Coastal Currents Arts Festival 2020

"Already?!?" I hear you say. OK, the 2020 Coastal Currents Arts Festival isn't until September as in previous years (website), however, since Hastings Borough Council stopped funding the festival because of recent revenue loss due to austerity measures brought in by central government (although I believe they do still support it through other measures), the festival organizers have had to raise money from the public, targeting at least £5,000, though preferably £10,000. Consequently, a gofundme page has been set up and, when I just looked, £3,841 is raised so far.

I have used the image above of a work of art in Queens Road produced for the festival in 2018 because, well I like it, I like my photograph of it, it brightens up a previously unremarkable wall, and because I walk past it quite often, though more often to walk to Alexandra Park than to go to Morrisons. Anyway, if you want to find out more about the festival, or to make a donation, please go to the website and/or gofundme page, many thanks, and good luck to the organizers, I trust you reach the required amount easily.

Immigration Enforcement in Hastings, just now!

A 'sweeping' turn up in Queens Road, a short while ago, of staff from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement branch, which was set up on the 1st of April 2012 (website), although this obviously was not a joke!

Hastings International Piano Festival

The inaugural Hastings International Piano Festival 2020 (26th February to 8th March, website) has been organised under the aegis of the annual Hastings Musical Festival (24th February to 14th March) and to support the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, and is focused around White Rock Theatre. 

One music festival ends in Hastings, and another begins! 

Hastings Fat Tuesday Tour - 25th February 2020

It's Mardi Gras in Hastings!

Tuesday the 25th of February is the day, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday, whatever you call it, and Hastings hosts the biggest Mardi Gras festival in Britain: 24 acts will be playing at the following 12 venues mainly in Hastings Old Town:

Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA;
BlackMarket VIP, 10 George Street TN34 3EG;
Carlisle, 24 Pelham Street TN34 1PE;
Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock-a-Nore Road TN34 3DW;
Dragon Bar, 71 George Street TN34 3EE;
First In Last Out, 14-15 High Street TN34 3EY;
Jenny Lind Inn, 69 High Street TN34 3EW;
London Trader, 4-7 East Beach Street TN34 3AR;
Lord Nelson, 1 East Bourne Street TN34 3DP;
Porters Wine Bar, 56 High Street TN34 3EN;
Pumphouse, 64 George Street TN34 3EE;
Royal Standard, East Beach Street TN34 3DW.

Each of the 24 acts will play 20 minutes sets in 3 of the venues, and each venue will have 6 acts, from 8.00 pm until 11.00/11.30 pm; please go to the Hastings Fat Tuesday website for greater detail for each act and each venue. In addition, from 8.00 pm until 1.00 am, opposite the Lifeboat Station at East Hastings Sea Angling Association, The Stade TN34 3FJ, will be the Reggae Room Party.

If you want to be play it by ear, just walk around the Old Town but don't be surprised by the quality of free live music available, so have fun and party... Phew!

Then, if you still have energy to carry on, the Fat Tuesday After Party is on from 10.00 pm until 4.00 am at the Brass Monkey in the town centre, 18 Havelock Road TN34 1BP. The website states tickets cost £10.00, but if you go to the link to purchase tickets from eventbrite it suggests £11.01 per ticket... Presumably booking fee added?

If you haven't already read it, more about Mardi Gras in last Tuesday's blog.


Many thanks to the Hastings Fat Tuesday website for the image above, cheers!

Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival: Slim Monday

This evening brings the eleventh Slim Monday featuring King Size Slim, and located at the Lord Nelson, 1 East Bourne Street TN34 3DP. Here you may meet many of the Hastings Fat Tuesday musicians and singers in 'civvies' during this laid back event from 6.30 pm, music starting at 7.30 pm (website). The calm before the storm! 😉

Fat Tuesday Festival Continues...

As I said in my blog the other day, today sees 40 artists and bands playing 15 minutes acoustic sets for Unplugged, from 1 pm to 6 pm, at 25 venues across Hastings (between 8 and 11 acts at each venue! - website). Not just all that free live music, but today and tomorrow (Sunday) Sonics 2020 (website) is a 2 day "celebration of experimental music, sound art and film." Plus, this evening/night from 8 pm to 2 am, is Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball, costing £22.50 (Tickets can be bought from the website).

Sadly, due to the bad weather forecast tomorrow (Sunday), the Umbrella Parade will not be experienced walking along the seafront this year (website), BUT! Head to the White Rock Theatre anyway, where 'dancers, musicians and lots of umbrellas' will be in abundance from 12 noon to 5 pm for Preservation Sunday (website).

