Young and old fill town with fun and colour

The veteran of them all was Kerby Drill, alias Hal Brooks. At 87, the Middleton resident kept up his proud record of attending every one of the 13 clown gatherings the town has hosted.

He said: "It's absolutely wonderful to have the clowns back again.

"I helped to found the convention back in 1985 and organised the involvement of all the schools. I did that for four years. That's how I managed to build up the procession.

"When Bingo the Clown and I started the event, we didn't want it just to be for the clowns. The event had to be for Bognor as well. We knew that, if you involved the children, you would involve their parents and you would bring the town into the event. And it worked."

At the other end of the age scale was two-and-a-half- year-old Beebee (Demi Le Huray) in her child-sized full motley. She was making her debut at the clown weekend and took part in Sunday's procession with her clown mum, Crazy M.

The family, completed by Beebee's father, Jay Le Huray, had travelled from Southampton.

Mr Le Huray said: "Demi just loves clowning, with the costume and the red nose."

Demi was one of several younger clowns among the 110 who again briefly made Bognor clown town thanks to the efforts of Bognor Regis Town Council, Clowns International and Butlins.

Another of those looking to take clowning into the next generation was Bristol teenager Jazzy (14). He was on his first visit to Bognor having taken part in three clown weekends at Weston-super-Mare.

He spent Friday and Saturday entertaining visitors in Butlins, juggling and spinning plates and appearing in the Big Top show on Saturday evening before he took part in the parade and returned to Bristol on the train in his full costume ready for school on Monday.

"I enjoy making people laugh. Learning how to spin plates is like riding a bike. You never forget once you know how to do it."

Another collection of clowns visited Bognor for the weekend from Denmark where they hold a similar convention. Among them was Copenhagen clown Paliette of the past eight years with her specialities of face painting and balloon shaping.

She said: "I came here to meet the rest of my clowning family. I want to have some fun and see all the smiling faces of the children and adults. That's wonderful because I love to entertain.

"I used to work in advertising and made people happy by buying goods. Now I'm making them happy for the right reasons."

Alongside the newcomers was the familiar face of Zazz. The former Edward Bryant Primary School pupil, now aged 28, kept up his ever-present record at the events.

He performed in the town centre on Saturday and took part in the parade on Sunday.

"It's lovely to be back in Bognor," said the Brighton juggler and unicyclist, "and back among my clowning friends."