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Mud and rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of West Sussex Fire Brigade at this year’s South of England Show. The event, held at the Ardingly showground, was attended by the Queen as part of her Jubilee Tour and saw an attendance in excess of 70,000 people over the three days.

During the Show, the Fire Brigade offered a variety of live demonstrations, which included:

Dramatic chip pan demonstrations.

Blayze , who performed music with a fire safety theme.

A performance by students from Chichester College who produced and wrote a short play, focussing on arson.

"As usual, even though the weather tried to play its part, the brigade's stand still proved to be popular with visitors over the three days," said one of the fire brigade demonstrators Assistant Divisional Officer Simon Rowles .

"The attraction of the six-foot TV screen certainly pulled in the crowds during the England world cup match against Argentina.

"Following this, the opportunity was not lost to mingle with the crowd and ensure visitors had the chance to gain important and potentially life-saving information about some of the simple steps that can be taken to protect themselves, their families and friends from the dangers of fire."

Alongside the fire brigade, were representatives from the Child Fire and Burns Trust , who are working in partnership with the brigade to educate children about the dangers of fire.

"Following all the hard work that was put into the event, the brigade will shortly begin planning for the 2003 show to ensure that next year's stand maintains the same high standard.

"The focus, as always, will be upon educating people about what they can do to protect themselves from fire and what to do should one occur. It will also, once again, provide people with an insight into the many different aspects of the brigade," said ADO Rowles.

Michael Dennis, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Public Safety, said: "Once again, our firefighters scored a double success at the South of England Show by entertaining thousands of people, while at the same time communicating serious fire prevention messages."