In addition, Sonics 2020 (website) continues for its second day, and Under the Radar will be held, with 4 stages hosting "the best emerging young talent from across the UK, curated by BBC Introducing, Academy of Contemporary Music, Incubate (from The Eggtooth Project) and the Joe Strummer Foundation" (website). Under the Radar begins from 2 pm at The Carlisle, with the last act at that venue planned to come on stage at 7.30 pm, and from 5 pm to 11 pm at The Printworks, where it looks like, from the website, there may be more music on Monday the 24th!

So, plenty of musical fun to come, and even more on Monday, culminating with the Fat Tuesday Tour on the 25th, carry on enjoying Mardi Gras folks!

1st Day of the Tower Beer & Cider Festival...

Steve the Beermeister:

I was at the Tower, 251 London Road TN37 6NB, for the first day of their weekend beer and cider festival, and have tweaked my previous blog, eg they are selling very tasty vegetarian options, well, today was very tasty indeed!

And I have written a short blog today, which includes a review of this gorgeous velvety stout (above), which I savoured a glass of before I left. More to come folks, cheers!

Beer & Cider Festival at the Tower this weekend.

By Steve the Beermeister:

This weekend, Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd February 2020, sees the third Tower Beer & Cider Festival, at the reigning 2019 South East Sussex CAMRA Pub of the Year (see blog from last year): The Tower, on the corner of London Road/Tower Road, Bohemia, Hastings & St Leonards, East Sussex TN37 6NB. Opening times are 11 am to 11 pm every day.

Above are the tasting notes for the ales being sold over the weekend, and there will likely be a few more on offer, and there has always been a rather tasty stew available so you don't go hungry (there is a vegetarian option too, today {21st} I enjoyed eating a very tasty, not too spicy, bean and vegetable stew). The previous 2 years have provided a lovely range of ales, also they will be selling 9 real ciders this weekend, and you may just see me serving a few ales up too, as I shall be there every day, cheers!

Nightstop Sussex

I heard about this on the radio Tuesday night, a service I was unaware of... Nightstop UK believes that "no young person should be homeless or have to sleep in an unsafe place" (website). The chap who was being interviewed explained how his family, and over 600 other volunteer homes countrywide, provide emergency safe homes for young people to stay short-term, having received appropriate training and vetting. 

I went on to look at the Nightstop Sussex page, where they include young people (16-25) and adults too (26+), however, the nearest place to Hastings is in Brighton, so not quite local, but worth knowing about all the same. Anyway, if you know of anyone requiring help, this could be well worth looking into. 

Fat Tuesday Music Festival Returns...

Yes, it's not for a week, but then, it starts much sooner...

You know the Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival 2020 (website) is back when you see leaflets and posters all over town! The festival kicks off on Friday with a one day music conference, Un-Convention, from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm at the White Rock Hotel (website), continuing that evening with the Fat Friday Launch Party starting at 7.45 pm (to 11.30 pm) at the White Rock Theatre (website), and goes on to encompass numerous venues in the old and new towns throughout the 5 days of the festival until culminating on the evening of Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, Tuesday 25th (website), with partying and music galore!

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Spectacle! 

OK, we may not be as spectacular as Mardi Gras in New Orleans (website) which has been going since 1703, originally 60 miles south of New Orleans, at Point Du Mardi Gras, where  French explorers landed a few years earlier, on the day of Mardi Gras, the 2nd of March 1699. New Orleans was established in 1718, with Mardi Gras regularly celebrated there by the 1830s, and by 1875, large floats were being built in New Orleans to celebrate the festival, the year it became a legal public holiday.

Rio de Janeiro Carnaval, Glamour!

Mardi Gras in Rio, has been celebrated, initially with feasts, since the 17th century, masquerade balls became popular in the 19th century, but in the early 20th century the culture of African music and dance, introduced by freed slaves and their children, was enveloped within Portuguese Rio de Janeiro, then was founded the dance style of Samba (website). Mardi Gras was now celebrated in Rio together with the development of Samba schools in the 1920s (there are about 200 schools in existence now) the Carnaval (Portuguese for Carnival) festival became centred on the parade of the Samba schools and the glamour that was introduced (website), and since 1933 Rio Carnaval has become the largest Mardi Gras festival in the World, with 2 million people participating every year. 

OK, we may not have as much spectacle and glamour as New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, though there will be plenty of dressing up, be assured of that, and Mardi Gras and Carnaval have been going considerably longer than Fat Tuesday in Hastings... But what we do have is music galore and we party, for example on Saturday 22nd Unplugged carries on with 40 artists and bands playing 15 minutes sets at 25 venues across Hastings, for 5 hours from 1-6pm, and from Tommy's Pizzeria in St Leonards to the Dolphin Inn in Rock-a-Nore Road in the old town (if you don't have a programme already, for specific acts and where they're playing, please go to the website), with plenty to enjoy.

