Rustington

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Rustington
static_

static_image_caption=The church of St. Peter and St. Paul
population = 12,676
shire_district= Arun
shire_county = West Sussex
region= South East England
constituency_westminster= Worthing West
post_town=
PostCode= BN16
dial_code= 01903
os_grid_reference= TQ054022
latitude= 50.81019
longitude= -0.50521

Introduction and History

Rustington is a seaside resort and civil parish near Littlehampton in Sussex. For local government purposes, it forms part of the Arun district and the administrative county of West Sussex. Officially a village with its own parish council, Rustington is larger than its status implies. (It has expanded considerably in the last few years, due to extensive new housing developments, which have altered its original old world charm). With a population of 12,676 in 2001, it has the size and facilities of a small town, including a shopping area containing a number of chain stores. It comes under the Worthing West constituency and its current MP is Peter Bottomley. It is served by Angmering railway station. The parish of Rustington includes the hamlet of West Preston.

Rustington competes annually in the South-East in Bloom competition, in which it continually does very well. It holds an annual carnival and fete in August every year and at Christmas has a village Carol Concert which is free for local residents and features local school children accompanied by the [http://www.littlehampton-concertband.co.uk Littlehampton Concert Band] .

Rustington is twinned with the American town of Los Altos, California and the German town of Künzell.

The population has expanded rapidly in recent years due to several major house building projects. Rustington contains a conservation area which extends from the south end of North Lane to the Lamb Public House in The Street. This area contains many Grade 2 Listed buildings, additionally most of the trees in this area have preservation orders on them, (and consequently planning permission must be sought before any work can be done on them).

Rustington has one of the largest number of historic buildings in the area, with The Street and surrounding roads containing some of the finest C17th & C18th Sussex flint cottages in West Sussex, many are thatched. Hubert Parry's music to 'Jerusalem' was written there, JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan and artist Graham Sutherland among others also resided there. The film "If...." was written in the village's Sea Estate, in a house belonging to the mother of the film director Lindsay Anderson. Brian White (cartoonist) spent much of his later life here whilst Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe grew up in the village. The British and Irish Meteorite Society was formed in Rustington in 2004.

The local non-league football team, Rustington F.C, achieved the notable distinction of going through the entire calendar year of 2006 without losing a single match, earning them a mention on Sky Sports News on New Year's Eve.

Rustington was home to an American WWI air base, which is no longer in existence. This was situated to the East of the high street, (behind Somerfield and the All Seasons shop).

Rustington also has a retail park located on the A259 which runs to the north of the village providing transport to other towns such as Littlehampton, Bognor Regis and Chichester, and to the east the towns of Worthing and Brighton.

Two world air speed records, were both set on 7th September over Rustington Sea Front.

Record 1 - set on 7th September 1946, by Group Captain Teddy Donaldson, flying a Gloster Meteor Star Donaldson also became the first man to break the 1,000 km/h barrier. [Thomas, Nick. RAF Top Gun: Teddy Donaldson CB, DSO, AFC and Bar Battle of Britain Ace and World Air Speed Record Holder, Pen & Sword, 2008. ISBN-10: 1844156850]

Record 2 - set on 7th September 1953, by Squadron Leader Neville Duke, flying Hawker Hunter WB188, at a speed of 1170.9 km/h.

To celebrate, on 7th September 1996, Neville Duke returned to Rustington to unveil a plaque, marking the event. He was joined by a Gloster Meteor and a Hawker Hunter, which flew over Rustington Sea Front.

Rustington will shortly have its own Museum. An 18th century thatched house is presently being converted and will contain local exhibits and a coffee shop.

High Street and Churchill Court

Rustington's high street has some chain-stores and many family run shops as well as its fair share of estate agents and charity shops. Located just off the high street is a small courtyard of shops called Churchill Court. On display in the high street is a large Late Ice Age erratic boulder, this was brought to Rustington on the sea ice during the last Ice Age. It was discovered in a local field (Stonefield) and was used as a boundary marker for many years.

The Rustington Event

The Rustington Event is held every year, since 2006. It is a celebration of Christmas for the village. Shops stay open late for Christmas shopping and a whole range of different Christmas food and entertainment is laid on. Last year it was held on Saturday 8th December 2007. Unfortunately wet and windy weather spoiled the event with many businesses deciding to close early due to lack of customers turning out and a number of events being cancelled.

In the News

Paul Pegrum, of Pegrum's bakery (now Forfares), created the world's biggest hot cross bun to publicise Rustington during the Easter break of 2002. After four hours of cooking, the bun surpassed two out of the three existing records. A weights and measures inspector from Brighton and Hove Council found the bun had smashed the current weight record of 38kg (83lb 13oz), weighing in at 42.8kg (94lb 6oz).It is also the widest hot cross bun ever made, coming in at 4ft 4in (132.08 cm) with a circumference of 12ft 7in (383.54 cm). [ [http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2002/3/28/160730.html The Argus 28 March 2002] ]

The supermarket chain, Tesco suffered strong opposition as hundreds of shoppers signed a petition opposing their move into Rustington. The petition against the store was organised by Luke's News, a few doors away from the now, Tesco Express site, where a poster in the window urged passers-by: "Don't Let Rustington Die". The overall feeling is that Tesco Express will erode trade from other shops in the centre, a couple of months after this report was published, Tesco opened an express store in Rustington amongst the heavy criticism. [ [http://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/news/Rustington-rush-to-oppose-Tesco.4015872.jp The Littlehampton Gazette 24 April 2008] ]

General Facts/Trivia

*Rustington shares a train station located in Angmering with Angmering and East Preston.
*Rustington is still a village because people voted it to be a village.
*Rustington may have been founded by a man called Rusta.
*Rustington hosted the 1952 World Chess Championship.
*Elton John's Parents Live On The Sea Estate

References

External links

* [http://rustington.tripod.com Rustington Notice Board]
* [http://www.rustington-scouts.org.uk 1st Rustington Scout Group]
* [http://www.rustington-explorers.org.uk Rustington Explorer Scouts]
* [http://www.al-scouts.org.uk Arundel & Littlehampton District Scouts]
* [http://rustington.tripod.com/album Rustington Photo Album]
* [http://www.rustingtonpc.org Rustington Parish Council]
* [http://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/news/Just-ask--new-village.1353717.jp Littlehampton Gazette Article on the Rustington Information Centre]
* [http://www.familytreedesigns.co.uk/angmering.htm Angmering Project] has all of Angmering census returns available to view as well as censuses for surrounding villages including Rustington.
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E3DB1639F931A15754C0A960958260 1996 Obituary for Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe who grew up in Rustington]