Sussex Day on June 16 is fast approaching and as a keen promoter of our county day I would like to call on all people fortunate enough to live here to, in some way, recognise the still new, annual day celebrating our county.

Sussex is a special county.

How many people reading The Argus realise that Sussex is almost 400 years older than England? No county can match ours for the sheer richness of its history.

Sussex is a microcosm of England. It's been said that a visitor from almost any other county in England can find somewhere in Sussex which reminds them of their own county. Sussex, while being very English, is also cosmopolitan. As locals we are told we are wary of foreigners yet we greet many millions of visitors every year.

Because this year's Sussex Day falls on a Monday, it makes it difficult for people to organise events, but I know that town criers in Hastings, Crowborough and Burgess Hill will be strutting their stuff on the day. The Sussex Charter, in addition to being read out at noon in the Hillcrest Centre in Newhaven, will also be posted on many parish noticeboards on Sussex Day, all helping to add to the many traditions of this magical county of ours.

So on June 16 let the Saxon spirit of Sussex rise up.

Celebrate Sussex Day and show the rest of England just how it should be done.

  • Ian Steedman, Wakehurst Court, Worthing