Peppi the Clown gets Covid jab in costume at Clair Hall

Peppi the Clown from Jay Miller’s Circus was among those vaccinated at Clair Hall’s walk-in sessions in Haywards Heath last weekend.
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Peppi, from Hungary, has worked for Jay Miller’s Circus for 25 years and was in Lindfield with the show when his second jab was due in Dorset.

Artistic director Liz Miller asked the Clair Hall team if they could fit Peppi in, and said they would offer him a vaccine towards the end of Saturday (July 3) if there were any left.

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Liz said she received a call at the end of the day’s first show to see if Peppi could get there before 6pm.

Peppi the clown from Jay Miller's Circus gets his Covid jab at Clair Hall, Haywards Heath.Peppi the clown from Jay Miller's Circus gets his Covid jab at Clair Hall, Haywards Heath.
Peppi the clown from Jay Miller's Circus gets his Covid jab at Clair Hall, Haywards Heath.

“We only had 45 minutes in between our second show and our third show, which is why Peppi had to go along in costume,” she said.

“He was driving so he couldn’t get changed and he couldn’t get his makeup off,” said Liz.

“It must have been quite funny him driving along,” she added, but said it was necessary because ‘you can’t run a circus without the clown’.

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Liz said the ringmaster actually asked everyone to let Peppi drive off first after the second show so he could make the appointment on time.

The team at the vaccine centre were delighted that Peppi was there in costume, she added.

A couple of the Miller’s daughters were also able to go along and have their jabs at the same time.

Charlotte Miller, who does a crossbow act with her husband, said the volunteers were ‘really nice and really helpful’.

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“They got us in and out as quickly as possible so we could get back for the show,” she said.

Liz congratulated the team at Clair Hall for their 100,000th vaccination milestone and thanked the team for thinking outside the box.

Jay Miller’s Circus has daily shows on Lindfield Common until Sunday (July 11).