Bowls Green & Pavilion for Lease - Alexandra Park

Walking back through Alexandra Park (blog) this morning and I noticed the Bowls Green and Pavilion had a 'For Sale' notice on the fence. Now, please excuse me for not having noticed before, but I had a chat with a gentleman and his partner/wife/friend who told me that it hasn't been used as a bowls green for over a year now, basically to do with Government funding cuts to Hastings, and Hastings Borough Council spending priorities. This year would have seen the bowls club running for 120 years, but no, sadly! And I had been thinking it wasn't being used because of Covid-19 lockdowns...

Part of the pavilion is already being let as a food & drink kiosk, but within the pavilion is still available a large main room, kitchen and changing room. Details of the lease available can be found at the Council's website, the rent appears to be negotiable.

Some Thoughts on Drinking in Pubs Now...

By Steve the Beermeister... 

Well, I've not been to many pubs since it became closer to 'normal' times (being careful), whatever that is, but, most appear still to be aware of the Covid-19 Crisis, and hand sanitizer seems to have become 'normal' in many, and many people continue to wear masks , not so worrying, in some, obviously., but not all, so please stay safe...  

And, I was surprised to find out that the best value real ale in Hastings, ignoring 'spoons, was sold at the Nelson at the bottom of The Bourne in the old town, a very decent pint of Fullers London Pride at just £3.20, I have been told, nice one! 

Now You See it...

Well, the art installation, Seawall, outside Hastings Contemporary nee the 'Jerwood' is back too! Since (mainly) young children helped to demolish it by climbing all over it during the half-term holiday before last (see below how this has looked for ages now).

And, see below for the plaque describing this installation:

 Now you know, enjoy!

Hastings Old Town Carnival Returns!

Yes, truly, the carnival isn't over, not this year anyway, but Hastings Old Town Carnival Week returns from Saturday, ie 31st July to 8th August;  go to the website for details of events, which are mostly back to normal, however, I do believe the Pram Race is not on, whatever they say on the website page I linked you to!

Enjoy, but stay safe folks!

Cornish Pasties, and not just from George Street, from Cornwall!

I took this photograph a while ago, though not that much or a while, and just before this kiosk, outside the Albion, started serving up pasties... I saw Bob a few days ago and we chatted about how it was going, well...

Bob told me that they are selling their pasties, plus pastries, hot and cold drinks, and more, from 07.30 in the morning, this includes a Full English Breakfast pasty, that includes a sausage, bacon, egg and baked beans, apparently, and other variations, eg cheese & onion and curried pasties! Well, I had to return later and try one of their Traditional Cornish Pasties, sent over from Cornwall, and this was very tasty indeed, and decent value at £3.60. Now I love the excellent pasties they sell at The Cornish Bakery in George Street (website), but I will return here... and there! 😉

I enjoyed Rachmaninoff's 'All-Night Vigil' in St Leonards

Supporting Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra, not to mention my niece, who was singing with them, I enjoyed their recent performance of Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil (website), a cappella choral composition that he wrote in 1915, the music and song played at Christ Church (website) at St Leonards. I'd never been in this church before and was very impressed, and was also impressed with the rendition, quality!

If you would like to support Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra go to their website, and/or join their mailing list (website).

Continuing Covid-19 Vaccine Walk-in Clinics in Hastings

Walk-in/Pop-up Covid-19 Vaccine Clinics remain in Hastings, including outside the old Debenhams building in the town centre this week, Monday to Friday, 11.30-6.30, which I wrote about in a blog last week; also at Broomgrove Community Centre today and outside Tesco at Hollington tomorrow. I have missed a couple too, so please do keep your eye out for information, notably from Hastings Online Times (website), and many thanks to them for further information! Stay safe folks!

 

Free For All Day! Step 4/5/6?!?

Well, after the excitement of Hastings Pirate Weekend 2021 (blog), and, okay, I stayed indoors for most of it: a) I'm not great to be with when I'm hot, so no loss to the Hastings public, and b) I do not trust all people to be sensible, despite most people being responsible, nor to maintain social distancing, notably when numbers on the streets increase significantly, Monday the 19th of July 2021 looks like being Free For All Day!

I'm not being cynical, nor saying that I don't trust anyone else, I trust many people, many of whom want to remain healthy, but, for example, last week I witnessed someone being 'arsy' in a pub not wearing a face covering when walking to and from the toilet (excuse the colloquialism but it's the closest word to describe him and his behaviour), plus standing up chatting to others in the pub whilst the publican was outside smoking. Doesn't sound too worrying? Well, first, it's totally disrespectful of the publican whose licence was, at that time, at risk because of his arsiness, plus disrespectful of everyone else in the pub, not to mention aggressive towards me (silly man!) when I pointed this out. Just for one more week, at least until any possible future lockdown in the coming months, he could have at least accepted wearing a face covering, as was legally required. So NO! There are a good many people I do not trust to be responsible and respect other people, indeed, rather than punch the bloke, sensibly, I decided to leave the pub, I think I even paid for a pint I never drank, I was so angry! 😏

So, yes, I am being cynical, please carry on being careful folks, and stay safe!

