HOMELINK’s open garden event at beautiful Barrack Cottage raised close to £2,000 for our summer #homes4families campaign, set up to assist vulnerable families in the Lewes district area.
Set in 4-acres of downland chalk, the owners of this historic Bishopstone cottage, David and Karen Allam, have welcomed charity fundraisers within their gardens for over 25 years. This year, however, was to be the final fundraising event as the much-loved grounds are due to be closed to the public, this year.
It was therefore a great privilege for HOMELINK to be able to mark this fundraising finale in such memorable style. Over 160 guests attended the event on June 24th to enjoy an afternoon of live music, stalls, raffle prizes and afternoon tea in the glorious gardens.
Accomplished jazz performers ‘Work in Progress’ and the irrepressible Lewkulele provided the perfect summer musical accompaniment and HOMELINK volunteers baked up a storm with an endless array of sumptuous home-made bakes.
There was also super supermarket support from Tesco, Waitrose and The Co-Operative: Tesco donated strawberries and cream for 200 guests; Waitrose provided a large selection of exotic fruit for the fundraising raffle; and The Co-Operative provided fresh coffee, tea and all the refreshments for guests. 
In addition, there was local support from Boots—who kindly donated a First Aid Kit –and a community book stall to help raise further funds. Other highlights include a gorgeous selection of floral arrangements donated by The Seaford Afternoon & Evening Clubs and a fabulous variety of items donated by HOMELINK supporters to make up the event’s main raffle.
Trustee and event organiser, Jane Lee said:
‘On behalf of everyone at HOMELINK, I wish to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to making this fundraiser such a success. It’s just not possible to hold these events without amazing volunteer support – thank you all so much! Thanks also to Coastwatch who did such a professional job of managing event parking.
‘Finally, special thanks to David and Karen Allam for their great kindness and generosity hosting this event for HOMELINK. It has been an absolute honour and joy to have done so on this the final year of fundraising activity at Barrack Cottage. Thank you both for all your support.’