Also there is much more to follow until Fat Tuesday itself (website), and I shall be writing more about that too, but do enjoy yourselves have fun!

Calm before the Storm...

This morning, the calm before the storm; oh yes, and rumour has it that someone with a surfboard has been spotted down at Rock-a-Nore...

Storm Dennis Warning!

Dennis the Menace!

The RNLI has warned of another storm about to arrive this weekend, plus reminding us of the bravery and skill of Hastings Lifeboat crew last weekend (website), that is Storm Dennis! Forecast to bring strong winds and heavy rain, people are encouraged "to exercise extreme caution... especially along exposed cliffs, and piers during Storm Dennis."  Although Hastings Pier, I presume, will not be open this weekend.

Today (Saturday) in Hastings, wind speed is already reaching nearly 30 mph, with gusts of over 40 mph, and by the middle of the afternoon heavy rain will have set in with wind speed close to 40 mph and gusts of up to 60 mph (Met Office). Tomorrow (Sunday), there will be wall to wall heavy rain for most of the day until the evening, and the wind speed is forecast to reach up to 40 mph with gusts of up to 65 mph in the morning, and down below 50 mph later (Met Office).

Please be careful folks, and I'd advise you to leave your surfboards at home...

#respectthewater 

Happy Valentines Day!

What more can I say? Enjoy the day!

Storm Ciara and the Richard & Caroline Colton

Hastings lifeboat, the Shannon Class Richard & Caroline Colton RNLI 13-28 (pictured above when it first arrived in Hastings - see blog) was out in Storm Ciara on Sunday, most readers will already be aware I imagine, following a surfer being pulled out to sea whilst experiencing huge waves and high winds. Luckily, no-one was hurt, and I continue to admire the RNLI crew and volunteers who put their lives at risk to help and save others, respect!

Whilst not on call yesterday evening, the crew that was on call on Sunday were relaxing at the Dolphin Inn, with only one crew member owning up to enjoying the experience of the boat turning nearly 180 degrees, most, including the coxwain, admitted the fact the boat immediately righted itself gives them confidence in Richard & Caroline Colton, but they're not in a hurry to experience it again! If you haven't already seen the video that has gone viral over the internet, have a look at the BBC website, and this film is quite amazing, again, much respect from me!

This weekend will see the arrival of Storm Dennis (see Met Office), trusting everyone to be very careful, fingers crossed the lifeboat won't be called out this time.

20 Mile Walk along the Seafront!

Hastings Parkrun Early Leaders 

This included the same landmarks I mention in last week's blog, but my brother and I doubled the distance on the Saturday just gone by walking on to Pevensey Bay and back. This was the calm before yeaterday's 'storm' and did start off a wee bit damp, but soon cleared up, and was a very fine afternoon indeed!

And they keep on passing us! 

I have written about Hastings Parkrun a number of times before, eg blog, and on Saturday, despite the miserable early conditions, 282 runners completed the run, the first finisher completed the 5 km in 17 minutes and 36 seconds, my respect to all the runners! See their website for full results.

OK, so we obviously went on beyond Bexhill this Saturday, our lunchtime turning point being at Pevensey Bay, where we admired Sandcastle, an early example of when art deco meets the modern (wowhaus website), indeed it was built the year before building work was commenced on the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill (website), which I found enlightening! We also walked a wee bit beyond Sandcastle.

Of course we had to have a drink at the 16th century Castle Inn in Pevensey (website) and a couple of pints of Harvey's Sussex Best before heading back eastwards...

Walking Home, way over there!

So another enjoyable walk along the seafront and refreshing too, cheers!

Storm Ciara

The RNLI Lifeboat Service has warned on Twitter that Storm Ciara "is on the way. If you're out and about this weekend, please #RespectTheWater and stay clear of exposed areas and breaking waves. If you see someone in trouble in the water, call 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard." 

For Hastings, tomorrow (Sunday 9th February) looks to be the worst day, particularly heavy rain-wise, but strong winds, and even stronger gusts of wind, look likely to continue into the early part of next week (Met Office).

Be careful out and about, and remember #RespectTheWater 

A 10 Mile Walk along the Seafront

Recently, and it was a beautiful day as you can see, I walked the approximately 10 miles round trip just beyond Bexhill and back to Hastings. Starting off at the town centre, and an early sight is the Victorian gothic Grade II listed Palace Court, (Historic England website), 'eponymous' star of the film Byzantium. 

Palace Court

Then I came to another beautiful art deco masterpiece at St Leonards, the tallest apartment block in Britain when it was built, and designed to replicate the Queen Mary ocean liner, also Grade II listed, Marine Court (Modernist Britain website).

