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Seaford had never seen anything like it.
The Sussex seaside town has
returned four
prime ministers to parliament, as well as
educating actress Penelope Keith and
Cambridge spy Guy Burgess.
But the town came to a standstill with
the arrival of theWebb Ellis Cup as
part of the RFU's 250-venue tour of the country.
And even club president David Cleaton - the Welshman handed the
bitter-sweet task of organising the Seaford visit - wasn't going to stand
in its way.
"We knew the cup was going from Eastbourne to Brighton and we were in
the way - so we decided to see if it could stop off here," said
Cleaton.
"Graham Thompson from Sussex and Len Fisher the town clerk were the
driving forces in working with us, so it was a case of good cooperation
between the town, the club and the county. We had no idea how it would end
up."
It ended up with hundreds of people queueing behind the town hall and
the SCT organisers processing a stream of rugby fans eager to have their
picture taken with the cup at the rate of one every 10 seconds.
"It's turned into a celebration for the whole town of Seaford. I have
to say that because I'm Welsh I've had to live with all the jibes!
"But it's been a great day and it's encouraged people to get involved
and to have contact with the club.
"Because we're on the coast we have a 180 degree, rather than a 360
degree, catchment area. However, the interest in rugby is there and we're
packed for all our games.
"Our first team already do a lot to help other teams like our
under-15s, but it's now about recruiting new people, particularly
volunteers, to help with the running of the club."
Seaford was the penultimate stop on a journey that began at Holy
Trinity School in Crawley before the Webb Ellis Cup moved under the awning
of the bandstand at Queen's Square in Crawley.
Shoppers ground to a standstill on the coast at Eastbourne, where the
public brought the central square of the Arndale Centre to a standstill,
and then the tour went via Seaford to the Brighton club on the outskirts
of the city, for an evening of youth, women's and veterans' games.
The cup moved to the Churchill Square shopping centre in Brighton for
the morning of Saturday, April 3, before moving along the south coast to
Montague Place in Worthing and then to Bognor, where Lewes beat the host
club 22-7 to secure second place in the London South East Three
league.
The Sussex leg of the tour ended at the Worthing club for a tag rugby
tournament, band and buffet before the handover to Hampshire took
place
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