The Super Hero Fun Walk was organised as the main fundraising event for the Cath Lab Appeal. The appeal for the ‘Love your Hospitals’ charity was launched at Food restaurant in spectacular fashion on Thursday 9th June. (See this blog).  The Love your Hospitals charity fund-raises for Worthing, Southland and St. Richard’s hospitals and Proto Restaurant Group owner Andy Sparsis, and his wife are patrons of the charity.

The event was a complete success and The Fish Factory was pleased to be part of such an important event and worthwhile cause. Andy Sparsis and his family all dressed up as Batman (and Woman) as they started the walk and encouraged hundreds to take part, raising thousands of pounds.

To hear all about it, come into The Fish Factory, Worthing. Book a table by calling 01903 207123.

The Sparsis Family

Food and The Fish Factory provided all the food, drink and service in the events VIP area, catering for all the performers and event organisers. It was the 10th year running Proto Restaurant Group has been involved in the garden party and it was an absolute pleasure to be involved again.  It required a huge team effort and the brilliant staff from both restaurants in Worthing helped out to make the event a huge success.

Splash FM Garden Party

The Garden Party provided 10 hours of live music over two days and is the largest tribute festival on the south coast. The event also took the opportunity to raise funds for the Worthing Churches Homeless Project which is a charity close to Proto Restaurant Group, having celebrated their 20th anniversary at Food restaurant back in May.

Both Food and The Fish Factory are pleased to be involved with such a success for another year and all the staff are already looking forward to next year.

Proto Restaurant Group are always happy to host your party or event at any of their restaurants, so get in touch at Food (01903 227780), The Fish Factory, Worthing (01903 207123) and The Fish Factory, Littlehampton (01903 715000) to get more information or to book a table.

Proto sponsors carnival queen

The Fish Factory in Littlehampton sponsored the Littlehampton Carnival Queen Contest for the second year in a row.  This fabulous event was held on Sunday 20th March.

The winners were:

First place (Carnival Queen): Kirsty Alderton who is 17 years old. Kirsty comes from Littlehampton and is a student in the sixth form at Littlehampton Academy. Kirsty studies Sociology and English language. Her hobbies are football, stoolball, cheerleading and modern jive. Kirsty’s ambition is to join the police force. Well done Kirsty! Well deserved!

The Littlehampton Carnival Queen Contest runners-up were:

(Carnival Princess 1) : Jessica Taddick is 16 years old and comes from Rustington came a close second, Jessica is a student at Northbrook College. She is studying Hair and Beauty. Jessica’s hobbies are music, styling her friends’ hair and walking her dogs. Her ambition is to work with catwalk models by styling their hair. We wish we were Jessica’s friend – it would be lovely to have a hair stylist on tap!

(Carnival Princess 2): Last but by no means least, our second Carnival Princess is Nicole Weller who is 15 and is from Littlehampton. Nicole is a GCSE student at the Littlehampton Academy. Nicole loves cheerleading and is a member of Sussex Tournados. Nicole’s ambition is to work with special needs and disadvantaged children.

As we said before, this event was an outstanding success. The Fish Factory at Littlehampton is just the place to hold events and we can create exciting themed menus if you wish to hold a memorable event with a difference. Take a look at our website to see the mouthwatering dishes awaiting you at our fine fish and seafood restaurant in Littlehampton in West Sussex.

Worthing Regatta 2010 Copyright Andy West

Worthing Rowing club, which was founded in 1880, is actually older than Worthing Borough itself. Located at Splash Point in Worthing, Worthing Rowing Club is just a few minutes away from The Fish Factory Worthing restaurant which is situated at 51-53 Brighton Road, Worthing,West Sussex, BN11 3EE. Call The Fish Factory on 01903 207123 to book a table.

The club competes in various regattas and competitions throughout the year and has both a Junior and Senior section. Proto Restaurant Group and The Fish Factory are very supportive of both sections, especially the Junior section as they feel that today’s youth needs to be provided with a wide range of activities so that each and every individual can have the opportunity to achieve something and rowing is just one of those activities.

Worthing Rowing Club

Call us at The Fish Factory Littlehampton on 01903 715000 or at Worthing on 01903 207123 to book a table or come and see us at Food in Worthing, call us on 01903 227780 to book a table.

There were 15 awards given out throughout the evening including sporting star, pub of the year and the courage award which were won by Harrison Reed, Bar Release and Shane Wallace respectively. Other notable winners were the Mum and Dad of the year awards won by Wendy Robinson and Scott Mellhuish.

