Tuesday 31 October 2017

Trick or Treat?!?


Topical photograph taken a short while ago, drums in the town centre, something to do with the 31st of October... 😉

By the way, being of a certain age I have enjoyed Siouxsie and the Banshees albums and singles, indeed, here is a piece of topical music: link.

RX134 - Many thanks to volunteers!


Nearing completion of the physical restoration of the Stacey Marie's structure yesterday, with thanks to general carpenter, Lee of L S Carpentry, and the assistance of his apprentice Rikki, and painting has commenced too! The cost of materials was funded, of course, by the Hastings Fishermen's Museum and its donors. 


Lee volunteered to give up his time for this work, offered free, so I am happy to give a link to his email address (unsolicited, solely my decision to include this as I am grateful for his work), Lee being a very local carpenter who can be contacted at stockleylee@hotmail.com - Cheers Lee! 


The new fibreglass deck was added by local builder and landscaper Brian McDonagh, many thanks for his expertise and labour, and to Lee for assisting Brian. The materials were again funded by the Fishermen's Museum and its donors. Brian also volunteered to give up his time for this work, offered free, so, again, I am happy to give a link to his contact details as I am grateful for his work. Brian is also a very local businessman who undertakes all aspects of building including roofing, scaffolding and landscaping, and can be contacted at bry414t@gmail.com or tel 01424 430935 - Cheers Brian!

Regular readers will be aware of my involvement with this project, the first exhibit of the Fishermen's Museum you reach when walking eastwards down Rock-a-Nore Road; go to her facebook page for further information, or visit the Hastings Fishermen's Museum, further down Rock-a-Nore Road (website), where donations would be welcome, the museum being a registered charity, many thanks.

Monday 30 October 2017

RX134 Stacey Marie update...


Most of the repair work has now been completed, though not quite all, yet, and the new fibreglass deck, which should save future expense, is in place; please note that the Stacey Marie RX134  (facebook page) is part of the Fishermen's Museum and its exhibits, the Museum being a registered charity (the work carried out on the boat is by volunteers, so far this year, Lee and his apprentice regarding the woodwork, Brian and Lee regarding the fibreglass, coming next, Mark and Steve regarding the painting, and the Museum pays for materials from donations), so any donations would be very welcome at the Fishermen's Museum, many thanks.

Watch this space for images as work carries on...

The image used above is thanks to Marcus, cheers!

Saturday 28 October 2017

British Summertime Ends, Don't Forget!


Don't forget to put your clocks back an hour before retiring to bed tonight, British Summertime ends at 02.00 hours, 29th October 2017, potentially, another hour in bed...

Hastings Weekend

Now, we all know that Halloween isn't really until Tuesday, when, no doubt, even more ghoulish fun will be had, but, you can hardly move anywhere in Hastings and St Leonards without spotting a Halloween event over this weekend! Whether that be pumpkin carving and movies on Hastings Pier (website), Hastings Zombie Walk (website), or the myriad number of other events around town (eg, see website), not to mention the parties and live music in, and outwith, public houses! 


Also, tomorrow, at the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore Road, there is an unexpected extra one-off gig by 62 Stone, a slightly re-jigged line-up I believe, just 60 or 61 stone now? They start at 3.30pm, this, in addition to their usual 3 evenings of music; tonight The Seize (website). Of course there's music galore all round town; readers, please feel free to let me know of future extraordinary gigs in Hastings and St Leonards etc, cheers! 

And not forgetting that tasty Fishermen's Rolls are back, and now available over autumn and winter weekends at Johnny Swan's The Net Shop in Rock-a-Nore Road too, we are being spoilt! See earlier blog.

Enjoy your weekend, and look forward to Halloween on Tuesday!

Friday 27 October 2017

Stacey Marie: Work Continues...


A gorgeous day today, and Lee and his apprentice continue with the repairs and fitting the new deck, many thanks to them!



We'll soon be starting re-painting, all being well, after the weekend, so fingers crossed for decent weather continuing too!

Wednesday 25 October 2017

Yet more rail chaos!


The RMT have given notice of another 48 hour walkout on the 8th and the 9th of November 2017; see their press release for further details.

I give up! The Government, through Govia/Southern, couldn't run a booze up in a brewery or an orgy in a brothel, let alone a decent rail service!

Monday 23 October 2017

Damage due to Brian?