Then underneath Marine Court, and just past the 1930s Azur Marina Pavilion (website), looking back at the storm encroaching pebbles from the beach on the lower promenade, and yet another 'star' of the film Byzantium, in which it 'played' an older person's residence.

Very soon I reached the Royal Victoria Hotel, originally called St Leonards Hotel, but its name was changed soon after Princess Victoria stayed here, shortly before she became Queen Victoria. I have written about the building in an older blog.

Walking on and one could almost be at the Cote d'Azur, almost... 😎 

As we know, along the beaches on the seafront between Hastings and Bexhill, old and new fishing boats are aplenty, eg here at Bulverhythe.

I walked on westwards to just below Collington at the end of the promenade. Then on my return just to the west of Bexhll town centre, is a Clock Tower originally built to commemorate the 1902 coronation of Queen Victoria's son Edward VII, although it was not finished until 1904 (Public Sculptures of Sussex website).

Carrying on with my return journey and what do we see, but the De La Warr Pavilion, which I have often mentioned in my previous reports, eg blog.

The De La Warr Pavilion is a magnificent structure, built when art deco met the modern architecturally, and now is a great music venue, restaurant, exhibition site, you name it, indeed it is well worth a visit (website).

One of the purposes of the walk was to visit the reasonably new micropub in Bexhill, which I hadn't visited before, Brickmaker's Alehouse at 27 Sea Road, just down from the railway station, and on the other side (east) of the road. I shall not write anymore here about this lovely wee hostelry, but feel free to read the report in Steve the Beermeister's blog, cheers!

After a few drinks I set off back to Hastings...

The view back westwards once back in Hastings

Great day, feel free to copy my adventures, certainly drink at the Brickmakers! 😉 

It's February and Music Festival Time in Hastings!

Well, around this time of year, as in building up to Easter, and Hastings enjoys its own version of Mardi Gras, as in the Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival 2020, which this year runs from Friday 21st to Tuesday 25th of February, and is in its eleventh year, I believe. Starting with the Launch Party and Un-Convention; Saturday Unplugged at many venues, Sonics and Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball; Umbrella Parade, Preservation Sunday, Under the Radar and Sonics again; Slim Monday; the musical extravaganza that is the Fat Tuesday Tour itself, again with numerous acts playing at many venues, and the After Party (website).

But the music doesn't stop there, as can be seen from the poster I spotted above, because on the very next day begins the inaugural Hastings International Piano Festival (26th February to 8th March 2020). Go to the website for further details.

Of course it's Music Month (14th February to 17th March), and Hastings is certainly the place to live for eclectic live music and partying!

Hastings Pier Community Archive

On reading the latest Hastings Independent newspaper (website) I was reminded that the digital pier archive was passed to Hastings Museum & Art Gallery when the current owner of Hastings Pier bought the Pier a couple of years ago. Since last year, the volunteers who maintain the Hastings Pier Community Archive (website) have worked in collaboration with Hastings Museum to preserve and add to this important local cultural asset, and our thanks go to the Museum and the volunteers.

Consequently, if you want to share memorabilia, films and photographs with the Archive, you can do so digitally, or send hard copies to them and they will digitise the information before returning the original copies to you. You can find out more information about Hastings Pier and its history from, and there is already very much to peruse and research there, or share at, their website. Great stuff!

World Wetlands Day - 2nd of February 2020

Filsham Reedbed

Yes, today is World Wetlands Day 2020 (website), celebrating that Wetlands Biodiversity matters, including removing pollutants, providing storm protection, creating jobs, helping rare species to procreate, attracting tourists, providing food and water, and much more. So what can we do locally?

Well, I belong to the Sussex Wildlife Trust which manages a number of wetlands close by, including Pevensey Marshes, Castle Water and Rye Harbour and, closer to Hastings, Filsham Reedbed, which is located between Hastings and Bexhill, to the east of Combe Haven river (Grid Ref: TQ775097), and is one of the largest reedbeds in Sussex. It is a stopping off point for many birds, including swallows, warblers, bitterns and marsh harriers, plus reed warblers, bearded tits and water rail breed there. There are many rare plants growing there too, and amphibians and insects live within the reeds and open water. It's well worth visiting, and I regularly walk there (eg blog).

If you want to join Sussex Wildlife Trust, or to know more about its work and nature reserves, go to their website. Enjoy the day!

Drugs Arrests!

We all know about the recent and past history of smuggling in the 'Old Town' but over the last few days these steps have been used to distribute illegal drugs from, well not now, many thanks to Sussex Police for their quick response to information received!