Proto Restaurant Group - Splash Awards 2011

Proto Restaurant Group is especially proud to be sponsoring an event with such awards as it rewards those that really deserve it, especially Mum’s and Dad’s who quite often don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Details of all the award winners can be found at the Splash FM website.

Proto Restaurant Group also walked away with an award winning Restaurant of the Year for Food. Karen Warland, the Floor Manager at Food Restaurant had the following to say about the award:

“Thank you very much to everyone that voted for us, we really appreciate it.  All we ever do is try our best to give good quality food and excellent service.  Thank you everyone for your continued support.”

Proto Restaurant Group - Splash Awards 2011

Alberto Castro, who is the Executive Chef at Food, was absolutely delighted with the award:

“Thank you to all the customers from all the team for your continued support. It is a privilege to be working as an Executive Chef at Food restaurant.”

Nominations for Food Restaurant were for the quality experience that is offered – including the lavish, open plan dining room,  it’s welcoming and attentive staff, and the entertainment, which includes regular live jazz – and a number of themed evenings through the year.

The entire evening at the awards was a joyous, laid back and exciting evening for all those that attended, with notable attendees including Worthing Mayor Ann Sayers.

If you want to come and see just exactly why Food won Restaurant of the Year, come in and visit us.

Call us on 01903 227780 to book a table.

There are a total of 15 categories, each aimed at recognising businesses that have succeeded over the last 12 months and individuals that have gone the extra mile this year to help others.

The categories are:

The Proto Restaurant Group at the Splash Awards

The Proto Restaurant Group – Food Restaurant and The Fish Factory (Worthing and Littlehampton) – is extremely proud to be involved in the awards as we feel that it is right to honour and celebrate those people that go the extra mile in our community. There are many great individuals in our area and they need to be recognised.

If you fancy having a chat with us about the awards and how you can nominate, call us on 01903 227780 (Food), 01903 207123 (The Fish Factory Worthing), 01903 715000 (The Fish Factory Littlehampton).

We thought it would be interesting to ask some questions to the event organiser, Freda Hughes in order to get a better idea of what the competition involves, and how it benefits those that enter.

Who was last years winner, and why did they win? How did they stand out?

Isabella Camburn won last years competition and stood out to the judges as she came across as a very confident girl, which the Judges deemed an important factor – especially when knowing that the prospective Carnival Queen would be presented to all members of the local Community and general Public, and would be able to engage in a variety of events throughout the year.

What did Isabella get for winning?

Isabella also won prize money of £500, Day wear and a Ball gown.

What has Isabella been up to since winning Littlehampton’s Carnival Queen 2010?
Since winning the Competition, Isabella has attended a variety of events, including our main event – the Littlehampton Carnival, other local carnivals, and Bonfire Night, Wheels Day, The Town Show, Winter Wonderland,  Armed Forces Day & Remembrance Sunday.  Isabella also attended Harbour Park, where she looked after under privileged and disabled children.

Isabella Camburn - Littlehampton Carnival Queen 2010

What are the judges looking for in this years potential Carnival Queens?

The Judges are looking for a confident girl, who can adapt to all situations, a “people person” who is not afraid to talk and integrate with members of the general Public, Local dignitaries, councillors etc. They will also be looking for someone who is smartly dressed, has an enthusiasm for Littlehampton, and has a vivacious personality.

Have you had any entries yet?

The Carnival Competition was launched last week, and we have had 1 entry so far, interestingly from a former Junior Carnival Queen, who is entering again as she enjoyed her year with us, over 2 years ago.  We have had many enquiries, and hope that, like all other previous years, we will be looking at aprox 10-20 entries.

When and where will the event be held?

The Date for the Contest is March 20th 2011 and will be held at The Fish Factory. All entrants need to send a photo into the Littlehampton Gazette, and then they will be contacted in due course buy our Carnival Queen Coordinator – Bobby Hall, to discuss the time to meet on the 20th, and a general discussion about what is involved.

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If you would like information about the Littlehampton Carnival Queen Contest call Mrs Freda Hughes who is the President of the Littlehampton Carnival and her number is 01903 716634. Alternatively you can email Freda at fredahughes@aol.com.

We look forward to meeting all the entrants at the competition. Good luck!

If you wish to visit The Fish Factory contact us on 01903 207123 for Worthing and 01903 715000 for Littlehampton. Or why not visit Food, Proto Restaurant Groups other restaurant in Worthing, call us on 01903 227780 to book a table.