First sign I've seen of damage due to Storm Brian, presumably, down by Pelham Beach this morning, though, no doubt, a few tiles flew off windows here and there, not much obvious along the seafront, where it appeared much stronger to me when I was out getting soaked on Saturday... The Pier was closed Friday and Saturday, I believe the Camera Obscura feature was blown across the pier damaging a pier lamp post. However, Hastings Pier is up and running again with a much more gentle day yesterday, and events galore this week, mostly Halloween related, eg films and workshops; have a look at their website for details of all events.

You'll notice it's a bit damp at the moment, but the weather forecast for the rest of the week looks favourable, so we should be able to get out and about and enjoy ourselves!

Snowflake Night Shelter is seeking volunteers.

 
The Snowflake Winter Night Shelter provides supervised overnight accommodation to homeless people who would otherwise be sleeping rough in Hastings and St Leonards from the end of November to the middle of March. Users of this service are referred by various local organisations including the Seaview Project, St John Ambulance Homeless Service, Police and Hastings Borough Council. They are now calling for volunteers to help run the service during the winter months. 

Volunteer registration meetings have been going on for a while now, but the next two evening meetings start at 7.30pm on Wednesday 25th October at Wellington Square Baptist Church and on Friday 27th October at St John the Evangelist Hall, St Leonards. The next daytime meeting will be on Saturday 28th October at 10.30am at Sussex Coast College, Hastings Station Approach. For further information and details of all meetings go to the website.

For further information about being a volunteer go to this page.

Sunday 22 October 2017

Fishermen's Rolls enjoyed today!


We had the first two Fisherman's Rolls cooked/created today at Johnny Swan's The Net Shop in Rock-a-Nore Road, and there was me, not so long ago, thinking that the only way I'd ever eat one again was if I made it myself! 


OK, I forgot to take a photograph, I was so intent on eating the roll, but they pretty much look like they have always done, like this, above. Two fillets, one dab and one plaice, in either a white or brown roll/bap, and all for just £3 a roll, with some lemon juice and pepper added, of course; other condiments/sauces are available, though it wasn't me that had the brown sauce. An excellent brunch, indeed!

More healthy, and much better, than going to the usual fast food places, nice one.

Saturday 21 October 2017

More crackin' images from last Saturday...


Not quite as exciting this weekend, though still plenty to do if you can dodge the wind and rain, though it's strangely quiet, bright and peaceful at the moment! Anyway, here are a few more images from last Saturday which I have borrowed from the Hastings Borough Bonfire Society's facebook page, many thanks to them and Mark Duncan!




If you are not already aware of HBBS, please have a look at their website, indeed, it may be worth a look at the website anyway, and again, many thanks to them for sharing these images. Have a nice day! 👌 

Friday 20 October 2017

Stacey Marie Renovation


Whilst Mark and I were concentrating on attending a funeral, structural renovation work continues on the Stacey Marie; we'll be re-painting her after this work is finished...


Many thanks to Lee and his apprentice, and Brian, for volunteering to help!

Thursday 19 October 2017

The Egg Scrambled!


Well, it was time for the Exbury Egg (website) to go, as the tour reached its end yesterday, I know one local business person who is glad to see it go, and another who will miss it, how things are perceived differently by individuals! Anyway, it's gone now...

Bye bye Egg!

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Fisherman's Rolls coming back? Beach Huts gone!


Sadly, since Pat and Tush retired, I haven't eaten one of these, a Fishermen's Roll, but, when I was wandering round at the back of Rock-a-Nore Road, I saw Tush's old hut door open, and, lo and behold, there was Johnny Swan filleting small plaice! All I can say is, expect to see Fishermen's Rolls supplied from John's place very soon...


I noticed yesterday that the beach huts by the Azur Pavilion, St Leonards, had done a flit again, so I decided to carry on walking down to Bulverhythe...


Where I saw the beach huts nicely cuddled together for the winter break, it's good to see many things just do not change, very reassuring! 😌 

Sunday 15 October 2017

Photographs and a Video from Yesterday



Images from the Classic Motorbike Show as the Stade Saturdays event this weekend on the Stade Open Space yesterday.

Early Doors 



The effigy this year wasn't a dig at anyone, but a tribute to local character Ron Everett, aka Popeye, who died, sadly, earlier this year (see blog).


You may have guessed by now that I didn't make it to the bonfire last night, but here's a link to the Hastings Observer, and a fine video to watch, many thanks Observer!

