader said ‘It was such a lovely event that I am sure will build each year. Our students really enjoyed designing the houses that were sold.’
Supporting Charities and Extra Praise
The businesses that supported this year were: Gingerbread World, CommPoint, CGG, CSL, Carpenter Box, Noona Crafty Creations, Kate Henwood Photography, My Networking Club, EJ Moyle, The Useful Shop, Jankel, Heaton House, White Space, Baked Worthing, Stanford Legal Services, Nutley’s Kitchen Garden, Tideway Sweet Treats, Rubix VT, Emma Nottage – The Musical Diamond, Janet Webb Consulting, Rayner IOL, CJ Srand Cyber Hype, Kreston Reeves, JJ & H, Ellis Copywriting, Bacon & Co, Brooksteed Ale House, The Sand Project, Training Legs First Aid and Lincoln Noel – The Maestro.
Our Lady of Sion and Worthing High School students took part in the Competition, the community group Adur East Lions and the Charities Care for Veterans and Andy’s Angels got involved.
(Winning Gingerbread Houses pictures taken by Kate Henwood Photography)