Government advice/being irresponsible (website); insert Step 6 for Step 4...

Please note that for the week ending the 12th of July 2021 Hastings had 270 cases of Covid-19, down 50 from the previous week. or 291 per 100,000, slightly less than the national average of 321 per 100,000, and 78% of adults in Hastings had had a first vaccine dose, and 61% had had 2 doses (BBC).

The Bale House 'Visitors' Centre' Opens Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, Monday the 19th of July, the new visitors' centre for Hastings Country Park, The Bale House, is due to open at Fairlight (HBC), I look forward to visiting soon. 😊

Don't forget Pfizer Vaccine is available at a Pop-Up Clinic today!

Yesterday

Don't forget, as I said in my blog yesterday, the Pfizer vaccine is available TODAY (16th July) in front of the ex-Debenhams in the town centre (blog) between 11.30am and 6.00pm. No appointment is required, adults of all ages are welcome, but please take with you a form of identification and your NHS number, if you know it; if you have already had your first dose, please leave 8 weeks before your second dose.

For further details of vaccinations and tests locally see Hastings Online Times.

Stay safe folks, it ain't over yet!

More Pop-Up Covid-19 Vaccinations!

 

Because of the rise in Covid-19 cases locally, as I explained in my last blog, and due to the uptake in Hastings of vaccinations being below the national average, local authorities are, justifiably, panicking a wee bit, so more pop-up/emergency places are available to get vaccinations from today (thank you to Hastings Online Times).

This includes Pfizer vaccines being available TODAY and TOMORROW (15th and 16th July) in front of the ex-Debenhams in the town centre (blog) between 11.30am and 6.00pm. No appointment is required, adults of all ages are welcome, but please take with you a form of identification and your NHS number, if you know it; if you have already had your first dose, please leave 8 weeks before your second dose.

For further details of vaccinations and tests please see Hastings Online Times.

Be safe folks!

Hastings Pirate Weekend 2021 - Yes, really!

After missing out on Pirate Day last year because of the Covid-19 Crisis and pandemic, there truly is going to be a Hastings Pirate Weekend this year (16th-18th July 2021), starting tomorrow! See their website and facebook page for details of what will be happening. Unsurprisingly there will not be a parade, although, oddly, some people have asked if there is one or not! Where have they been for the last 16 months I wonder? But there will be music and activities for children, for example, on Hastings Pier, and no doubt very many people dressed up, and there hasn't been too much to dress up for these past 16 months, and many Hastings folk do like to dress up! 

I have used the present cover photograph of the facebook page of The Stacey Marie RX134 as my image above for this blog, regular readers will know why...

Also, please remember that rules covering the Covid-19 Crisis are still in place until Monday, then whatever deity you believe in 'help us' as it is expected that the incidence of the disease will rise. Indeed it has been rising all over the country recently, and, recent figures show that Hastings is just above the national average with 283 new cases in Hastings during the week ending 10th July, ie 305 cases per 100,000 population, whereas the national average is 287/100,000 (BBC).

So, please do enjoy yourselves, but do be very careful, there are plenty of bampots out there; I for one will be out very early and staying in for much of the day, be safe folks!

Murals along the Seafront...

It could be argued that it's very lazy journalism, but I keep finding things I want to write about when I read my old outlet, the Hastings Independent, OK, it is a wee bit lazy, but I had no idea why these murals were situated along the seafront to the east of the Goat Ledge Cafe...  until I read this article! 

Well, the 17 murals appear to be the brainchild of the owner of the cafe, St Leonards residents and a local project called Good Stuff (website), with the aim of encouraging local people to feel 'connected' to where they live, together with supporting local artists. More information supplied with thanks to the Hastings Independent, cheers!

🎵 Oh I do love to live beside the seaside...🎵 

St Leonards Gardens: Denis not sure if he's coming or going?

Denis Yeo, the gardener at St Leonards Gardens for quite a few years now, eg see my blog from a few years ago about St Leonards Gardens, appears to be on his way out from working at the Gardens, maybe... OK, that may sound a wee bit strange, but it's complicated! It appears he will be gone sometime this year, sadly, I've enjoyed chatting to the man on the odd occasion, but a hard copy of the Hastings Observer (website) was where I learnt about this, and explains what is happening much better than I could.

Whatever, best of luck to Denis, nice to know you mate!

 

Hastings Town Deal looks promising...

A week ago Hastings Borough Council's Cabinet agreed on the Town Deal regeneration programme which will use £24.3 million of COVID-19 Crisis funding from Central Government, together with another £85 million being raised from alternative sources. The Deal is projected to support projects that will create new and long-term investment, improve local skills, create new jobs, help tourism in the town by increasing visitor numbers and footfall, build new homes, make improvements to Hastings Castle, improve and create other cultural facilities, and much more. 

Go to the website for more information... this looks like very good news! 

With thanks to Simon Holland Photography for the photograph (facebook).