Hastings Rail Summit (3)


Another report @marshlinktrains have advised me of, written by John Minter for the Rye News (link), many thanks, though not exactly representative of my opinion!
"Last week Amber Rudd held the fourth of her annual rail summits. There was much talk about the Javelin service in 2024 and improving the Hastings/London travel time and I have no doubt she and her fellow MPs in the local area are working hard on this and, I believe that she genuinely wants to see improvements in our rail services. However – and there is always a ‘however’ – if we are to see long term improvements in our rail communications, we surely must, first of all, go back to basics.
The Marsh Link would, in the pre-Beeching era, doubtless have been considered a branch line. And, in its own way, I suppose, it is, linking a variety of small communities with a few major stations that can then take passengers on to wherever they wish to go. It sounds simple, and surely it should be simple. All we need is a regular service with trains leaving when advertised and arriving on time at their connecting stations and at a time which gives only a modest waiting time between arrival and subsequent departure of the main line train. From that base a wider and more impressive service involving Javelins, bi-mode trains and the rest could be built.
But what do we actually have? A service of two-carriage trains which have, in the past (although current record is better) been subject to regular breakdowns, and which are two small for the number of passengers at certain times of the day, resulting in severe over-crowding. In addition there have been delays and cancellations for over a year due to industrial action, which surely is inexcusable. The operating company wails that the Unions are being uncooperative and the weak and inept leadership of the Department for Transport does little to help, saying it is a matter for the operators.
Next May a proposed new timetable is to be introduced. Hooray, one might think – at least a chance now to get connections with the main line services sorted out. Sadly not. There seems to be little positive change in timing to meet connections, but the one thing they have done is to recognise the popularity of the Ashford - Rye - Hastings - Brighton service. And the change they have made to help their passengers? Why, cancel the through service, of course!
The reason given is that it is too popular, so to discourage passengers from using it, the train will terminate at Eastbourne. Thirty five minutes later another train will (we can only hope) arrive and take the onward-travelling passengers to the stations between Eastbourne and Brighton. Some time ago I saw an old episode of Yes Minister where Sir Humphrey was praising the efficiency of a new hospital: zero waiting times, no bed-blocking etc. On being asked how this miracle had been achieved his answer was, “Its simple Minister, there are no patients yet, so it runs perfectly”. 
I find it difficult to believe that there are no four-carriage diesel trains anywhere in the country that could be made available for the Marsh Link - in fact I don’t believe it. Just as I don’t believe that with proper leadership the current strike situation could not have been resolved a long time ago.
The root cause, of course, of all these problems is that Southern are only contracted to manage the railway and, it seems, are paid regardless of results. The railway is ‘owned’ by the government, in the form of the Department of Transport, who quite clearly think the answer to everything is to blame Southern and to accept not one iota of responsibility.  
I am all for privately run railways through the franchise system – generally speaking the network and the trains that run on it have improved out of all recognition since the days of British Rail. And as a commuter from those days, I really don’t want to go back there. But, for heaven’s sake, all this talk of fast connections to the Capital whether by the Javelin or just faster standard trains is completely absurd if the Company concerned cannot yet run a simple branch line efficiently.
Please, Southern and DfT, learn how to walk, then you can begin to run."

Saturday 14 October 2017

Hastings Day, plus 12 Hour Charity Indie Gig...


Hastings Day... as in, the 951st anniversary of the Battle of Hastings! Of course there's much much more to do today, culminating in the Torchlight Procession, Bonfire and fireworks; see yesterday's blog for more information...


In addition to all the usual music, and Music Month to boot, there is a one-day indie-pop festival today (midday to midnight) at the Hastings & St Leonards Angling Association, Marine Parade, which will bring together current indie bands and those of yesteryear. The event is to raise money for the suicide prevention charity, GrassRoots, who provide support across East Sussex. See website for further information and details of bands.

Friday 13 October 2017

Hastings Week... end!


Hastings Week nears its climax tomorrow, when the Bonfire on Pelham Beach will be lit, and whatever the burnt offering (?My guess = Trump?) will be, well, burnt... plus fireworks galore, obviously. See above image of when the building of the bonfire commenced this morning, however, SO MUCH MORE! Today until Sunday, there are guided walks, lectures, music galore in addition to the usual venues, a town criers competition, vintage vehicles run and show, and more; see website for more details.


Of course, the culmination on Hastings Day tomorrow (14th October), organised by the Hastings Borough Bonfire Society (HBBS), is the annual torchlight procession and fireworks, and burning of the effigy (I did get it correct last year, though it was pretty obvious what it would be, last year being the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings!). The procession begins at White Rock near the Pier; full details and safety advice can be seen at the HBBS website.