The Wonderful World of Oz, The Pantomime

The Fish Factory in Littlehampton sponsored the pantomime, “The Wonderful World of Oz”, which ran at The Windmill Entertainment Theatre in Littlehampton for three days between 19th-21st December. The panto was put on by Curtain Call which is a not-for-profit performing arts organisation dedicated to providing all members of the community access to theatre musical productions.

Curtain call has been running over four years now and has produced six majorly successful shows, has appeared at many charity events and has taken part and won at the Worthing Carnival for three years running.

Curtain call creates performance opportunities for actors, singers, dancers and other performing artists of ages ranging from 8-21. This amazing group also offers educational programmes and experiences in all performing arts disciplines for young people and indeed providing a great social experience as well as the obvious confidence boosting!

Karen Townend is the talented costume designer and is the the brains behind most of the panto. To find out further information, log onto: www.curtaincallproductions.co.uk.

The Fish Factory in Littlehampton are proud to have sponsored this fantastic event and we look forward to seeing more productions.

This is the last blog for the Christmas season so we would like to wish you a fun-filled festive season and look forward to welcoming you soon. The Fish Factory Christmas opening hours are:

CHRISTMAS EVE 11.30 am – last orders 7 pm
CHRISTMAS DAY CLOSED
BOXING DAY CLOSED
Mon 27th Dec CLOSED
Tues 28th Dec 11.30 am – late
Wed 29th Dec 11.30 am – late
Thurs 30th Dec 11.30 am – late
NEW YEARS EVE 11.30 am – last orders 7 pm
NEW YEARS DAY 11.30 am – late

Celebrate Christmas with Proto Restaurant Group

The Fish Factory sponsors Winter Wonderland in Littlehampton

Did you spot Blitzen & Star the reindeer, and Santa in Littlehampton Town Centre a few weeks ago? The Fish Factory sponsored this fabulous free fun day, along with other local traders, as we firmly believe in supporting the local community.

The Winter Wonderland event took place on Saturday 11th December in Littlehampton Town Centre.  As well as reindeer and Santa there was an amazing snow globe, snow racing buggies, a sensational polar bear experience, birds of prey Shows featuring owls, falcons, Littlehampton Carnival Queen, Junior Queen & Flower Girls, Hampton The Hedgehog and Cole’s Fun Fair.

It is clear that Littlehampton is much more than a summer seaside town! Littlehampton is a fast, growing town so you should come down and visit soon. And while you’re there, why not pop in to The Fish Factory and have a bite to eat with a glass of wine? Call 01903 715000 to reserve your table now. You can take a look at our delicious menu by clicking here.

Proto Restaurant Group sponsors Littlehampton Amateur Boxing Club. Photo by Studio IV.

Meet Stephen Bailey! Stephen is the founder of Littlehampton Amateur Boxing Club (LABC) and he set this amazing club up with the sole purpose of introducing the techniques of boxing to children with a goal to promote fitness, give them confidence and self belief when tackling everyday situations.

Our reporter, Vicky Vaughan, spoke to Stephen to find out more.

VV: Hello Stephen. So when was LABC born?
SB: Well, I have been boxing since the tender age of 9 years old – I eventually represented England winning over 125 ABAE fights.

VV: Wow, do you still fight?
SB: No, I retired from boxing in my 30s and then I became a coach. Boxing is in my blood.

VV: So why did you set up LABC?
SB: When I moved to Littlehampton, I discovered that there was no boxing club so I set one up myself about 18 months ago. Initially the club was for children and we started in a small hall. However, due to its popularity, the club  has increased enormously. So much so that we moved to the large hall on a Sunday night with back-to-back classes for both juniors (under 17s) and adults (over 17s). It wasn’t long before older boys turned up and wondered was going on.

VV: It sounds like Littlehampton has been waiting for you to come along!
SB: Yes! It’s all been coming to together naturally and we are growing fast. We are now affiliated to The Amateur Boxing Association for England (ABAE), so our boys can now box for the club and represent their town in competitions. We have had lots of support from the council, and thanks to businesses like Proto Restaurant Group we can buy gloves and equipment. All money we receive goes straight back to the club.

VV: I understand that LABC helps in other ways too …
SB: Yes, both the parents and boys alike have said that the boxing club is a great way to channel excess energy that could be used in other ways, plus the club combines fun, hard-work, discipline and is a positive addition to what Littlehampton has to offer children and teenagers in the area.

The Fish Factory is sponsoring the Littlehampton Amateur Boxing Club by donating money for them to purchase new head guards for competition and training use.

If you would like to help by donating to this fantastic club, contact Steve Bailey on 07884 072572 or email him at littlehamptonabc@hotmail.co.uk.