A DJ and former public schoolboy held an 18-hour party in a country field, a court heard.

Harrow-educated Felix Dickinson held the bash for 500 friends using a powerful 14ft-high speaker system near Ferrings Lake, East Chiltington, near Plumpton.

The event on September 5 and 6 last year brought a flood of complaints from residents kept awake, including from a partially deaf woman.

Another neighbour could feel the beat pulsating throughhis bed.

The private party, costing £2,000, involved stewards, inflatables, a marquee, catering, parking and toilet facilities and a 9,000 watt system playing salsa, disco and funk.

Now 26-year-old Dickinson, a record label manager, of Lewes Road, East Chiltington, is appealing against a noise abatement notice served by Lewes District Council.

Dickinson's mother, local author Antonia Price, of Odintune Place, has also been served with the notice because the party was held on her land.

Kevin Tapp of Hollycroft, East Chiltington, told Lewes magistrates: "The noise was booming in which I could feel through my bedstead."

Vivienne Jones, of Novington Lane, East Chiltington, said: "The music was unbearable. I was very distressed."

Insp Bruce Matthews said Dickinson had warned the police about the party and had given them directions on how to get there and a mobile number in case of any problems.

Sgt Phil Kellett said he had found the party to be well organised and the music "not excessively loud."

Fellow party organiser Brooke Lyndon-Stanford, 28, said: "There were no houses in sight and we faced the speakers away from the houses. When the police arrived at about 3am we turned the music down - we were very keen not to upset any more people."

Dickinson's Ugly record label, run from his home, had a club hit in the summer with Da Rebels' House Nation Under a Groove.

The hearing was adjourned until March 9.

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