In addition, to all the merriment in Hastings, not so far away in Bexhill, at the (RAFA) Albatross Club, is a beer festival, from today until Sunday; see facebook page.

Enjoy the weekend!

Thursday 12 October 2017

Hastings Rail Summit (2)


I have been made aware of this report of Friday's 'summit' on the MarshLink Action Group website by @marshlinktrains on twitter, many thanks!
"Huw Merriman (MP for Bexhill) started proceedings to emphasise Bexhill’s support for the Javelin project but also because he is a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Transport. He pointed out the absurdity of the low average train speed to London from Hastings/ Bexhill compared with equivalent journeys on other national routes and emphasised the objective to improve travel times from the South East (irrespective of the longer term objective with the Javelin). With regard to the strikes over the last year or more, he said the Rail Select Committee has received confirmation from the Office of Rail and Road (“ORR”, the independent safety regulator) about the safety levels provided by onboard supervisors (“OBSs”) and equated them with the current guards/ conductors: MLAG remains doubtful about the ORR’s assertion and, beyond the strict safety issue of a driver being able to operate a train, is concerned that passengers (particularly disabled passengers), remote from the driver, are not being reasonably protected by the rail operator, particularly when it is envisage that trains would still run without an OBS onboard. Unsurprisingly, the ORR’s position was supported by Nick Brown (COO of GTR/ Southern) in explaining the recent improvement of operating statistics. Most telling, Southern has been able to operate a large percentage of services across their franchise on strike days (though, as pointed out last week in response to my piece in Rye News, Southern is no longer able to run a bus service to replace the Rye Shuttle). Not a lot else was said about current services. But he did advise that all OBSs are now fully safety trained for their role (which I found rather surprising) but I imagine they are not trained for the routes they operate. With regard to Southern’s near-future services, the May 2018 timetable is still subject to discussions (including with the local rail action groups) and then approval from the Department for Transport but it should be announced before the end of the year.
With regard to the proposed Javelin service, Huw Merriman advised that he and Amber had made significant representation to promote the service including to the rail minister to reference the Javelin service in the SouthEastern franchise which is soon to be out for competitive tender (and representatives of all three of the pre-qualified operators were present at the Summit). There had also been meetings with train manufacturers (such as Hitachi, manufacturer of the Javelin) about suitable equipment, noting that the means of propulsion (whether electric/ hybrid or bimode) has not yet been decided. Of course, fundamentally, approval of the whole Javelin project has not been given yet but all those present, including Paul Maynard MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rail/ “Rail Minister”), used positive language to suggest it could be in place by 2024 and acknowledged the project made sense. However, there are several fundamental issues to get through in this modern world of ours, not least the significant issue of funding (rail infrastructure is not simply paid for by Network Rail nowadays). The first part of funding is to demonstrate an economic case and, for this purpose, Mott McDonald has updated their previous study and were present to summarise the results in advance of their formal release date at the end of October – fortunately the results were very positive. The next part of the exercise is to find funders and a person has been identified and given that responsibility.
The earliest stage towards getting the Javelin along the MarshLink is surprisingly current – to remodel the line at Ashford station to enable HS1 Javelin services to get it into Platform 2. Cllr Keith Glazier (Chair, Transport for the South East) explained the work being done to achieve this (as an add-on to other mandatory works at Ashford station relating to the international services, works which start next month): he said this was an opportunity that could not be missed and asserted that funding would be found. From the Rye perspective, apart from improving the route of the Javelin services to Kent, the works would have the short term effect of making the interchange from the MarshLink to HS1 easier, across the platform between Platform 1 and 2: this also gets the HS1 line closer to the MarshLink line, thinking of the longer term objective.
Amber Rudd closed the meeting with very positive words but she recognised that considerable work was still needed to get the project to fruition. We look forward to further news as the project advances but, in rail terms, 2024 is not a long way away."
Stuart Harland
Chairman, MLAG 

Wednesday 11 October 2017

Lord Hastings in London Tomorrow!


A reminder, should you like your history and Shakespeare combined, that from tomorrow, actor Matt Hastings from Hastings, is going to be playing the character Lord Hastings in William Shakespeare's play Richard III at The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, London NW8 8EH (website), near Edgware Road and Marylebone railway stations, 12th October to 4th November 2017. 

The character Lord Hastings is one of the many who may well come more than a cropper in this play of intrigue, power play, murder and battle, with Shakespeare following the fortunes of the House of York...

Tuesday 10 October 2017

RNLI Fish Supper Tomorrow


A final reminder that the Hastings Lifeboat crew will be serving up fish & chips at the Old Town Fryer, East Beach Street, tomorrow evening, Wednesday the 11th of October 2017, plus there will be music and magic, and a quiz and raffle... Money raised will to go to the RNLI and their excellent work protecting lives off our shore; see website for further information. I'd imagine available tickets are now few...

Well worth a reminder, and see this video on facebook too!

Music Month and Hastings Week Continue...


Hastings Music Month continues, this evening with Lulu and Wasp playing at the White Rock Theatre opposite the Pier, and the Tune Raiders playing at the Dolphin Inn in Rock-a-Nore Road (indeed, their regular weekly slot); see website for details of these and other planned gigs this week. 

In addition, Hastings Week poodles along, with not so much happening until the weekend, though the organisers of the next few days events would disagree with such a statement, so go to the website and find out more!

Monday 9 October 2017

Hastings Rail Summit


I found this piece, and photograph, on the BBC South East page, otherwise I haven't found anything else about the Rail Summit on Friday, yet! Our MP Amber Rudd plus...
"The rail minister, Paul Maynard was also at the public event, together with Hew Merriman, the MP for Bexhill and Battle, and bosses of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR).
The 18-month-long dispute between Southern, owned by GTR, which has cost the South East's economy around £350m, was raised at the meeting.
Mr Maynard responded: "Ever since I took on the role as rail minister I have been apologising to passengers for the inadequate service they have been experiencing, but since the start of the dispute we have seen big improvements in GTR's performance."
Amber Rudd, who is also the Hastings and Rye MP, said she was "impatient" about getting faster rail services for her constituency, but was "realistic" about getting things to happen." 

OK, a couple of comments, and it's a shame I couldn't be there on Friday, but... first, this has been an 18 month dispute, which could have been sorted out last year but for political interference as I've said a few times, and all Maynard can say is he's been apologising, which doesn't actually sort out the problem, that is (his) Government interference! Oh yes, and he says that performance has improved, but that's only because they've changed the timetable, with journeys taking longer, and they run fewer trains with fewer carriages... so that's an improvement?!?

If anyone did go to the Rail Summit, please contribute, many thanks!

I'm Back!


A nice rest, and I'm back, so expect more blogs very soon...

Friday 6 October 2017

This Weekend, AND Hastings Week Commences!


So, Hastings Week starts tomorrow (website and facebook page), with the Opening Ceremony from 3pm up at Hastings Castle, with free entry to the castle from 2.30pm, there's a treat! Of course, there will be other events going on before that time, for example, in conjunction with Stade Saturdays on the Stade Open Space will be a Classic Cars & Motorcycles Show from 10am to 3pm, which continues on Sunday, and much more; go to website for further details of events, exhibitions, guided walks...


Of course, much more happening and places to visit, as ever, Hastings Fishermen's Museum, the Aquarium, Lifeboat Station, Parks and Gardens, Miniature Railways, Music Month continues (today as well, see website) and, amongst other things, there will be the Retrobella Vintage & Retro Indoor Market on the Pier both days (website).


Save Ore Library Campaign


Following on from my recent blog about planned library closures forced on East Sussex County Council due to central Government cuts in local government funding, there is currently a campaign to save Ore Library (facebook page) which has a meeting tomorrow morning at Ore Community Centre starting at 10.30am. 

For more information about libraries under threat see BBC website.

Hastings Rail Summit this morning...


Sadly, I cannot make it to the Hastings Rail Summit today, if anyone reading this is going, I'd be grateful/happy to share any feedback please, many thanks!

Wednesday 4 October 2017

Stand Up For East Sussex!


Conservative East Sussex County Council has launched an online video campaign seeking fairer government funding for the county. "Stand Up For East Sussex" asks residents to sign a petition to the Prime Minister demanding an urgent intervention over public services.
Savings of £58m are due to be made by 2021 under current council plans. Since 2010 the council has made savings of £112m, enough, it said, to meet the yearly costs of caring for 5,600 vulnerable people or to repair two million potholes.
Council leader Keith Glazier said it had "reached the point where national support for East Sussex has shrivelled to harmfully-low levels. We're only 50 miles from Westminster but sometimes it feels as though the needs of the people who live and work here are out of sight." 
I've signed... Here's a link for you at the council website.